This need to be understood as a hard and fast rule of American politics:
Whatever those on the Left complain about the Right doing, they themselves are doing worse.
I firmly believe that the only way the Left can maintain belief in their own moral superiority while engaging in the worst possible behavior is by embracing psychological projection.
A new poll from Pew Research as reported on by the Washington Examiner shows how dangerous this is going to get.
Pew: 91% Democrats see violence next in war of words
After a week that saw President Trump and his foes toss toxic words at each other, there is now a warning that the next phase could be “violence.”
Nearly 8 of 10 Americans told the Pew Research Center that supporters for both sides could “act” on the politically charged rhetoric with violence. It was higher for Democrats, 91%, than Republicans, 61%.
Americans broadly agree that elected officials should avoid using heated language because it could encourage violence. Nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) say this, while just a quarter believe that elected officials ‘Should be able to use heated language to express themselves without worrying about whether some people may act on what they say,’” warned the center.
“While majorities in both parties say officials should avoid heated language, this view is more widely held among Democrats (83%) than Republicans (61%),” it added.
Trump is cited by a majority for stirring up the situation, but, like anything “Washington” today, there is partisan division.
Said Pew, “Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents overwhelmingly (84%) say Trump has changed political discourse for the worse.
What I’m reading is that Democrats say that Trump’s rhetoric is going to lead to more violence, which they imply means that more Right-wing Trump supporters will engage in violence spurred on by Trump.
Of course, we have seen virtually violence to that effect.
The White Supremacists nut-job who shot up the Tree of Life Synagogue did it, not because Trump was pushing antisemitism but because he thought Trump was too friendly with the Jews.
It was a member of Antifa that tried to firebomb and ICE facility using the same rhetoric as de facto Speaker of the House AOC.
So what this is, is complete projection.
It is the rhetoric of the far Left and the Far Left thugs aligned with Antifa, the Democratic Socialists, and others who are going to ramp up the violence more and more for the next election – and beyond if Trump wins again.
91% of Democrats are sure of it.
This is very bad for us.
My lady leans more Libertarian than Conservative but is NOT a progressive/left wingnut. One of the frequent discussions we have is “Do Trump’s words incite violence/increase the divisive nature of our country?”
I finally found words the other day that I think help explain where I feel this is all going.
The left has never had problems expressing themselves, they have always had the backing of their side and “I will defend to the death your right to say it, even though I find what you are saying despicable” from the right. The right, in my opinion, for many years, would very carefully avoid “offending” of “fighting back.”
Not always, and there are many exceptions, but to this day I see it in my everyday interactions. Some left mouths off (My parents with their three or four times a day making insults about Trump or about me being “right wing nut”) and the conservatives smiling and walking away (dimmer vs. switch).
Trump has embolden many on the right to stand up and say “NO”. There are more and more people that I know in my personal circle that are saying something back and daring the left to say something.
This push back is new to the left. They aren’t prepared for it. And because, for them, push back on their ideas means that they will escalate, and the only place they can is violence (getting people fired is violence as an example). Thus the left perceives the right as becoming more violent (which is true) but the right is not as violent as the left and is not moving in that direction.
Always accuse your enemy of that which you are guilty. Josef Goebbels
Don’t forget that on many college/university campuses, “strong words” and “harsh truths” are connected with “toxic masculinity”, and ergo are inherently violent.
Read that again. Words are not connected to violence, and they don’t lead to violence. Nope, words are violence, facts and truths be damned. A strongly-worded opposing opinion is viewed the same as a physical attack, and so responding with physical attacks is justified.
Thus, a healthy portion of that 91% of Democrats likely believes that heated words will lead to more violence simply because they can no longer tell the difference.
It’s a sad state of affairs, but it’s what they are “learning” in college. And I agree: it does not bode well for us or the future of our nation.
On a sidenote I would expect that the majority of that 91% is silent and actually sane. I am waiting for antifa to literally start just shooting everyone that opposes them. Mobs of black clad morons in Portland with handguns and rifles shooting everyone that’s not also wearing black. Even a lot on the left are getting sick of this from them.
They are essentially starting in their death throws. Once they start killing people (they will) no one is going to support them. The left will also do so by slowly. The four horsewomen of the apocalypse will be primaries out of the party if the democrats don’t completely break apart.
Also as a side effect of the mass censorship of conservatives on the Internet the ones that are left are the well spoken professional people. The leftists are Essentially left alone to say and do whatever they want without punishment.And because everything they say and do is insane day by extension look insane to normal people. My mother openly hopes for trumps death constantly. She’s an MSNBC shell who literally will believe Rachel Maddow over God himself at this point. Even she is debating voting for Biden when he becomes a nominee; she might actually sit this one out. I’ve said it before but my mother is so far to the left and hates Trump with such fervor that every time she sees him go down the steps of Air Force One she hopes he falls down and kills himself. She does not consider the left part of the Democratic Party. So WHEN the start killing people it won’t in her mind reflect on the democrats who enabled this.
:::puts tinfoil helmet on:::
I’m doing the prepper thing, for when progtards have yet another and massive collective meltdown when the Bad-Orange-Man is reelected on 2020.
I foresee lots of unrest, specially on progtard cities. I live out on the sticks but still the area is between 2 of them progtard enclaves here in Floriduh, so I’m stacking high and stacking deep.
Hope i’m completely wrong and totally overreacting… but if the past 20 years of living in hurricane alley have thought me anything is to expect the best but prepare for the worst.
There is nothing new under the sun. This has always been the way of the left going back to the russian revolution, the weathermen bombing in the 1970s and the shooting of Steve Scalise in Alexandria, Va. If they don’t get there way they always resort to violence. Be the gray man and be hard to kill.