Left-Wing Hatred has Escalated Post-Trump.

Hillary Clinton infamously declaimed “half of Trump’s supporters” as “irredeemable” and a “basket of deplorables.” Barack Obama sneered at “bitter” Americans who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them...” Joe Biden condemned “10-15% of Americans” as “just not good people.” This dehumanization of the other, a propaganda tool essential for war and genocide, is a central tenet of America’s New Left—an ideological departure not only from “old-school” liberalism, but from the Constitutional foundations of the nation.

The vilification of those who do not conform to its tenets is fundamental to liberal-democratic dogma.

“Classical” liberalism distrusted the state which it saw as a threat to individual liberties. In the 1960’s, this way of thinking evolved into a modern liberalism, which viewed government as the vehicle by which social and economic equity could be achieved. This doctrinal evolution may have been in good faith, but has bloated into a progressive politicization that increasingly controls citizens’ lives with utopian proposals. Thus, the political theory founded on individual liberty from state interference mutated into the present determination to employ the state to enforce ever-expanding moral, economic, and cultural oversight. The reparations effort, climate change, the #metoo movement: all call for government encroachment in the name of liberty (including even the elimination of subconscious racism).

The vilification of those who do not conform to its tenets is fundamental to liberal-democratic dogma. Leftwing hatred went full-throttle following the Capitol assault. Particular care was taken to vilify all conservatives, linking them to the KKK and Nazis. One histrionic editorial published the day after declared: “The lineage between the slaveholding secessionists and the modern insurrectionists could not have been more clear: Both groups were willing to destroy the union and both used violence to deflect their own racial fantasies of power and privilege slipping away.”

Another commentator, writer and American Unitarian pastor John Pavlovitz, claimed that former President Trump exposed other people’s hate. Pavlovitz writes that Trump gave “like-minded people license” to “unapologetically admitting who they always were but were previously fearful of declaring.” He continues: “You became the flag they could proudly wave in defiant hatred of so many. You’ve made bigotry, misogyny, and racism socially acceptable again and that has been a kind of twisted gift because it’s allowed me to really see people; not as they pretend to be on the surface—but in the very depths of their wounded, weaponized hearts.”

New Leftists, that spent the last four years insisting that "no human is illegal," and "kindness is everything," are now in power, and the bankruptcy of their lawn-sign ideology has become evident.

The left’s seething rage was never caused by Donald Trump, but he became a perfect lightning rod for it ever since he made his way down the now-infamous golden escalator in 2015. Now, with President Trump out of office, the contempt for America, the Constitution, and fellow citizens that undergirded the Obama/Clinton/Biden-esque demonizing of American conservatives is not only openly visible—it’s official policy. New Leftists, that spent the last four years insisting that "no human is illegal," and "kindness is everything," are now in power, and the bankruptcy of their lawn-sign ideology has become evident.

The conflation of Donald Trump, his supporters, and all conservative Americans with slaveholders and the Schutzstaffel may seem flippant, but it is intentional and extremely dangerous. These conflations are now uncritically repeated by a left who spent the last four years characterizing Donald Trump and popular conservatism as a "threat to democracy," a threat to America, and a threat to our national security. And threats, as we all know, are meant to be exterminated.

There is a form of “pathological dualism” that pervades leftist thinking post-Trump, one that divides people into “unimpeachably good” and “irredeemably bad” categories. In their 2018 bestseller, The Coddling of the American Mind, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt describe how the left can revert to a politics of hate and blame with so little cognitive dissonance (italics in original):

“Identity can be mobilized in ways that emphasize an overarching common humanity while making the case that some fellow human beings are denied dignity and rights because they belong to a particular group, or it can be mobilized in ways that amplify our ancient tribalism and bind people together in shared hatred of a group that serves as the unifying common enemy.”

The left's ideological hatred (and ideology of hatred) cannot be appeased: there is no such thing as “agree to disagree.” The evidence for this contempt for all things Constitutional and American has been mounting for some years, though many hoped it would subside once Donald Trump faded from the scene. Instead, left-wing hate is being mainstreamed and normalized by leaders, cultural icons, even late-night liberal talk shows, which have started to resemble witch-burnings, so mouth-foaming is their uncorked partisan wrath against fellow Americans who voted “unacceptably.”

There is no hope that this ideological virus will fade: it must be vituperatively opposed. That's the advice of European Parliamentarian and scholar Ryszard Legutko, who, having lived under martial law and communist rule in Poland, is one of the few voices qualified to recognize the dangers of liberal-democratic ideology. In March 2019, two years after a crowd of Middlebury College students shouted down Charles Murray, Professor Legutko made headlines when he too was silenced by unruly radicals who, in effect, proved Legutko’s chief premise: leftist ideology does not tolerate dissent.

He explored this idea thoroughly in his 2018 book, The Demon in Democracy, where Professor Legutko sets out to warn the world—and America in particular—that liberal-democratic totalitarianism had firmly seized all of Europe, and had set its eyes on America. Forewarning the danger we face now that left-wing hatred is moving freely through American institutions, Legutko emphatically insists it is a “...mistake to ignore the fact that liberal-democratic ideology has long since ceased to be open (if it ever was) and has entered a stage of rigid dogmatization. The more conquests it makes, the less the victors are willing to show clemency to anyone outside the winning forces.”

[caption id="attachment_185903" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Portland riot.[/caption]

AMERICA’S UNIQUE ROLE IN THIS GLOBAL BATTLE

It is baffling that those who say they are “inclusive,” “tolerant,” and “diversified” are the most monolithic group-thinkers ever to arise as a majority in America’s landscape. Professor Legutko explains, in detail, how this bizarre ideology arose, why it is so dangerous, and what its intentions are. His emphasis on the United States is two-fold: the encroachment of leftist ideology seems to be intensifying here, and (more importantly) the entire world depends on America to hold the fort of civilization against this toxic cult that threatens genocidal fury if the walls of our constitutional Republic are torn down. He writes, “...in America we can still see a culture war continuing unresolved for decades, although the forces of the left seem to prevail gradually over those of the right. Europe has not had such a war, and it is highly unlikely it will break out in the foreseeable future as there is no social force of any significance that could launch an offensive against the cultural monopoly of the left.”

Biden et al. rush to expand government rapidly into every aspect of society, including thought, education, family, and the economy.

Legutko instructs that liberal-democratic ideology is neither liberal, nor democratic. Instead, it bears persistent similarities to communist ideology, including its view of itself as a church-like savior of all humanity. This explains the flurry of vague “social justice” laws that disregard conventional Constitutional law and its protections, as well as the reckless proliferation of government-imposed “equity” programs. Instead of a free people living in communities protected by a Bill of Rights against government intrusion, Biden et al. rush to expand government rapidly into every aspect of society, including thought, education, family, and the economy.

As Legutko explains, “In its essence, liberalism is unabashedly aggressive because it is determined to hunt down all nonliberal agents and ideas, which it treats as a threat to itself and humanity. The organizing principle of liberalism—as in all other philosophies aiming to change the world radically—is therefore dualism, not pluralism.”

The likeness to communism also explains the erstwhile communist whistleblowers are visible in today’s America, reporting neighbors for mask or social distancing “violations,” displaying a (constitutionally-protected) confederate flag, uttering a microaggressive comment, or “misusing” a trans-pronoun.  Legutko describes these new “warriors” (who take no actual risks, because the entire media and state establishment backs them):

“An intellectual’s sharp eye and perceptiveness will always recognize what is politically dangerous: a sentence, a metaphor, a proverb, an incorrect text on the bulletin board, a work of fiction—a seemingly little thing and yet shamelessly undermining the liberal-democratic rules. And because liberal-democracy, like communism, produced large numbers of lumpen-individuals, there is no shortage of people who ecstatically become involved in tracking disloyalty and fostering a new orthodoxy.”

Liberal-democratic ideology is utopian, seeing itself as the sole arbiter for all things “good” for humanity’s future: saving the planet, stopping hateful racism and sexism, undoing wealth disparity, ending all suffering forever. A deeper (albeit, fictional) exploration of this delusional phenomenon of crafting human utopias was undertaken by Fyodor Dostoevsky, in his prophetic novel The Possessed. Scathingly condemned by leftists of his time (according to a 1962 afterword by Marc Slonim), “[t]he indignant liberals saw in it a calumny on the Russian intelligentsia.” Dostoevsky foretold with eerie precision the subsequent dark purges in the Soviet Union. His novel reveals the narcissistic cynicism of the Revolution’s leaders: that the people are used by political opportunists who care nothing for proletarian struggles.

This treatment of everyday people and their struggles is evident today, especially in how elites on the left use (and abuse) those they claim to be "helping." This manifests in regressive taxes to “help” the poor, climate legislation that hurts small businesses, and even race: many (white) Americans invoke their “unimpeachably good” (recalling Lukianoff and Haidt) crocodile tears for George Floyd, then transfer blame for his victimhood onto every non-bowing “other” American as complicit actors. Last year, Breonna Taylor’s killing fueled more rounds of rage, as every past shooting was recalled as proof of societal white guilt. In reality, elite liberal democrats are exploiting George Floyd and black suffering to consolidate political power under a totalitarian ideology feigning as liberating.

[caption id="attachment_185901" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] BLM protest.[/caption]

Legutko warns liberal-democratic ideology is, in many ways, more frightening than communism, because it is detached from the horrors of communism and thus ignorant of its potential for harm, embraces rather than eschews state control, and operates as a “great, liberal-democratic church.” Identity politics excludes universal rights, in the name of equality; it elevates race or sexual preference in status. In the name of multiculturalism, it destroys all culture. In the name of liberty, it coerces all—in speech, thought, and action (what Legutko describes as “coercion to freedom”).

Post-Trump, the left (and even some on the supposed right) are scouring the land for scapegoats...

If Americans do not stand and fight this insidious evil today, they will one day be forced to fight it from an underground movement, in hiding. This ideology sweeps past barriers like Constitutions, freedom of expression, exchange of ideas, or civility. It has no patience, tolerance, time, or respect for such “tools of oppression.” The world must be remade now, the old torn down. (Although, what that world is to become in this new utopia is not disclosed because no one knows—what is “next” will be determined after this round… of purges.)

Post-Trump, the left (and even some on the supposed right) are scouring the land for scapegoats—all his supporters are racist, homophobic haters who must be exposed, called out, forced to repent, expelled from positions of authority, lose their jobs, be doxxed. This is the secular shunning from the new Church of Identity. Get on board, or get crushed! Corporate America has joined the fray, including Big Tech’s escalating censorship of political speech. Under what rock is the believer in America and Constitutional law to seek shelter?

Legutko explains this is both the means and ends of today’s liberal ideology: this is as good as it gets. Utopia will never “arrive,” universal rules equally applicable to all will not be established. Instead, this infection will reach deeper into private life, and never be sated with revenge (justice) or satisfactory restitution for infinite past wrongs. It will unravel when it implodes, killing many millions. Like the economist and social theorist Thomas Sowell has long warned, this ideological errancy will create more and more inequities. By focusing on “equity of outcomes,”  this utopian quest will ensure fewer and fewer equalities of opportunity, skewing outcomes yet more, and so on. Perfect equality of outcome is a certain impossibility.

Americans equipped with these simple truths must stand against utopian dreams that deliver dystopian realities. That horrifying future is now visible, as shameless unjustified attacks against fellow citizens escalate in intensity and scope.

Donald Trump has passed from view, but the virus of New Leftism is thriving and easy to see. And what is visible is that it is a bitter, seething contempt, far wider than any one man.

Editor's Note: This article was updated on March 5th, 2021, to correct an error that misidentified the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor as black. The plainclothes officers, Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove, were white.