Politicians understand it is far more effective to appeal to the emotions of voters than try to convince them their policies make sense. That is why Democrats spent the entire 2024 campaign season inciting fear and hatred of Donald Trump. The fact it backfired has only resulted in a doubling-down of the strategy.

To be fair, Republicans are often guilty of this strategy. But in the age of Trump, Democrats have made gaslighting the American people the foundation of their political credo. Witness videos of Democrats’ past statements embracing policies they now hypocritically denounce only because Trump endorses them. (Hillary? Chuck? Nancy?)

Here is a short list of some of the mendacities we’ve been subjected to over the past decade: A border wall is racist. White supremacy is the biggest threat to our democracy. We need to defund the police. Jan. 6 was an insurrection. Masculinity is toxic. Joe Biden is mentally sharp. There is no difference between legal and illegal immigration. America is systemically racist. Joe Biden voluntarily quit the 2024 race. Trump is destroying our democracy! Tim Walz is a knucklehead. No, wait, that one’s true.

Now we’re told removing Venezuela’s drug lord/president Nicholas Maduro was illegal (and probably racist). Was it illegal to remove Panamanian president Manuel Noriega in 1989? Was it illegal for U.S. Special Forces to sneak into Pakistan and take out Osama Bin Laden? Oh, but that wasn’t Trump. As long as you keep buying the BS, Dems will keep selling it.

Richard Byers

Mt. Pleasant

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