by Thaddeus G. McCotter via American Greatness,
Far-left candidates court socialist influencers in primaries, then pivot to the center for the general election...
If memory serves me, while serving in Congress amidst a heated midterm battle in the mid-2000s, I made a cable television appearance where I was asked an "ambush" question. Well, it wasn't quite an ambush question, because the station in question was left-wing; hence, the anchor's Pavlovian parroting of the Democrat talking point du jour was really no surprise. The question was something along the lines of "Does every Republican blindly listen to Rush?"
"Who doesn't love a Canadian power rock trio?" I replied. My interrogator was nonplussed. I elaborated, "Though I do prefer Triumph."
In truth, the Rush in question was actually Mr. Limbaugh, who was at the height of his renown. Looking for an issue, the Democrats trotted out the canard that Republicans didn't work for their constituents but were in the thrall of a radio show host, following his dictates heedless of what the public wanted.
The Democrats' strategy quickly petered out, largely because Mr. Limbaugh's pro-American and commonsensical views were shared by scores of millions of Americans. Thus, even if some Republicans were influenced to one degree or another by Rush's views, those views were also shared by many of their right- and center-right constituents, who formed the base of their electoral coalition.
What evokes this memory is how the rank hypocrisy of today's leftists, particularly the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), regards their associations with social media, particularly radical leftist socialist influencers - one of whom, in fact, claims to aspire to being the radical version of Rush Limbaugh.*
The ideological difference between Mr. Limbaugh and today's shrill leftist socialist influencers is patent, as their anti-American content readily attests to their quest for clicks, celebrity, and money. (At present, I am unaware of these socialist influencers voluntarily putting their streaming revenues into a pool to be apportioned by a commissar for the common good of the oppressed.)
Be it hating all Americans or - as if to prove the depths of their animus - justifying the murderous terrorist attacks on our nation on September 11, 2001, or rationalizing away domestic left-wing political violence, these socialist influencers, to varying degrees of self-indulgent animus and self-imposed ignorance, aver that the "United States of Amerika" is irredeemably racist, misogynistic, inequitable, and wholly corrupt, and must be radically transformed into a socialist utopia by an omnipotent government controlled and commanded by them and their bilious, unproductive ilk, who have never run anything but their mouths.
Sane people would be tempted to think these anti-American, socialist cranks would be ignored by sound minds. They are. But sound minds are in ever-shortening supply these days. That is why they are increasingly being listened to and heeded by politically like-minded listeners.
In the instances of those listeners who become DSA and other ideologically aligned far-left candidates, there is the question of how truly they dance to the socialist influencers' tune - especially in electoral areas that are not deep blue progressive hellscapes.
What happens is the far-left candidate proclaims to the far-left, socialist, America-loathing voters how they, too, share that view. To help prove their bona fides as radicals and defeat a Democrat establishment candidate in a primary, they associate and, in some cases, physically appear with socialist influencers on the campaign trail.
Once they win their primary, however, the far-left/DSA Democrat realizes that America-loathing is not a great general election issue, so they begin to distance themselves not only from such socialist influencers but also from their own words.
One would hope such cynical duplicity would be readily identified so voters could factor it into their considerations. Unfortunately, we live in a world where the deceitfully named "accountability journalism" is a pandemic transmogrifying objective reporting into propaganda. As a result, when the far-left candidate is called on the carpet about embracing socialist influencers, the crucial bloc of independents views it, if at all, as just another partisan attack.
Consequently, the far-left/DSA candidate can casually dissemble how they are not there to disavow any social media influencer and how any past association with socialist influencers is a distraction by their GOP opponent, indeed a smear tactic. As they cynically race from the radical Left to the center in a general election, the far-left/DSA candidate hopes the voters miss the abject deceit in this defense.
The far-left/DSA candidate has actively embraced and aligned with the America-hating socialist influencer to court like-minded America-loathing socialists in his or her electoral coalition. Thus, while the far-left/DSA candidate claims not to have "disavowed" the socialist influencer, that is already known, because the fact is the far-left/DSA candidate has knowingly and cynically aligned with the socialist influencer and their listeners to win the primary.
Now, not wanting to lose these critical members of their electoral coalition, the far-left/DSA candidate gives a wink and a nod in the general election to keep their votes in his or her pocket without alienating independent and traditional Democrat voters. Meanwhile, this general election conversion from a far-left/DSA candidate into a center-left moderate is abetted by an ideologically sympathetic media that studiously ignores it.
One group that does not ignore it, however, is the socialist influencers. Throughout both their overt primary support and covert support in general elections, they have made no bones about how, once elected, the far-left/DSA candidate will answer to them - or else.
One can only imagine if Rush Limbaugh had made such claims against Republicans. Or, indeed, if Republicans had tried to win primaries by fist-bumping the far-right version of these socialist influencers and then scurrying to the center. They would rightly be pilloried by the press and the electorate.
People of good hearts know that hate is hate regardless of its partisan stripe and that it has no place in our American home. Yet, despite their lawn signs to the contrary, for the far-left/DSA candidates and their friends in a compliant press, not all haters are created equal, and their radical, socialist influencer haters, while muted for the moment as a matter of electoral necessity, are far from appeased.
If these radical socialist influencers get their way and their fellow-traveling far-left/DSA candidates get away with their cynical strategy and win, their America-loathing words will become deeds.
[*Author's note: I did not name the individual social influencers who disdain Americans and our country. I am not in the habit of giving these reprobates what they seek - name recognition, validation, and the clicks they crave that provide the revenue streams needed to propagate their anti-American screeds and promote their "careers." One rightly must support the freedom of speech. But no one is required to promote views they find repugnant. Feel free, however, to look them up and give them a listen, though I advise you to have the Alka-Seltzer handy.]
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/lefts-rank-hypocrisy-socialist-influencers
