The Anti-Trump Left Has Descended Into A Persistent Hallucinatory State

[SVPete]

The Anti-Trump Left Has Descended Into A Persistent Hallucinatory State

https://thefederalist.com/2026/10/26/the-anti-trump-left-has-descended-into-a-persistent-hallucinatory-state/

The first task of defeating political opponents is to understand who they are. What is it that Democrats think they’re doing? And what they think they’re doing in 2026 amounts to a relentless ritual hallucination in the service of an institutional status quo. They’re making up a fake world in their heads to protect their paychecks: in media, in academia, in government, in the results-not-required world of the nonprofit organization.

If you doubt that, go read the opinion pages of The New York Times, the agenda-setting newsletter of the government and nonprofit class. You couldn’t possibly do better than to start with Nicholas Kristof’s Oct. 24 column about Mean Orange Man, the journalistic equivalent of a street crazy babbling to himself on a bus bench. The theme of the essay is American norms. Trump is a deviation; Kristof is fighting for things that are normal.

To borrow from Mary McCarthy: Every word is a lie, including “and” and “the.” Pick any paragraph. Here’s one: “Norms of self-restraint historically made the system work. Presidents did not try to crush law firms or universities, nor did their administrations mislead federal courts or send armed officers into cities, where they shot people. Presidents quarreled with allies but didn’t threaten to invade Greenland.”

Every word is insane and overwrought, but “nor did their administrations mislead federal courts or send armed officers into cities, where they shot people” is very special. There have never been armed federal officers in American cities before? Federal agents never shot anyone until Mean Orange Trump?

Carlos Boles was shot and killed by a deputy U.S, marshal in 2011, when Barack Obama was president. That same year, during the same presidency, an ICE agent shot at Daniel Noriega in Anaheim, California, but missed. Adrian Ricketts was shot by an FBI agent in New York City in 2012, when Barack Obama was president.  Fernando Llanez was shot and killed by an HSI/ICE agent in June of 2016, in a suburb of San Diego, same president. Jamarion Robinson was shot by deputy U.S. marshals, dozens of times, in August of 2016, when Barack Obama was president.
...
Or take, “Presidents quarreled with allies but didn’t threaten to invade Greenland.” If there’s one thing we know about American history for sure, it’s that no American president has ever threatened to invade anything before. Even if you just limit the argument to presidents threatening allies, Kristof’s case is still insane. Manuel Noriega was a longtime American ally until George H.W. Bush decided to invade Panama and capture him. Here’s a 2017 AP headline about his death: “Noriega, US ally turned target, dies after decades in jail.”

Henry Kissinger responded to the oil crisis by hinting broadly at the American willingness to use military force against the major oil-producing nations, and President Gerald Ford backed him up. No American president ever threatened to invade anything before? Again, what on Earth is this person talking about?

Trump is too EEEeeeeee-vile to deserve truth-telling.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Kristof probably knows better but expects his audience not to.

[SVPete]

Kristof probably knows better but expects his audience not to.

Trying to divine between ignorance or lying in hope that readers don't know better is frequently a question about the crazed claims from the Prog commentariat.

[ADsOutburst]

Trying to divine between ignorance or lying in hope that readers don't know better is frequently a question about the crazed claims from the Prog commentariat.

I've often had this reaction when reading/listening to Democrats talk. If they say something stupid when they know better, then perhaps they simply think everyone else is stupid. Or maybe they're letting you know they're not going to change their position, and they just want us to buzz off.