The Democrats Funding Hate to Win Elections

It is well known the GOP plan for court packing has paid off, and captured the Supreme Court to force their religious ideology on the American people. And while the six Catholic judges currently sitting on the court are the ones who cast the deciding votes there is actually a greater reason why we are even in this situation in the first place which has also promoted the increase in hate crimes, white nationalism, anti-LGBTQI+ hatred, and anti-democratic movements we have seen growing in number and severity over the last few years, and it all comes down to Hillary Clinton.

This is not a flippant accusation blaming Clinton for her loss, although her campaign was inept and corrupt and conspired with the DNC to sabotage the candidacy of Bernie Sanders even though Sanders actually polled several points higher than Clinton against all potential GOP candidates, including Trump (Clinton even polled lower against Republican candidate Marco Rubio). Before and during the 2016 campaign, the Democratic National Committee and Mrs. Clinton decided that as part of her strategy they would help fund and promote fringe Republican candidates. This was not a new idea as the DNC had been doing this for a while (I am not a pundit and don’t know all the details) and funding extreme candidates during the opposition’s primary has been done before, but Mrs. Clinton was probably the first to do this during the presidential campaign. The reasoning is that a crazy, unpopular nominee would be much easier to beat in the general election, so they cut ads promoting the most fringe or unpopular candidate so that person wins the nomination instead of the other candidates who are more rational or experienced. It is an insanely risky strategy that could easily backfire, and anyone who thinks this is a good idea has a very cynical and calloused worldview and is far more concerned with gaining power than being an effective public servant. In the case of Mrs. Clinton, the candidate they chose to promote was Donald Trump. Yes, this really happened, and we all know that, predictably, it absolutely did not work.

I also remember seeing many, many campaign ads funded by the Clinton campaign talking about Trump. Far more than I saw of herself promoting her own platform, even. I posted on social media at the time, wondering aloud why she was giving him so much air time, and the responses I got from Liberal Democrats was that she needed to expose him for how terrible he was. Well, the opposition was in search of a powerful candidate who could make changes, and who better than a destructive, feckless, and reckless billionaire? Even though the left thought he was insane, it was still giving him exposure, elevating his status, and promoting his policies, on all Clinton’s dime. Surely they could not be so nearsighted to think this would work? But they were, and here we are.

Trump went on to win and then to appoint three seats on SCOTUS which have taken away many rights in a very short period of time. As of today, government officials can now compel you to accommodate their personal prayers during official proceedings, school events, and other public and government functions even though they are acting as agents of the state. But it was Clinton’s behavior in funding extremism, which the opposition was not doing because it is not a viable strategy and because it fucking elevates their platform, in order to gain power which has had the effect of perpetuating and mainstreaming these hateful and extreme ideologies. The right, her supposed opponents, were not investing in Donald Trump for the very reason of him being extreme and inexperienced, and if Clinton had not funded him the Republican nominee would likely have been someone like Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, or Carly Fiorina, all extremely boring candidates she would have handily bested but whom also would not have led a coup or subverted democratic norms and promoted hate to the degree Trump has.

What’s worse, this strategy of funding extreme opposition candidates has not stopped in spite of its obvious destructive and unproductive effects! It is going on at this very moment. Former Senator Claire McCaskill did this in her campaigns (she lost too) and is still promoting this as a viable campaign strategy as an adviser and public media commentator, even though she lost, and Democrats in places like Colorado and Pennsylvania continue promoting extreme candidates without any concern their actions have on our communities and wellbeing, the latest being the feckless Adam Schiff in California sending more than $11 million dollars to the most hateful, psychotic republican candidate in that field in order to edge out his more progressive rivals like Barbara Boxer. The reason these politicians do this is to win, because they don’t actually care what happens to us or to our country, so they will do whatever it takes to win, even that which is amoral.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign was especially cynical, refusing to campaign in swing states and treating Republican voters with contempt, and taking Donald Trump’s extreme positions for granted without any concern for how her behavior would promote and spread hateful, nationalist, and authoritarian ideology nor the effect such elevation of candidates would have on people like women, minorities, or those of us who are LGBTQI+ even if those candidates did not win office, even though they did and are winning because of this financial and institutional support, is the reason we are having to now deal with aggravated and emboldened extremists. It needs to stop, but the only way it stops is if enough people confront the Democratic party and candidates engaging in this subterfuge and demand that it ceases. Do not vote for candidates who are doing this. Call or email your local Democratic representatives, candidates, and party leaders, ask them what they are doing to put a stop to this behavior and if they have done it themselves. Demand accountability, and only support and elect candidates and officials who do not engage in this kind of cynical and inflammatory behavior just to get power. Talk about it on social media and hold people to account. You do not want these kinds of people in office anyway, they are unscrupulous and dishonest and will fuck you after they win.

Integrity is a quality all candidates for office must have, but funding extremist candidates to sabotage opponents in an election is not only dishonest, it is destructive and works to undermine our future victories by endorsing, elevating, and normalizing those positions and candidates. Politics in the United States right now are a dysfunctional exercise in Us Versus Them that needs to stop. You can do something about this dysfunction by getting involved in your local civics. People are also more susceptible to fearmongering and divisive politics when they are stressed and hurting, and the economic inequality and financial and resource stress is what drives the kind of hateful politics as people become more and more desperate for change, and implementing market stabilization policies which secure economic opportunity for everyone can help stop destructive politics.