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The Real Rising Extremism in America

As the adage goes, “Accuse your opponents of that which you are guilty.” Avoid the blame, or embarrassment, for your own vices by first declaring that your enemies are guilty of those same ills so that the disgust and attention are shifted away from you.

The American Left has all but mastered this tactic, having successfully accused the Republican Party—and the Right as a whole—of being bigoted, sexist, racist, and the like, while completely erasing the Democratic Party’s history as supporters of slavery, against women’s suffrage, and in favor of segregation and Jim Crow. Their dramatic switch came only when it was politically expedient for them to attempt it, as Lyndon Johnson understood with his infamous (private) declaration before signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (For those who aren’t aware . . . let’s just say Johnson had a blunt way of declaring that African-Americans would be loyal to Democrats for the next two centuries.)

But this tactic has never before been used so liberally (pardon the pun) as it is used today, where just about every person to the right of Joseph Stalin is “literally Hitler,” anyone who voted for Trump (if even reluctantly) is “alt-right,” and anyone who opposes open borders, multiculturalism, and globalism is “far-right.” Everyone from libertarians to Christians is part of some kind of fringe, although the definition of “fringe” now encompasses the bulk of the cloth.

Enter the SPLC
No group perpetuates this insidious propaganda campaign more than the left-wing hate-group known as the Southern Poverty Law Center, which (of course) covers for its own obvious status as a hate-group by constantly labeling other organizations “hate groups.”

Recently, the SPLC released a report that might well be considered the Left’s equivalent of the Ottomans storming the gates of Constantinople: The report claimed that a record number of white nationalists are running for office in the United States in 2018—more than at any time in our history. Of course, on the surface, this sounds terrible—like the absolute end of political decency in America. More white nationalists running than ever before? What have we come to?

A quick look beyond the headline, however, reveals how ludicrous this statement is. This “record number” equates to . . . eight white nationalists in total, running from across the entire country, in seven different states (two in California, of all places, and one in six other states), and most running primarily for the House of Representatives.

This is the same as recent “studies” claiming, for example, that the rate of suicide among young women has reached record highs . . . while neglecting to mention that this “high” is only 5.2 percent, whereas the rate among young men is nearly five times as much, at 23.7 percent. Clearly, cherry-picked facts contribute to the Left’s favorite narratives, while ignoring what the larger picture says. Even if it’s a record, it is still very low.

Of course, even if confronted with these inconveniently small numbers, the Left’s narrative will only shift to something along the lines of: “Who cares how many it is? The rhetoric of DRUMPF and the GOP is encouraging these people!”

And?

Should Trump take the blame for his campaign being endorsed by David Duke? And what difference does it make if white nationalists claim to be Republicans but are roundly condemned by the party in every way?

Patrick Little, who ran for U.S. Senate in California on a platform of wanting to exterminate and/or remove all Jews from America, was condemned by the state party, kicked out of the party convention, and won a grand total of 55,000 votes, or about 1.4 percent overall. Big whoop.

Paul Nehlen, the borderline-psychotic antisemite running for Paul Ryan’s seat in Wisconsin, has been condemned not only by the party but even by those who once backed his candidacy, such as Steve Bannon.

Two other House candidates, Arthur Jones in Illinois and John Fitzgerald in California, have also been condemned by the state parties, and even then only advanced to the general elections because they were the only “Republican” candidates running, in safely blue seats that the parties opted to not waste time or effort on with serious candidates.

And Nathan Larson in Virginia is of no concern to either major party since he is running as an independent candidate (and is a former Libertarian). His candidacy, however, can be seen as a stand-in for a referendum on Democratic policies if nothing else, since the convicted felon and open pedophile is only able to run for Congress because the Democratic former governor Terry McAuliffe pardoned thousands of felons like Larson.

The fact remains that none of these lunatics are actually going to win in their respective races. So why worry about them?

Socialists Ascendant
Meanwhile, there is another, equally vile but actually dangerous radical movement arising. This movement is dangerous because it is openly endorsed by one of the major parties and its advocates have the potential to win seats and wield real political power.

Out-and-proud socialists are running for office, in numbers that easily match the “record” numbers of white nationalists. In Pennsylvania alone, four outright socialists—backed by the Democratic Socialists of America—won the Democratic Party nominations for state House races. Two of them do not have any Republican challengers for the general election, and so are guaranteed seats in the Pennsylvania legislature come November. One of them arrogantly declared, “We’re turning the state the right shade of red tonight.”

Yes, very red indeed. Red like the blood of the more than 100 million people who were killed by Communism over the course of the 20th century— a body count that vastly exceeds any total the Nazis ever dreamed of achieving.

In one of the races that the SPLC was so fixated upon—the race where Patrick Little came in 12th place—the second-place finisher for U.S. Senate was California State Senator Kevin de León, a socialist-leaning politician who, in addition to his open contempt for the Second Amendment, advocates single-payer, top-down healthcare.

Or what about that race to replace the retiring Paul Ryan? The Democratic frontrunner in that district is Randy Bryce, another single-payer proponent as well as a backer of a $15-an-hour minimum wage. He is endorsed by independent socialist Senator Bernie Sanders and the group Justice Democrats, which was founded by leading figures from Sanders’ presidential campaign, as well as the far-Left, Armenian Genocide-denying YouTube channel The Young Turks.

The Sound of Silence
In response to these outrageous candidates, do you hear any Democrat disavowals or cries of extremism? Is there any condemnation for those who proudly run for office under the hammer and sickle? Do you see any leaders of the party calling upon members to virtue-signal their disgust with the most racialist advocates of identity politics who openly express hatred for white people? What major party leader is out there on the national stage insisting that their party is not represented by these people and that it cannot be a home to those who do?

Of course, you will hear nothing of the sort. This kind of polarizing behavior is encouraged by Democrat leaders because it has the effect of locking in the voting blocs they want and need.

Look no further than the fact that perhaps the two biggest heroes of socialism in America today—Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—are both running for re-election this year, ahead of intense speculation that one or both of them could be frontrunners for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

And when the Democrats are not touting outright socialism, they are casually allowing their own brand of ethnic nationalism to sweep right into the mainstream.

As numerous Democratic figures have refused to disavow the black nationalist and antisemite Louis Farrakhan, even as his continued presence and growing influence have encouraged like-minded individuals to run for office as Democrats.

In Georgia, a 26-year-old African-American woman named Mariah Parker was elected as a county commissioner in a very close race. In a photo that has since gone viral, she was sworn into office with one hand on a Malcolm X biography, while the other is held in the air in the notorious “black power” fist.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country, 22-year-old YouTuber and former national leader of Students for Trump, James Allsup, was elected to a similar position in Washington state. But when he was accused of being a white nationalist, he was condemned by the local, state, and national parties . . . even though he has repeatedly stated he is not a white nationalist (calling himself instead a paleoconservative, a right-leaning libertarian, and an American nationalist), and even condemned the violence and hateful imagery displayed in Charlottesville.

Double-Standards Everywhere
The contrast could not be any more clear. It goes without saying that white nationalists, though not supported by any major party or sensible political figure, continue to draw outsized media attention. Those white nationalists who choose to run as Republicans are often just opportunists seeking the quick and easy attention they know they can so easily get at the moment. Others who are accused of being white nationalists can deny these claims up and down, seventeen different ways from Sunday. But once the claim is made, spineless Republicans can’t wait to disown them.

Meanwhile, outright socialists, black nationalists, and antisemites are excused, ignored, or even openly celebrated by the Democratic Party at large. Where’s the outrage? It doesn’t even exist.

We should not waste any more time falling for the Left’s cries of “white nationalist” when there are clearly none (or, at least, none that are a legitimate problem or political threat). Instead, we should focus on the actual wolves that only seek to do us harm. The true radicals threatening America’s very identity are not on the Right. They are on the Left.

That is why the Left keeps accusing us of being radicals, ethnic nationalists, and antisemites. They’re the guilty ones, and they know it. Soon enough, the rest of the country will know it too.

Photo credit: Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

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About Eric Lendrum

Eric Lendrum graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was the Secretary of the College Republicans and the founding chairman of the school’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter. He has interned for Young America’s Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, and the White House, and has worked for numerous campaigns including the 2018 re-election of Congressman Devin Nunes (CA-22). He is currently a co-host of The Right Take podcast.

Photo: WASHINGTON, USA - MAY 1: People places a bouquet of flowers and a socialist flag on a statue as they gather in Malcolm X Park during a May Day and Immigration protest in Washington, United States on May 1, 2017. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)