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Projection: the attribution of one's own ideas, feelings, or attitudes to other people. (Merriam Webster).
You might have heard that President Biden thinks “right-wing Republicans” and “MAGA extremists” are a threat to “our democracy.” If you do not support all-ages drag shows, top surgery, bottom surgery or chemical castration for teenagers, or abortion on demand, you are an extremist, a Nazi, a fascist.
The fact that the violence and threats the president and his followers are warning about are, in fact, coming from Democrats is projection – the attribution of one’s own feelings to other people. Hateful, dangerous, and escalating comments from left wing politicians are radicalizing their supporters and rationalizing violence.
This has been the case for some time. Remember the Bernie Sanders supporter who shot five people, including Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), at a baseball practice in Virginia in 2017? Or do you remember the protesters pounding on the doors of the Capital and the Supreme Court in 2018 during the Justice Kavanaugh confirmation hearings? The neighborhoods burned to the ground in the summer of 2020? All Democrats, but sure "right-wing extremists" are the threat.
More recently, Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, said his party and all Americans need to "kill and confront" an "extremist" movement in the GOP. Sen. Hirono, D-Hawaii, said pro-life actions are a "literal call to arms." Never one to pass up an opportunity to fan the flames, the great uniter Hillary Clinton joined the chorus saying Trump supporters raising their arms are a Nazi salute .
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The drumbeat is getting louder, just last Sunday, Biden adviser, Keisha Bottoms, said on MSNBC that the extremist Republican movement "is a danger to our democracy, it is a danger to our way of life ." The message is getting through. This week an 83-year-old Michigan woman canvassing to defeat a radical pro-abortion ballot measure was shot in the arm after a "heated argument."
Closer to home we had the murder of teenager Cayler Ellingson, run over by 41-year-old Shannon Brandt. Much was made of the report from the initial investigation that showed no evidence that Cayler was a right-wing extremist, of course it didn’t. But that misses the point. Whether there is proof that the teenager was a right winger is irrelevant, what is relevant is the intent and motivation of Brandt. What pushed him to take matters into his own hands?
Yes, our country faces threats, we are at a crossroad. One direction leads to the failure of our culture, to the growing use of our children as medical and social experiments with untold consequences. To the consolidation of power by the unholy alliance of government and business elites and the further loss of freedom. The pace of decline can be numbing.
Discern truth and act on it. Seek the good, the true, and the beautiful and ignore the name calling and the threats. If we remain silent, we will lose. The source of the quote is disputed but “silence in the face of evil, is evil itself.” Speak up.
Grande represented the 41st District in the N.D. Legislature from 1996 to 2014. She is CEO of the Roughrider Policy Center, an "innovation over regulation" think tank. She is a wife, mom, grandma, lover of life and Jesus. Opinions are solely her own.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.
