Victor Davis Hanson
There is a well-recognized Left-wing syndrome when it comes to current and emeriti Republican presidents.
They despise them and equate them with Hitler. Then, once out of office, they rehabilitate them as sober, judicious, and “good ol’ ” Republicans—in contrast with the current Republican and new replacement “Hitler.”
When Ronald Reagan was president, the Left said he got his ideas from Mein Kampf, and cartoonists portrayed him Hitler-like in a Munich beer hall. When Reagan deterred the Russians by deploying Pershing missiles to Europe, he was reduced to a veritable Dr. Strangelove. Hollywood began making television movies about the end of the world, and “the day after”(Reagan’s) nuclear war.
Do we remember all the left-wing scientific chatter about a “nuclear winter” to come—that started with Reagan, continued with George H.W. Bush, and mysteriously ended once Bill Clinton entered office?
Both Clinton and Obama praised the once Hitler-Reagan—but only when he was out of office—as flexible and unlike other Republican ideologues (like the then current president George W. Bush and the Tea Party (“tea-baggers” they called them) to come.
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) cited the Holocaust to blast George W. Bush’s policy in Iraq: “This is just as bad as the 6million Jews being killed.”
In his upside-down world, the mass murderer is the moral equivalent of those who stop him. The ex-Klansman Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) evoked Nazi Germany to warn about the supposedly fascist Bush administration. Do we remember Jonathan Chait’s New Republic essay, “Why I hate Bush,” which was a pathetic rambling meltdown of venting?
Al Gore compared the Bush people to “brownshirts.” Evensupposedly statesmanlike ex-astronaut and senator, John Glen, compared Bush to Hitler.
And then Bush was out of office in 2009 and relegated to painting on his Texas Ranch, where the Left assured us he was not so Hitlerian after all.
But Presto, the next Republican President reentered the White House in 2017. Lo and behold, Trump was now worse than Hitler, even as Bush was slowly becoming not just a puttering artist, a nice guy, and a “bipartisan”—in contrast to the fascist, Nazi Trump.
After Bush left office, the Bush-hating Chait changed his tune a bit, from loathing Bush to suggesting that he was now powerless and out of office and thus in retrospect he might have done some good things—or at least was far better than the contemporary Republican Party:
“It is also true that Bush’s party, unfortunately, decided, after his presidency, that he failed primarily by being too moderate, too compassionate, and too bipartisan, and moved even further to the right, making Bush look retrospectively sane. At the time, some of us simply took for granted Bush’s choices to avoid anti-Muslim bigotry and not propose enormous cuts to government programs for the sickest and most vulnerable Americans. By the standards of the present-day GOP, these decisions make Bush look fair-minded and even statesmanlike.”
So, the rule stuck: hated while president, only to become “fair-minded and even statesmanlike out of office”—at least in comparison to his Republican successor.
So, in comparison, the current Republican president, Trump, who holds enormous power, with a Republican Congress and a conservative-leaning Supreme Court, supposedly makes all of America yearn again for once Hitler-Bush?
As for Trump, the current national pastime among the Left is figuring out how best to beat him up or even kill him, or to wish his three would-be assassins had finished the job, or to suggest Trump staged his near-miss death experiences with shooters.
The New York actors of Shakespeare in the Park turned Julius Caesar into Trump and staged his mass stabbing.
Mickey Rourke fancied clubbing. Snoop Dogg liked shooting. Gavin Newsom, Nancy Pelosi, and Robert De Niro all preferred punching Trump out. The now-infamous Kathy Griffin opted for beheading Trump. So did Marilyn Manson.
The late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s choice for Trump, predictably, was poisoning.
“Comedian” George Lopez liked the Iranian idea of a bounty killing. Pearl Jam offered the macabre vision of a bald eagle feeding on Trump’s corpse.
Larry Wilmore dreamed of suffocating Trump. Do we remember Moby and Madonna, who opted for blowing up Trump?
Rosie O’Donnell tried to be original by envisioning Trump being thrown off a cliff.
Johnny Depp joked about a John Wilkes Booth-style Trump assassination. Epstein friend and billionaire Reid Hoffman preened, “Yeah, I wish I had made him an actual martyr.”
Do we recall Biden’s boast to his donors: “So, we’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”
So, what is going on with the Left hating Republican presidents while in office and rehabilitating them in retirement?
Discussion (3)
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The next Republican "Hitler" is the next Republican Democrats have to deal with at the national level. Every Republican president since (and including) Reagan was Hitler. As were both Bushes and (of course) Trump. As also were the Republican candidates who didn't win the Presidency. As will be whoever the Republicans run in 2028. It's been Democrat SOP for 40 years now and will continue for as long as it is perceived to work, and a while after that, ending only when such emoting is considered to be electoral poison. I expect we'll see Trump-grade whinge too. Activism doesn't ever build down, only up.
I think we need a lot of Betty Ford locations for "Addiction to Power".
Excellent commentary. Referring to all of the sentiments and quotes of the various and sundry Leftists: Signs of the times. Kind of makes one long for the pre-1960s decades, does it not?