A smear campaign is a deliberate and calculated effort to damage an individual’s or group’s reputation, credibility, and character. Like negative campaigning, smear campaigns frequently target politicians and political candidates. Those who use smear campaigns often use the legal system and other means to accomplish their goals of destroying opponents. Unfortunately, in recent elections, smear campaigns have become weaponized by those in power and those seeking power. They are now the norm, not the exception.
The New Left
We have seen a change in the Democrats in recent years, as they have morphed disagreements over policy and rational discussions into outright character assassinations. They have embraced cultural wedge issues they know to be false to a degree that they often become cultlike. From abortion to gender to climate change and a host of others, we are constantly bombarded with ubiquitous and vitriolic conversation. Disagreeing with this mob has become a source of ridicule and scorn not just for conservatives but also for thinking liberals.
In desperation, the Democrats proffered an aging President Biden and then Kamala Harris as their Presidential candidates. President Biden showed the depths of his depravity this week when he pardoned his son Hunter. The unspoken truth is that pardoning Hunter opens the door to the Biden family pocketing millions from foreign governments without recourse for the American people. If that were not enough, there is talk this morning of issuing blanket pardons to people who might be investigated by Republicans in 2025. Innocent people do not need to be pardoned before they are found guilty of a crime. The only reason for such discussions is an admission of guilt before an accusation, much less a trial and conviction.
Vice President Harris would have been a disaster for the country and would have moved us sharply toward authoritarianism. As a typical trick of the modern left, they have been painting President Trump with their sins as a diversion. Liberals are masters of asymmetric political warfare.
Dean Cavanaugh Observations
British science fiction writer Dean Cavanaugh, author of Babylon Heights, is a thinker who often offers memorable quotes and insights into our culture. Three of his observations point directly to the cultural issues we face today and are worth pondering as we enter the post-election period.
“Culture now spreads at central nervous system speed. It’s a shame that compassion doesn’t.”
“Character assassination of a politician is a victimless crime.
“It is no longer left versus right. It is authoritarianism versus freedom.”
Dean Cavanaugh
In the past, Cavanaugh has not been a fan of President Trump, but many of his past observations that might have been aimed at conservatives have become criticisms of liberals in our society.
This switch in position politically has come from President Trump’s popularity and decisive move to the center without losing his base. His adaptation of themes from the traditional Republicans and Democrats into a new platform is uncomfortable for all. This new mantra for Republicans has them morphing into a different party with a much more centrist view of America. The “big tent” is now pitched in the Republican yard.
Considering the recent United States election, let us examine just these three observations from Cavanaugh and others related to it.
Culture at the Speed of Light
“Those who constantly seek escapism from reality are in danger of building a reality that’s impossible to escape from.”
Dean Cavanaugh
With the onslaught of the Internet Age, the spread of everything, not just culture, now moves at the speed of light. Over the past four years, we have seen people in authority willing to destroy our culture to further their power and control. This has come in the form of speech suppression, false accusations, identity politics, and asymmetric warfare. Those who seek to divide us often use the freedoms guaranteed under our Constitution as a weapon, not a shield.
We have seen this on display with the Free Palestine movement, where those in Gaza lack the military might to win, so they have turned to cultural attacks on democracy as a form of counterattack. They are using our freedoms (and other democracies) against us, especially on college campuses where young and impressionable students will join a cause with little understanding or thought.
In recent years, nothing has been weaponized more than identity politics. Politicians use it to divide us and create tension, which helps them stay in power. Without division and divisiveness, there is no differentiation between political platforms. With equal opportunity, there are no victims, and therefore, there is no uniqueness to political platforms to attract voters.
In my mind, the worst of these is the so-called “Gender Affirming Care” visited on children at ages so young that they cannot rationally make decisions, much less life-altering decisions. Parents of these children show their lack of coping skills when they let children and doctors persuade them to make life-altering surgeries on those too young and too immature to make those decisions for themselves.
There have been only two genders in all written history, which is enough. Scientists have not suddenly awakened to a world where hundreds of genders are discovered, and children create definitions accepted by the medical community. Wedge politics, Federal funding, research grants, and long-term profits are more likely to drive these decisions. Politicians are always willing to jump on board for votes without regard for the children.
Political Character Assassination
“The rise of Donald Trump is what happens when you build Potemkin villages in Weimar republics.”
Dean Cavanaugh
Hostile character assaults have characterized our last three election cycles to the exhaustion of most voters. While smear campaigns have been around as long as politicians have existed, they seem especially nasty when directed at President Trump. His willingness to engage and go toe-to-toe with the Democrats irritates them and stirs them into a fever pitch. Washingtonians just learned that Americans believe they have been deceived and that much of Washington is a Potemkin Village.
For conservatives, President Trump has shown that it is no sin to stand up against what we know to be absolute nonsense and corruption. President Trump is no choir boy, but no politician is one. The vitriolic attacks by Democrats on President Trump catalyzed the two assassination attempts leading into the election.
When political and other character attacks moved at the speed of a horse or a newspaper, they were often harmless. Today, with the internet, character assassinations are shared worldwide instantly and take on a life of their own. Opponents are more than willing to take a story’s latest headline or lead paragraph and make it “fact” with no research.
Our current Democratic Party and associated liberals have constructed and now live in a Potemkin Village.
A Temporary Respite from Authoritarianism
“If you don’t value freedom above everything else, everything else is worthless.”
Dean Cavanaugh
In a 2010 speech now available on YouTube, Vice President Harris explains how she used the power of her office as Attorney General in California to destroy people and their lives intentionally. Her goal was to reduce truancy, but her statements about her methods and state of mind are troubling.
“As a prosecutor in law enforcement, I have a huge stick. So, I decided I was going to start prosecuting parents for truancy.
I learned that with the swipe of my pen, I could charge someone with the lowest level offense. That person could be arrested. They could lose time from work and their family, maybe lose their job. They’d have to come out of their pocket to help hire a lawyer. They’d lose standing in their community.
I could dismiss the charges, but their life would forever be changed. All because of the swipe of my pen.”
Kamala Harris
These statements have the chilling ring of just how President Trump was prosecuted. So, is this Harris’ or the Democrats’ game plan? This is the definition of “lawfare,” as we saw it deployed over the past four years.
Many would see this as the statement of a tyrant who prosecutes adversaries as a means to an end. These statements give meaning to the characterization of our Country descending into a Third World status.
Having the prosecutorial weight of Federal Agencies, the “Bully Pulpit,” and the “Pen,” the Biden Administration then used this Harris game plan to try to destroy President Trump. Their miscalculation was his tenacity and financial capacity to fight back. Even after two attempts at assassination, he could not be dissuaded from the campaign, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude.
The Way Forward
“It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they (tyrants) cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail.”
Samuel Adams
On November 5, 2024, America dodged a bullet in the form of a pen and a tyrant who was willing to use it to incarcerate and metaphorically eviscerate anyone blocking her path. The Democratic Party has been headed down this dark path over the years, and the American people have resoundingly rejected it.
Like a schoolyard bully who met their match, the Democrats have been put in their proper place. But they will be back, and we must guard against them repeatedly.
Our Founding Fathers have once again shown us the way forward by providing the safeguards in our Constitution. We must be vigilant and courageous as we repeatedly put the Federal bully back in its place. President Trump and his Cabinet will need support from all Americans if we are to prosper again as a nation.
Resources
Did Kamala Harris Once Boast About Prosecuting a Homeless Mother?, By Dan MacGuill, Snopes, snopes.com, February 1, 2019.
FACT CHECK: Kamala Harris Says She Never Jailed Anybody For Truancy, By Brad Sylvester, Fact Check Editor, CheckYourFacts, checkyourfacts.com, March 3, 2019.
Shocking Campaign Ad Against Kamala Harris With Parent Testimony Exposes Who She Truly is, By BlackConservative24, YouTube, youtube.com, October 26, 2024.
Authoritarianism in America: What it means for Republicans and Democrats, Podcast Hosted by Warren Olney, KCRW, kcrw.com, October 29, 2020.
Is Authoritarianism the Biggest Menace to Democracy? Part 1: Part 1: Authoritarians are not the only ones we should be talking about., By Paul Howe, Ph.D., Psychology Today, psychologytoday.com, March 5, 2021.
