Those who diminish the rise of working people, middle-class Americans, and minority families expect us to take our crazy pills. Pictured: US President and First Lady Joe and Jill Biden. Photo Credit: Joe Biden/X.
On the award-winning podcast Commentary, an outgrowth of the eponymous publication, host and editor John Podhoretz will comment on a news development and qualify it because he feels like he must be taking crazy pills when he reads what the legacy media is telling him. In a political world as upside down as this one, the crazy is stocked high and deep on the shelves of real life. In recent days, having spoken to two people I respect highly and who both display courtesy, decency, and common sense from a previous era, I heard two opposite interpretations of what is happening in today’s culture. They both point to the tribal nature of our society, the profoundly insufferable role of social media, and an outsized elitist view of geopolitical or domestic developments. Undermining our institutions explains this, but not as the partisans see it. Replete with examples in American politics let me provide several examples of where the two sides see the issues through opposite lenses, causing the average citizen to wonder if they are indeed, taking crazy pills.
Biden vs. Trump
Nothing divides people more than President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump. The classic Red State vs. Blue State, Republican vs. Democrat, and now Fascist vs. Tyrant arguments have taken over. I have attempted to communicate with people of goodwill on both sides, but unless I admit to one side’s evil or another side’s fraudulent practices, no common ground exists. The recent guilty verdict in Trump’s New York trial provides a perfect example. Regardless of the facts presented, (including Alvin Bragg’s political motivations, the manipulations of Judge Mercan, and the contortion of New York state law), Biden supporters are completely convinced Trump deserved conviction. Irrespective of the irrefutable evidence that Trump slept with Stormy Davis and had his attorney Michael Cohen pay her off, Trump supporters insist that since the former president never admitted to the affair he must not have had relations with the porn star. The partisans on both sides must step back, but they won’t. Fed misinformation from news sources, steeped in political propaganda, and committed to their own confirmation bias, moving them from factional dogma becomes a futile undertaking.
When confronted with the legal maneuverings, the Biden sympathizers deem Trump worthy of a guilty verdict even if the process challenges credulity and the charges appear fabricated. Trump’s sins deserve punishment say the liberals who are usually arguing the opposite when minorities, progressives, or social justice warriors are destroying property, looting stores, taking over state capitals, or even holding hostages. The crazy pills are flowing freely on this one.
Institutions
Many of my friends on the right are convinced that the FBI, CIA, DOJ, and Deep State are out to get Trump and freedom-loving Americans. Many of these institutional agencies have revealed their partisan and biased rulings. Why the Department of Justice (DOJ) has chosen to prosecute Trump for the same violations that could easily be attributed to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Biden undoubtedly raises eyebrows. The classified document case against Trump contains serious charges despite what Republican partisans claim. But to listen to progressive and Democratic supporters, one would think Trump was a Russian Agent, something completely unfounded and a creation of a dossier the Clinton campaign planted and the Obama DOJ investigated.
I carry no torch for Mr. Trump, but you have to be feeding yourself a healthy dose of crazy pills to think that what Clinton did with her emails somehow falls short of prosecution, but what Trump did deserves the full measure of legal application. Robert Hur has already milked the cow about Biden and his classified document case. If not for his age and apparent senility, he would be facing charges. Try explaining that to progressive folks and you are told Hur was a toady Trump prosecutor looking for a post in a future Trump Administration. And with a straight face, they tell you that lawfare (an inside Democratic job to create legal entanglements that hinder Trump’s ability to campaign) is a Republican concoction.
I must be taking crazy pills because the alleged threat to democracy, Trump, faces charges in four cases, has had his name removed from state ballots and now will either be sentenced to jail time or house arrest just days before he should be accepting the nomination of the Republican Party, representing the Biden’s main opposition to another term. Democrats, progressives and the dominant media ask (with apologies to Richard Pryor), “Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?” I will draw my own conclusions, thank you.
Immigration
Fresh from announcing that he will be taking action to reduce the number of illegal entries at American ports and cut asylum placements, Biden hopes to turn around the horrible poll numbers he has on border issues. Unless I am taking crazy pills, the Administration and its media lackeys not too long ago were insisting that Biden stood powerless to do anything about the border. I have heard those on the left repeatedly defend a border policy that allows anyone to come to America because America is a land of great compassion and immense generosity.
Biden’s policies now reflect what the cold-hearted former president oversaw. Hiding the scenes at the border is difficult. A nation that fails to enforce its borders can no longer claim to be a functioning entity. The rule of law people cheered for upon Trump’s conviction cannot be sustained unless its application and value exist in all government departments. Choosing to whom or how the law applies does not align with the American credo. If the former president cannot be above the law, neither can the lowly immigrant or the earnest illegal entrant.
Our friends on the Left have no mirrors. What they so eagerly accuse MAGA of they practice themselves. The progressive effort to use government policy as a cudgel to remake America has a long record that cannot be litigated here but can be documented in executive actions, judicial rulings, and legislative efforts. The activist left no longer accepts that people of goodwill may not understand issues the same way, that differences of opinion are as old as the Republic, and politicians who offer a different solution may appeal more than those who have created these messes on the border, in the courts, or on the streets. They feel no restraint about using institutional power in academia, entertainment, or government to oppose what characterized society’s mores for centuries. Keep the crazy pills on hand!
Gaza War
The recent hostage rescue in Gaza provides another grand example of crazy pills. Somehow, in a nation that celebrated the movie Private Ryan (based on the story of a unit sent out to rescue one prisoner of war) the idea that Israel would do whatever was necessary to rescue its hostages from Hezbollah, a known terrorist organization, has become a struggle. The New York Times and Washington Post headlines both questioned whether the deaths of so many people could justify the mission. The brave soldiers who risked their lives to return innocent hostages to their families deserve commendation. Instead, more protests take place, outraged participants and media commentators cannot abide a nation under attack fighting back. The Biden administration’s efforts to equate what Hezbollah has done with Israel’s response demands a heavy dose of crazy pills. An idiot can discern the moral distinction. No number of crazy pills can diminish these realities.
Space prevents me from expounding on Elections Laws, Race Matters, COVID-19, Climate Change, the Supreme Court, the Second Amendment, or Family Formation, but suffice to say, the supply of crazy pills remains in high demand and well documented. The progressive Left would have us believe any numerous items as settled and certain. To think differently means the effort to marginalize, misinform, and repeat unsubstantiated charges goes into full gear. I would like to find common ground with those on the Left but the ground has shifted. I fear they no longer care about the truth. They want to remake our society, redefine the familiar, and undermine our institutions all the while accusing the Right of Fascistic tendencies and Trump as living proof. And that might have some virtue if it was not so self-serving.
Those who diminish the rise of working people, middle-class Americans, and minority families expect us to take our crazy pills. That is not good enough and many are tuning out these talking heads. Sadly, they want the power to exercise their authority over the population to overhaul Western Civilization, reconstruct our values, replace our cultural foundations, and cast a spell of secularism. They hope to create dependency or crush opposition. I don’t need crazy pills to see that and I never did.
Dave Redekop is a retired elementary resource teacher who worked part-time at the St. Catharines Courthouse as a Registrar until being appointed Executive Director at Redeemer Bible Church in October 2023. He has worked on political campaigns since high school and attended university in South Carolina for five years, earning a Master’s in American History with a specialization in Civil Rights. Dave loves reading biographies.
