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Republicans Seize! – HotAir

Whenever Democrats beclown themselves, the MSM writes one of two stories:

  • REPUBLICANS POUNCE!
  • REPUBLICANS SEIZE!

I have never been clear about how the media decides which verb it will use to describe legitimate criticism from Republicans. Is it a roll of the dice? A random number generator? Do they just rotate the verb?

In any case, it is journalism as MadLibs. Have a template and insert words. 

If you are describing an action taken by Trump, you wouldn’t want to use the verb “pounce” since it implies a physical flexibility not normally associated with his physical type. He may be many things, but cat-like is not one of them. 

This time, Republicans are “seizing” on the grotesque campus protests in which students are pledging allegiance to Hamas, holding signs calling for a “Final Solution,” chanting antisemitic slogans, and telling Jews to “go back to Poland” (Auschwitz, anyone?). 

Columbia has spent weeks negotiating with a student who quite literally asked us to be grateful he wasn’t already killing Jews; the administration knew about his open calls for genocide but didn’t suspend negotiations with him or kick him out until his rants went viral on Twitter. 

Columbia knew exactly who Khymani James was–he even defended his call for killing “Zionists” several times before he realized that it would have repercussions. They chose to negotiate with him. 

I don’t need to belabor how hideous the protests have been because you have all seen them for yourself. Surely, many of the students participating are useful idiots. Still, they have chosen to attach themselves to a vicious antisemitic movement that openly distributes manuals about how to fight the police, vandalize things, and seize private property. 

They won’t stop until they face consequences. We don’t give free rein to toddlers having tantrums. We give them time outs to teach them manners. 

Most Americans are recoiling at what they see on campuses, which appalls the Washington Post. And since Republicans are pointing out the chaos, they are “seizing.”

The line? It’s the same as during the George Floyd riots: these protests are “mostly peaceful.”

Former president Donald Trump and other prominent Republicans are seizing on the eruption of campus protests across the country to depict the United States as out of control under President Biden, seeking to use the mostly peaceful demonstrations as a political cudgel against the Democrats.

The pro-Palestinian protests at numerous colleges — including Columbia, Yale, Emory, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and others — include encampments and barricades intended to highlight protesters’ denunciation of Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza, as well as to push universities to divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Beyond the disruption to campus life, top Republicans have highlighted the antisemitic chants that have occurred at some of the protests. The issue is complicated by a debate over what constitutes antisemitism — and when criticism of Israel crosses that line — while some student organizers have denounced the chants or said they are coming from outside activists.

They did the meme. I can’t believe they did the meme. 

No doubt there are Right-wing antisemites–in the past, antisemitism was more right-wing than left, but no longer–but it’s clear that the Left and the Democrats have a huge antisemitism problem, and a large chunk of their coalition is now openly calling for a communist revolution. 

These brilliant writers at The Washington Post want you to believe that there is no chaos on campuses and that none of this has to do with the Leftward lurch that has been plaguing this country. The Elite latched onto George Floyd and celebrated the riots; they aren’t so happy with this batch of protests, but that is only because the protesters are aiming their fire at a lot of Democrats as well as Republicans. 

As George Packar pointed out in The Atlantic, these protests are not an aberration: they are exactly what the academic establishment has been promoting for decades. They just hoped the ire would be directed outward. 

Perhaps the biggest difference between 1968 and 2024 is that the ideas of a radical vanguard are now the instincts of entire universities—administrators, faculty, students. They’re enshrined in reading lists and codes of conduct and ubiquitous clichés. Last week an editorial in the Daily Spectator, the Columbia student newspaper, highlighted the irony of a university frantically trying to extricate itself from the implications of its own dogmas: “Why is the same university that capitalizes on the legacy of Edward Said and enshrines The Wretched of the Earth into its Core Curriculum so scared to speak about decolonization in practice?”

Packer is, of course, right: the chaos we are seeing on the campuses is a direct result of the ideology that the Left has been promoting for decades. Universities have no immune system that can respond to the hate because hate is at the core of their curriculum. 

We aren’t supposed to notice, though, because it might help Trump and Republicans. At least, that is the message of The Washington Post. 

The campus protests present conservatives with some of their favorite targets: elite universities, progressive activists, “woke” culture and civil rights leaders. In addition, attacking the protests allows Republicans to change the subject from less friendly political terrain, such as abortion rights and the war in Ukraine.

What the Post is whinging about here is that Americans are more inclined to be on the Republicans’ side, and that automatically makes the critiques of what is happening wrong. 

“Don’t side with the Republicans!” That is the message. 

Of course, this says everything about the priorities the MSM have. They will literally side with Hamas if it means opposing Republicans. 

How dare we notice?



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