OPINION:
Roseanne Barr mistakenly fired off a racist tweet aimed at Valerie Jarrett and now the left is crowing, “See? See? This is what happens when you have Donald Trump in the White House.”
Stuff and nonsense. Trump is not to blame for Barr — just as Barack Obama, say, can’t be faulted for Kathy Griffin, the comedian who oh-so-jokingly distributed an image of herself holding onto a bloody severed head of a makeshift Trump.
Yes, remember that? Griffin lost her New Year’s Eve television gig for that — but for the most part, critics confined their criticisms to her, at most piggybacking her poor taste, bad judgment and, yes, evil imaginations to showcase the mental instability of many on the left.
But now, with Barr?
The left is rushing to use Barr to somehow slam Trump by drawing conclusions that simply don’t exist. And they’re actually starting from a premise that Trump is racist, a false base that only breeds more falsities.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said this on CNN about the rhetoric coming from the White House: “[It] has contributed to the problem. I would say on a personal level, [Trump’s rhetoric] probably has given license to people to feel as if they can emulate and copy the kind of behavior and language that comes out of this administration.”
That’s almost like saying racism didn’t exist until Trump took over the White House. Really now, Schultz? Really?
Then there was this, from one of Obama’s former White House officials.
“Some things apparently are more important than money, even to a big corporation like ABC-Disney, and that is very heartening because we’ve been in a moral freefall for at least three years,” said Van Jones, former Obama administration green czar, on “Newsroom” on CNN, Breitbart reported.
He also said: “I’m ashamed to say this, I thought [Barr] was probably gonna get away with it. I was as shocked as anybody else when there was actually consequences. Consequences for racism in America? I think you’re starting to see now … that this moral collapse inside of our political system, and especially inside the White House, is being counterbalanced now by people in mainstream media, mainstream corporations who say we don’t want to live in a country where decent people can be attacked for no reason with despicable terms. It is not a joke. It’s not funny. It’s the dehumanization of people of color, calling us animals, referring to us as apes and animals.”
The moral collapse inside this White House?
Now that’s funny.
Obama can stand before the American people and lie about keeping doctors and health care plans, Hillary Clinton can stand before the American people and profess innocence about email servers and inappropriately handled sensitive and classified messages, and Eric Holder can smirk as he sends out his secret surveillance team on members of the media — and as he’s held in contempt by Congress — but it’s this administration that is somehow ushering in a moral collapse of this country? Bill Clinton Impeachment, anyone?
What a convenient memory the left has. Or more to truth: What a politically expedient memory the left has. But using a comedian’s slip-of-tongue and poor judgment to draw conclusions that a president of the United States is racist is not just weak. It’s dishonest — over-the-top dishonest. If Trump’s the reason for Barr, well then, Obama had to be the reason for Griffin. If Trump’s to blame for a moral collapse of our political system, then Obama, the Clintons, Holder and their collection of supporters known as the Political Left — well then, they’re just all living lives of delusion, suffering severe amnesia, trying hard to sell and spin their own lies and dishonesties and moral bankruptcies as upright and righteous truths.
And note to left: It ain’t working.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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