OPINION:
We find ourselves in uncharted waters again just months before a presidential election. What may happen next could be truly seismic and further corrosive to the nation.
Four years ago, the left took advantage of a deadly pandemic to change election laws to their advantage. The death in custody of a career criminal was leveraged to manufacture a violent movement that turned cities into war zones. Anarchists and domestic terrorists were encouraged by left-wing prosecutors to create an air of national chaos that could be laid at the feet of former President Donald Trump.
The wizards behind the curtain of the Democratic Party resurrected “Scranton” Joe Biden as the viable alternative to rising socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The plan was as simple as it was cunning. Mr. Biden would become the nominee — provided that he put a Black woman on the ticket — but Mr. Sanders and his ilk would drive the agenda. Four years ago this week, the bible of the American left made its debut as the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force Recommendations — 110 pages of a national socialist manifesto that would guide the direction of the party for years to come.
Mr. Biden, already experiencing the effects of mental and physical decline, would be carefully controlled. He’d spend much of his time at his home in Delaware, often next to his wife, struggling to answer questions or straining to maintain a stable demeanor in interviews. His public events were sparsely attended by design and few in number.
Upon assuming the White House, President Biden’s domestic policy would be run by former President Barack Obama’s confidante Susan Rice, who would stay out of sight of the press for most of her tenure, quietly shepherding the next phase in what Mr. Obama called America’s “remaking.”
Mr. Biden’s schedule would be intentionally light. He would go on to spend some 40% of his presidency away from public view, with no transparency regarding his interactions or condition during those times.
The scheme to perpetrate this fraud on the people of this country, if it were ever suspected, would be dutifully dismissed by the left-wing press and social media giants as a Republican conspiracy, along with the Hunter Biden laptop, the Ashley Biden diary and the decades of “pay to play.” They would deflect attention by dragging Mr. Trump through the courts for four years.
This was a coordinated campaign of deception and manipulation involving major operatives, current and former elected officials, the media and donors. Everyone fell in line — until now.
For apostles of the far left, there is no law they won’t skirt, norm they won’t upend or moral code they won’t abandon. If you have read Marx, Engles, Stalin, Alinsky and others who helped establish the ideological foundations of what has become the modern Democratic Party, you must appreciate there is nothing they won’t do to hold on to power.
Now, after being exposed for intentionally endangering the country by hiding the debilitation of the president for years, the Democrats may be about to cavalierly disenfranchise millions of their own voters to manufacture a new ticket with the skill and creativity of a Hollywood screenwriter.
It’s an Oscar-caliber drama. A president is suffering from dementia, controlled by shadowy forces, both foreign and domestic. A first lady is desperate to hold on to the trappings of power. A first son facing federal prison and the president’s brother both desperate to keep the gravy train or political protection going.
In a race against time, the real powers behind all these characters are toiling away to create the next great American hero.
Democrats are masters at psychological operations. They did it with Mr. Biden to make him strong, stable, seasoned and moderate when they knew he was rapidly declining and would govern from the far left.
They did this with Mr. Obama, a rather minor state senator without much of a record in Illinois who ran for president only 18 months after winning a U.S. Senate seat. They even did it with President Bill Clinton, who after a dozen years as governor of Arkansas had one of the worst records in the nation, low name recognition and tons of personal baggage. Democrats and the press turned him into a youthful, relatable symbol of the future of American political leadership.
What we could see happen next in this maniacal soap opera may be equally artificial and dangerous. American politics has always been, to some degree, about creating heroes, but the manipulation we’ve seen over the last four years is unlike anything we’ve experienced before.
If they can’t write a new script with new heroes, one shudders to think the extreme lengths the left will go this time around to win again. More riots? More misinformation? Relentless demonizing of Republicans as racists? Election interference?
Americans should know the left will not go quietly. They have demonstrated they will sacrifice our republic, our freedoms and even our lives to win. It’s a dangerous time for America.
• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax TV and a columnist with The Washington Times.
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