Remember the good old days when we rolled our eyes and protested with annoyance at the exaggerations that the Left repeatedly spewed? We assumed they did it to demonize those of us on the Right, to upset us, and cause us to react defensively at their hyperbole and distortions. And of course, to some degree that was precisely what they were doing. And eventually, we reached a point where we grew accustomed to their misrepresentations because no one was in a position to stop them. Yes, some of us protested their statements—some of the politicians, the few journalists on the political Right, and those of us on Ricochet. But for the most part, the media repeated these attacks, happy to be in the ranks of the Left.

Terms like Nazis, concentration camps, cruelty to children, bigotry, the influence of the rich were all terms used to discount and discredit the people on the Right. Their contrived reputation of us as racists, the enemy, fascists, white supremacists, and the like were often used to condemn our criticisms of the strategies of the Left. When we called out “fake news,” we were called enemies of the state and destroyers of democracy. The attacks have become a normal part of the rhetoric of the Left. The word “hyperbole” has no place in their vocabulary, and they continue to try to destroy those who do not buy into their ideology or accept their lies and distortions.

The irony of their words and actions is that hyperbole has been transformed into today’s political reality. Only the attacks of the Left on the Right to defame and demonize us have emerged as definitions of the Left: they have become everything they accuse us of.