Projecting Much, Digby?

Back when I was mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging Never Trumper I used to really enjoy Digby's Hullabaloo. Its' a liberal blog written by Heather 'Digby' Parton and her merry band is misanthropes, neer'do'well, carpetbaggers and scalawags and they've had their good moments but for once they're projecting what they and the broader Left in general do regularly - project their foul deeds onto the Right.

More than six weeks into the second Trump administration, there is a chill spreading over political debate in Washington and beyond.

People on both sides of the aisle who would normally be part of the public dialogue about the big issues of the day say they are intimidated by the prospect of online attacks from Mr. Trump and Elon Musk, concerned about harm to their companies and frightened for the safety of their families. Politicians fear banishment by a party remade in Mr. Trump’s image and the prospect of primary opponents financed by Mr. Musk, the president’s all-powerful partner and the world’s richest man.

“When you see important societal actors — be it university presidents, media outlets, C.E.O.s, mayors, governors — changing their behavior in order to avoid the wrath of the government, that’s a sign that we’ve crossed the line into some form of authoritarianism,” said Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard and the co-author of the influential 2018 book “How Democracies Die.” (NY Times, h/t to Digby's Hullabaloo)

The longer one follows the sordid, twisted spectacle that is the American political world, one notices a lot of different things - one of which being how our supposed betters complain whenever the hoi polloi - you know, the average person - grows a spine and doesn't go along with the Elites. It upsets them, it makes me break out in flop sweat - especially when you have someone like a Donald Trump who is actually willing to use the levers of power to get things done that the Elites don't like.

What they especially don't like is when their supposed allies - universities, businesses and the legal profession - actually remember what the laws are, who's in charge and realize, much to the Elites' chagrin, that rather than risk getting in trouble its' better to simply do your job and leave politics to the elected officials.