Masters of Deception, ‘Big Lies,’ and Projection

Back in the 1990s, it became de rigueur for Republicans to accuse liberal or Democratic judges of ‘legislating from the bench.’ According to Republicans of that era, these ‘highly partisan,’ untrustworthy judges were using the courts — manipulating them, actually — to make an end run around democracy and remake our laws in progressive ways that American voters would never, ever approve of.

The evil Dems, they insisted, were using the courts to undermine and destroy American society and all its venerable political traditions.

Fast forward to the past decade, and lo and behold, it’s now the GOP that is constantly trying to use/manipulate the courts to get its way, impose conservative values on America, and make an end run around democracy. The most egregious examples of this trend are the ultra-conservative Supreme Court’s decisions to eviscerate the Voting Rights Act, confer legal immunity for Trump’s and other presidents’ actions while “acting in an official capacity,” and, of course, its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and ‘cancel’ American women’s basic right to an abortion.

A hideous, intensifying transformation

But there’s an even deeper, more ominous trend behind all of these versions of Republican messaging and maneuvering — namely, the long-term transformation of the GOP into what can only be called an oppressive and openly fascist political party. And one of the prime signs of this hideous transformation is the fact that today’s GOP openly embraces the infamous fascist technique of the ‘Big Lie’ — while another obvious sign is the GOP’s intentional use/abuse of mass projection (see below for my definition of political mass projection).

Between them, these two trends show that today’s GOP has fundamentally embraced a politics of overt oppression and manipulation. As America’s population has shifted over the past six decades and become more fully multi-racial and multicultural, the GOP has gradually been marginalized, more and more, and its (mainly White) supporters have found themselves losing power and influence.

This represented an intolerable state of affairs for a major political party, as well as for the nation’s many resentful Whites. Thus, the GOP had to transform itself, and Republicans — if they were to start winning more elections again — had to become total masters of deception and projection.

Adopting the ‘No Principles’ principle

As I’ve written before, the crucial foundation for this transformation was the GOP’s gradual adoption of the ‘No Principles’ principle. The basic idea here was that winning is everything, and this often required jettisoning all moral scruples and doing whatever it takes to win. (Of course, this stunningly amoral and devious attitude reached its pinnacle in the continuing power and influence of Donald Trump.)

The GOP’s underlying motivation shifted from preserving traditional American culture, and with it our long-time political traditions and guardrails, to using America’s (White-centric) traditions and using White Americans’ deep-seated racism to stir up fear, rage, and ‘other-hating’ — and win more elections.

Thus were born … the so-called ‘culture wars’ that have been consuming the GOP and U.S. politics for decades now. And the most prominent and effective aspects of the GOP’s intentional, manipulative ‘culture wars’ revolve around those two ugly realities I just mentioned: mass deception and projection.

So, just for the fun of it — rather grim ‘fun,’ truth be told — let’s run down a list of the many ways the GOP has been employing deception and projection in its bid to grab and consolidate its power.

First, though, a bit of definition: when dealing with politics, the term ‘projection’ refers to the deliberate attempt to portray the ‘other side’ or party as doing all the nasty, ‘evil,’ deceitful deeds you yourself are doing.

A partial list of horrid GOP deceptions and projections

So, if we list all the ways the GOP is employing deception and projection, at the very top would be the various examples I gave earlier. That is, while Republicans have been working mightily to use the courts to manipulate and bend the law in directions they favor, they also have a long-term strategy of loudly and constantly accusing liberals and Democrats of doing that exact thing.

So, without further ado, here is my (partial) list of despicable GOP deceptions and projections:

1. Fiercely accusing liberals of manipulating the courts and ‘legislating from the bench’ — while Trump and the GOP are actually doing it, and very effectively and consistently!

2. For decades the GOP accused the Dems of gumming up our courts and legal system with hundreds of ‘frivolous lawsuits’ — but since the rise of Trump and the new (fascist) GOP, Republicans have been flooding our courts with thousands of frivolous lawsuits aiming to overturn, delay, or interfere with election results, ‘liberal’ laws, women’s and immigrants’ rights, and ongoing progressive actions to protect our environment and combat global warming.

3. Ever since the 2020 election, Trump and the GOP have been screaming about Democrat-led ‘voter fraud’ and insist that election was ‘stolen.’ Trump, of course, never conceded the election and remains obsessed with it, so he and the GOP keep yelling about it and constantly accuse the ‘evil Dems’ of massive fraud. But lo and behold, despite hundreds of recounts and legal battles, in that and other elections, no significant voter fraud has been found. Or rather … the tiny amount of fraud that was found was mainly committed by — wait for it — Trump supporters who were desperate to get their man elected and found ways to vote twice or vote in place of dead people!

4. Then, directly related to #3 above, the GOP is using all its phony-baloney claims of widespread ‘voter fraud’ to justify its nationwide campaign to restrict voting rights and make voting harder for people of color — all masked (marketed) as a good-faith effort to ensure “election integrity.”

This effort is a true master class in deception and projection. First, the GOP successfully spreads the ‘Big Lie’ about massive voter fraud. Then it uses that lie to back up its fraudulent manipulations of our voting and election systems, which are all intended to help the GOP dominate our elections and commit actual voting and election fraud! And all the while, of course, they’ll continue loudly accusing the Dems of orchestrating widespread fraud. Yup: a master class in deception and projection, indeed.

5. The GOP and Fox ‘News’ are always accusing the Dems and liberals of ‘grooming’ our kids to be gay … or transgender … or socialist … or anti-American. Meanwhile, right-wing media have been steadily — and stealthily — grooming Americans to be more hateful, racist, and perpetually angry, and in fact have been grooming us for decades to hate and overturn ‘modern’ America and return it to our supposedly glorious, White-centric, homophobic past (thus: Make America Great Again). Once again, here we see the same pattern of deception, ‘Big Lies,’ and massive projection.

The GOP is now the Party of Mass Deception and Projection

I could go on and on, but I think I’ve made my point. The truly insidious thing about all this is: it totally betrays Americans’ trust; betrays our founding ideals; and betrays politicians’ oath to be faithful to our Constitution. It is nothing less than opportunistic, party-wide sedition. All this, while loudly proclaiming their deep caring and ‘patriotism’!

The GOP has now morphed into The Party of Deception, Big Lies, and Mass Projection. That’s become its entire essence — which is glaringly obvious in its ironclad ‘dark alliance’ with the fascistic, hateful Trump 2.0 administration. If we simply and honestly examine the voluminous evidence for the above assertions, we’ll always find ourselves returning to the same frightening conclusions:

Today’s GOP truly is The Party of Deception, Big Lies, and Mass Projection. It just … is. It has no morality or viable political platform, or really any platform at all — except for attacking the Dems, fomenting weird ‘culture wars,’ and grabbing and holding on to power. And the power it seeks to grab and hold is … the power to remold America in its own racist, hateful, and deceitful image.

That’s why, now more than ever, the truth matters — and holding the line against continual lying and manipulation is so crucial. We can’t let the liars, deceivers, manipulators, and oppressors keep winning. And to hold the line, we have to keep on exposing their lies, deceptions, and oppressive manipulations.

As the old saying goes, the truth and sunlight are the greatest disinfectants.

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This post was previously published on The Left Is Right.

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