Democrat-Run Cities Are America’s Gaza

By Daily Caller News Foundation
Democrat-Run Cities Are America’s Gaza
Brandon Johnson, mayor of Chicago

By Grayson Quay

As images of bombed-out Gaza City streets fill our phone and television screens, Americans could be forgiven for noticing that a literal warzone in the Middle East bears a non-trivial resemblance to American dystopias like Detroit.

This physical likeness is not an accident. It is the result of a far deeper ideological affinity between the people — whether Democrats or Islamists — who run, inhabit and make excuses for these failed cities.

The editorial board of National Review noted Monday that critics of Israel’s response and even the Biden administration frequently suggest that “shortages of food, water, fuel, and electricity, and the general lack of infrastructure” in Gaza “are completely Israel’s responsibility.”

“How is it,” the board asked, “that the group solely responsible for governing the land for the past 16 years has escaped blame for conditions there?”

How indeed? The Hamas simps are all perfectly aware that the Jews ethnically cleansed themselves from Gaza in 2005, allowing local Muslims to eat the fruit of vineyards they didn’t plant. They all know that Israel has been giving the Gazans free electricity for almost two decades. They can all connect the dots between the billions in foreign aid that Palestine soaks up and the lavish lifestyles of Hamas leadership in Qatar. They’ve all seen the Hamas propaganda videos that show terrorist fighters tearing up water pipes to make them into rockets. (RELATED: Hamas Steals Fuel And Medical Equipment From UN Humanitarian Compound: REPORT)

If Gaza is, as former President Donald Trump would say, a “shithole,” then it’s pretty obvious whose fault it is. The blame lies not with Israel, but with Gaza’s Hamas leaders and with the majority of Gazan people who share their terrorist ideology.

I say “obvious,” but there are huge swaths of Americans to whom this reality is far from obvious — college students, Black Lives Matter activists, intellectuals, urban progressives. The reason these solidly Democratic voting blocs remain so clueless is that, for them, all social dysfunction must be the result of oppression and exploitation. They live in a zero-sum world where the wealthy are all robbers and the poor are all victims. The possibility that a city might have been mismanaged by grifting ideologues who excel at stoking grievances but have no idea how to govern isn’t even on their radar.

These people have been conditioned to blame anyone but themselves and their Democratic leaders for their cities’ descent into anarchy and blight. In the past year, Chicago and Los Angeles were given the option to elect law-and-order reformers. Both instead chose to double down, electing Brandon Johnson and Karen Bass, respectively. There is no level of squalor that will force these people to abandon their ideology. (RELATED: ‘Be Very Careful’: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Defends Teen Looters From ‘Mob Action’ Allegations)

When inner-city schools fail to produce a single student who can do math — as was the case in 23 Baltimore schools — progressives don’t blame the COVID lockdowns they pushed for. They don’t blame the broken families their cultural revolutions and welfare policies have produced. They don’t blame woke curricula that focus more on inclusion than instruction. No, they blame stingy, racist conservatives who are nowhere near the levers of power. Never mind that Baltimore schools already spend thousands more per student than the national average.

When rape and murder rates go up, the problem can’t be crime; it must be over-policing. When stores leave poor neighborhoods, the problem can’t be shoplifting; it must be corporate greed. When auto thefts spike, the solution can’t be locking up the offenders. Instead, Chicago is suing Kia and Hyundai for making their cars too easy to hotwire.

When spontaneous gun battles plague the streets, the blame must fall on the NRA — never on the bleeding-heart DAs who refuse to prosecute gun crimes. When illegal immigrants strain social safety nets, it must be the fault of Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis, not of sanctuary city policies. (RELATED: ‘Could Not Last A Week In Texas’: Greg Abbott Slams NYC Mayor Eric Adams For Calling Him A ‘Madman’)

So of course, it can’t be Hamas’ fault that Gaza is a third-world dump constantly provoking its powerful neighbor into smashing what little infrastructure it has. And it can’t be the Gazans’ fault either. It must be those perfidious Jews.

The politics of victimhood are alluring (including on the right, where particularly zealous Trumpers would rather have their outrage validated than win elections or advance conservative goals).

They’re also addictive. Take a hit, and suddenly your problems aren’t your problem anymore. It doesn’t even matter how much worse they get. All that matters is getting your dealer to hand over one more dose of sweet, uncut resentment.

For the dealers themselves, it’s all upside. Easy money, fanatically loyal customer base. And all you have to do is keep the blame flowing. Who could say no to a deal like that?

Grayson Quay is an editor at the Daily Caller.

Daily Caller News Foundation

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