Congressional Democrats’ Recent Playbook: Blame the President and Ignore Personal Accountability

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo delivers a speech at Fordham Law School in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, on July 18, 2019. (Scott Heins/Getty Images)

Commentary

Following last week’s tragic and senseless stabbing attack in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) politicized the tragedy and blamed President Donald Trump.

While this has been a regular occurrence among those on the left, that Cuomo and other Democratic leaders continue to blame the president for such tragedies points to a significant difference between how those on the right and those on the left view the issue of personal accountability.

This is important, because it reflects how each party will govern going forward, if given the opportunity next year.

After the recent stabbings in New York, Cuomo blamed the president and told MSNBC:

“What can anyone make of President Trump’s tweets [about the homeless problem in New York]? They say more about the sender than anything else. New York, he believes, is a Democratic state, and this is how he plays to his partisan base, by demonizing Democrats. Democrats are evil, Democrats are bad, Democrats have lost their mind, they’re anti-American. You foment that hate and then you’re shocked when you see these episodes of hate all across the country?

“That has now become the dialogue and the currency of this nation and it’s in politics, but then it resonates out of the politics into society. And now you see people who are acting out on those hateful acts and people are impressionable, and some people are lost and some people are vessels, and some people are ill, and they hear it and they respond.” Cuomo’s approach is consistent with the Democratic playbook, which places the blame on others and fails to hold people accountable for their own actions or decisions. In this case, President Trump didn’t call the perpetrator, put the knife in his hand, or tell him to stab a bunch of innocent Jews.

The suggestion that the president is somehow at fault for this tragedy is vile and utterly chutzpadik. How about placing the blame on the individual who committed this atrocity despite this approach not jiving with the Democratic game-plan to blame the president for such things?

This is not the fist time that Democrats have blamed the president after a tragic event. Following the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, some Democrats immediately politicized this tragedy by blaming President Trump, including 11 members of Bend the Arc—a liberal Jewish political action committee—and others. The president was also attacked after the tragic shootings in El Paso and in Dayton.

What has happened to personal accountability? While various factors play a role in shaping people, we’re all responsible for the decisions that we make. As Eleanor Roosevelt once stated:

“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect. ...

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” Sadly, today’s progressive Democratic Party focuses very little on personal accountability. For example, many Democrats in Congress (including many of the presidential hopefuls) promote free health care, free education, socialistic policies, heavily taxing the wealthy, spreading the wealth, open borders, and abolishing ICE.

Do you see a pattern here? If you’re not as successful as you want to be, that’s not your fault. It’s a result of racism, or gender gaps, or the way that society perceives you. If you don’t earn as much as you think you are worth, that, too, is not your fault. It’s obvious discrimination. If you want to do nothing and live off of others, you’re free to do so, as socialists ensure that the government will take care of you (this is a false sense of reality). Moreover, if you want to enter the country illegally, you’re welcome. The failure to follow the United States’ immigration laws is obviously not your fault and you shouldn’t be punished for doing so. The nexus here is the absence of personal accountability.

Pointing fingers at the president and blaming him for the various tragedies that the nation has endured is irresponsible, reprehensible, and divisive. It also fails to place the blame on the individuals who are responsible for carrying out these attacks. President Trump didn’t put the knife in the hands of the stabbing suspect in New York nor did he arm the shooting suspects in El Paso or Dayton. These individuals made their own decisions, just like others did during previous administrations.

This is not to say that Congress should not re-visit certain laws or have serious discussions about how to make the country safer. Until such time, congressional Democrats should place the blame on the true perpetrators and not on the president of the United States.

Elad Hakim is a writer, commentator, and attorney. His articles have been published in The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, The Algemeiner, The Western Journal, American Thinker, and other online publications.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.