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MY P.O.V. - Despite compelling evidence that the accused murderer of Charlie Kirk was from a conservative, gun-toting Mormon family of registered Utah Republicans, the President blames “leftwing lunatics.” Trump’s Vice President, JD Vance, echoes his boss with a vow to go after the same “leftwing lunatics,” as well as the Ford Foundation and George Soros, a 95 year old investor and philanthropist originally from Hungary.
Since Donald Trump and JD Vance apparently know so little about the groups they call the “lunatic left,” here are some basic questions and answers.
Why does Vance claim the Ford Foundation and groups connected to George Soros (e.g. Open Society Foundation) are guilty of “leftwing lunacy?” The Ford Foundation is one of the largest philanthropies in the United States, with over $15 billion in assets. Geoge Soros is a 95 year old Hungarian refugee with degrees from the London School of Economics. Living in the US since the 1950s, his Open Society Foundation played a major role in transforming former Warsaw Pact countries into a pro-US block of Central European capitalist states.
Does Trump’s and Vance’s “lunatic left” include the Democratic Party’s elected officials? If so, they are referring to an electoral party that abandoned public housing 50 years ago, while waging or supporting US wars against Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria. Yemen, Somalia, Lebanon, and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. They are half of the duopoly that has run the US government since WWI.
Or are Trump and Vance referring to the small percentage of Congressional Democrats, like Senator Bernie Sanders, who are “peaceniks” allied with a handful of Republicans, such as Marjory Taylor Green? If so, they are at odds with nearly all Democrats and Republicans in Congress, since both groups strongly support Donald Trump in the Ukraine and Gaza wars.
Do Trump and Vance mean members of the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America), like NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani? If so, when these “lunatics” are occasionally successful in local elections, they serve as Democrats who support rent control and a non-aligned US foreign policy. They are not building quasi-socialist institutions, like the Progressive Movement did a century ago.
Perhaps the President and Vice-President mean political groups that combine a critique of capitalism with support for nation states and national movements? While many groups hold these views, President Trump and Vice President Vance have not called them out by name or explained whom they threaten.
Could Trump and Vance be pointing fingers at the Weatherman, a faction of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)? If so, this group existed a half century ago. Their surviving members are now seniors, surviving on Social Security.
Are Trump and Vance referring to small organizations that critique capitalism, national movements, and nation states? If so, they have never identified them, and if they did, these organizations would have little in common with the Ford and Open Society Foundations.
The chance that the President Trump and Vice President Vance can provide any details about the culture of the “lunatic left” they hold responsible for Charlie Kirk’s assassination is exceedingly small. Their “lunatic left” is simply a platitude that serves as a punching bag. Why should we take sides in a spat among the top .1 %? After all, the bottom 99.9 % need and deserve our support.
(Victor Rothman is a California-based policy analyst and a regular contributor to CityWatchLA.com)
