Democrats’ attacks against GOP candidates are untethered from reality

AS sure as the sun rises, every four years Democrats insist a Republican presidential candidate is the face of evil in our time. Now it’s Donald Trump’s turn.

The latest example comes from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who has implied Trump is responsible for terrorist attacks. At a news conference discussing the recent attacks in New York and New Jersey, Clinton said “we know Donald Trump’s comments have been used online in recruitment for terrorists.”

In plain English, her theory — and it’s a doozy — is that Trump’s rhetoric and prior call for a ban on Muslim immigration until better vetting procedures are in place are the root cause of terrorism.

We’ve been among those who criticized Trump’s over-the-top rhetoric and his call for a full ban. But to suggest terrorists would have led peaceful lives if not for Trump’s comments is ridiculous. The nation just observed the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. There have been numerous other attacks since then, and even more attempted terrorist attacks. In case Clinton didn’t notice, most of them predate Trump’s candidacy.

Yet Clinton’s comments are moderate compared with those of some of her supporters. Liberal columnist Richard Cohen recently compared Trump to … Adolf Hitler. You see, Hitler said crazy things about Jews. Several years ago, Trump endorsed the idea that President Barack Obama was not born a U.S. citizen. Therefore …

Although both examples involve men touting crazy ideas, no thinking person believes there’s any moral equivalence between the two. One man’s crazy idea led to genocide. The other’s led to punch lines on late-night talk shows.

Cohen even argues that Germany in the 1930s “was not all that different” from the United States in 2016, mostly because he thinks Trump might win the presidency.

There are valid reasons to criticize Trump. Yet Democrats are resorting to arguments untethered from reality. As noted above, we’ve seen this play before.

In 2000, George W. Bush ran as a “compassionate conservative” focused on improving education for poor children, particularly minorities. Yet a liberal group ran an ad implying Bush effectively shared the views of the men who dragged James Byrd, a black man, to death behind their truck, because as Texas governor, Bush didn’t support hate crimes legislation.

Yet two of the assailants in the Byrd case were sentenced to death. If that’s a sign of a shared worldview, one wonders what happens when someone finds your views abhorrent.

In 2012, Mitt Romney, one of the most decent men ever to run for office, was essentially accused in a TV ad of killing a cancer patient. While Romney was at Bain Capital, the business acquired a steel plant that Bain later closed. One affected worker later lost his wife to cancer. Ergo, Romney was responsible for her death.

Yet Romney wasn’t at Bain when the plant was closed, the family in question didn’t lose health insurance as the result of the plant’s closure, and the woman died five years after the plant’s closure. But other than that …

These theories aren’t promoted because Democrats honestly believe them. They’re promoted because Democrats honestly believe the polls showing a tight presidential race.