Of all the tiresome falsehoods from the so-called "resistance," the narrative that Democrats lose elections because they are just too decent and fair is among the most ridiculous.
If only they would put aside their genteel political ways, this self-serving theory goes, and do what is necessary instead of what is civil, they would force the American people to finally see the truth of Donald Trump's evil.
Columnist Juan Williams (who, it should be noted, does have a reputation for civility) is the latest to propagate this assessment of Democrats as being too fair to their opponents in the Trump era.
But Mr. Williams is wrong in his diagnosis of how Democrats have approached this president, and even more wrong in his assessment of how Trump's supporters will respond.
"Is the resistance finally landing some punches on Trump?" Williams asks.
Finally? The so-called resistance has been flailing wildly at Trump from Day 1 of his presidency. Not content to make counter-arguments against Trump's policies, the Democrats have embraced a series of revolting conspiracies and allegations against this president - each one meant to end his presidency, and each rooted in frenzied assumptions or outright denial of objective reality.
There is never any accountability on the political left for demagogic promises that "Trump's days are numbered." The Democrats just move on to the next alleged administration-ending punch. Networks like CNN and MSNBC have conditioned their audiences to believe that Trump's reign of terror will end any day now for almost three years - and they are either unwilling or unable to walk back those expectations.
Like clockwork, the media has gone from Russia collusion to obstruction to the 25th Amendment to the "white nationalist" in the White House, and back again. The anti-Trump resistance has even embraced and spread the mania that Donald Trump is a dangerous, Hitlerian figure. And this was in the first year of his presidency.
Such hysteria is not normal political opposition; it is evidence of a mass psychological malady.
On the political civility question, Mr. Williams writes in support of Rep. Joaquin Castro's (D-Texas) decision to publish a list of San Antonio-based Trump donors who, Castro claimed, were donating money to "fuel hate."
Even more than the odious effects on our discourse of "naming and shaming" individual citizens who donate to politicians, the timing of this move was reckless - and intentionally so.
Castro knew that, in the aftermath of the El Paso shooting, political tensions would be sky-high. For an elected official to disseminate a virtual enemies list of Americans singled out for their legal political donations, within days of a mass murder, is reckless. The San Antonians who donated to Trump had nothing to do with El Paso. Castro should have known better, but the Democratic Party has made everything secondary to bashing Trump.
Mr. Williams further cites the recent pressure the left put on billionaire SoulCycle owner Steve Ross for his support of Trump as a possible tipping point in the fight for political donations. But this will almost certainly not have the intended financial effect.
Trump is already building up a formidable war chest for his 2020 reelection effort. He beat Hillary Clinton in 2016 despite being outspent two-to-one. There has been no shortage of donations to Trump so far, and nobody should expect there will be going forward.
There is also a central fallacy behind this "Trump is finished" narrative. Despite all evidence to the contrary, the resistance still thinks that they will bludgeon Trump supporters into submission. They fail to realize that Trump's almost superhuman capacity to endure their scorn, threats and bullying is one of his greatest points of appeal to those who voted for him in 2016.
Trump's resilience is, in part, a response to a Democratic political culture that refuses to accept the extreme tactics that have been mainstreamed in their own party.
While the left intones about Trump's tweets and the need for greater respect in our discourse, most Trump voters see nothing but hypocrisy masquerading as virtue.
The president's supporters have not forgotten how Democrats and their media allies engaged in a nationally televised psychological torture session of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a manifestly decent and innocent public servant. The left tried to ruin a good man for the most blatant and cynical political reasons.
The Kavanaugh effect on the conservative psyche remains potent and is one of many reasons that Trump supporters refuse to bend the knee to their liberal tormentors every time the media declares a Trump tweet to be a crisis.
Democrats linking the El Paso shooting to Trump also need to then explain how a Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) supporter who attempted a mass assassination of conservative GOP congressman - yelling "This is for healthcare!" - is not indicative of a deep moral and political rot from their side. Either we are all only responsible for our own actions, or we can all point fingers when it is politically convenient.
Fatigue over anti-Trump psychosis is real. If Democrats want to beat Trump, they better do more than hope for a bad economy and call him names.