From the moment New York Times nag Jodi Kantor’s first story about Supreme Court Justice Alito’s private historical flag collection — there have since been another three, plus a podcast — hit the internet two weeks ago, it was obvious who was responsible for running to the newspaper with that piping hot scoop. As Kantor described the niggling informants in her latest article: “in their 30s, liberal and proud of it.”
Setting aside that the multi-week Washington drama has mostly served as an inconsequential debate over historical symbols and the nerds who love them, at its core, the story isn’t about “questions of Supreme Court’s impartiality,” activating my gag reflex. It’s about the vindictive, petty, anti-social behavior that has come to define America’s political left.
The “liberal and proud of it” couple that dashed to Kantor with a tip about the Alitos flying an upside-down American flag outside their Northern Virginia home in early 2021, laughably described as a supportive signal for the “Stop the Steal” protest, is a perfect manifestation of how modern Democrats conduct themselves. They instigate a personal conflict, involving perfect strangers no less, and then with passive aggression mastered by only the morally rancid left, they set out to wreck the reputations of innocent people while claiming themselves to be the victims.
“Aside from putting up a sign, we did not begin or instigate any of these confrontations,” the 30-something woman-half of the couple, Emily Baden, told Kantor, who further described Baden and her husband as having “participated in Black Lives Matter protests in Washington” in 2020 and also posting pro-Joe Biden signs in the yard of a home belonging to Baden’s mother. (Not at all the type to instigate a confrontation over politics!) After the election that year was called in favor of Biden, “they displayed a political sign they had made from torn-up Amazon boxes, saying ‘BYE DON’ on one side and ‘F— Trump’ on the other,” wrote Kantor.
This is where some first-hand context is needed. The Alitos live in Alexandria, Virginia, a homogenous, largely wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C. Like most of the immediate area, Alexandria is a hotbed of Democrat government workers who hate middle-income and working-class people (especially black ones), and they see it as their birthright to antagonize and belittle everyone they deem to be sub-human (devout Christians and Republican voters).
It’s the type of place where you can sleep soundly with an obnoxious “In this house, we believe …” yard sign, but the Lord be with you if you dare rock a “Make America Great Again” bumper sticker. Keys will find that vehicle’s paint coat faster than Joe Biden can invent a new way that his son died.
All of that is to say, it’s a place inhabited by average Democrats. I know this because I live here. My book Liberal Misery: How the Hateful Left Sucks Joy Out of Everything and Everyone is explicitly about people like the Badens. They’re the type to alienate family, friends, and strangers over minor political disagreements. They’re the type to eagerly shrink their social circles if it means not having to associate with a Trump voter or someone who won’t swear that Ukraine is democracy’s last best hope. They’re the type to act out among mixed company because someone said he didn’t take the vaccine.
It’s not a guess. It’s a reality born out by countless surveys, studies, and data.
Kantor wrote in her story that the Baden couple in mid-February 2021 came upon the Alitos while on a neighborhood stroll. (Democrats are always on the hunt for fresh confrontation.) “Mrs. Alito addressed the pair by name, used an expletive and called them ‘fascists,’” the article said, citing Baden’s version of events. “That was when Emily Baden snapped, she said. She does not remember her precise words, but recalls something like this: How dare you behave this way. You’ve been harassing us, over signs. You represent the highest court in the land. Shame on you.” Oh, and Baden called Alito’s wife the c-word.
I said, How dare you, madam?! Then called her a c—!
Kantor would lead readers to believe that the details and timeline of the neighborly conflict matter because when the upside-down flag went up is somehow indicative of the justice’s allegiance to Donald Trump — but I’m not going to risk dignifying her hysterical conspiracy theory with a play-by-play rebuttal. Kantor and the Times simply want to undermine any upcoming rulings from the court that might favor Trump and Republicans. It’s an election year and Kantor and the Times want Biden to win. That’s the only reason they bothered at all to “report” this trifling comedy.
And it was evident who inspired the story from the get-go. In her initial story published May 16, Kantor referred to “alarmed neighbors” who “interpreted the inverted flag as a political statement by the couple.” That’s nag speak for, “Some Democrats were hoping to do what they do best, which is cause unrest until they get their way.”
Similarly, when Kantor wrote in her latest update on the saga this week describing the Badens as “liberal and proud of it,” that was nag speak for, “imposing, belligerent, and neurotic.”
Nobody outside of Washington finds controversy or meaning in the flags. If there has been anything useful in this episode, it’s the reminder of just how dark, depraved, and deeply troubled the mind of the political left can be.