It’s the leftist fraud, stupid
by Stefan Padfield and Lora Ries · The Washington TimesOPINION:
In 1992, as part of Bill Clinton’s presidential bid, “campaign strategist James Carville coined a slight variation of the phrase ‘It’s the economy, stupid,’” according to Harvard Political Review. “Originally intended for an internal audience of campaign workers, the phrase became a de facto slogan for the entire campaign.”
Today, there are good reasons to believe that 2026 might end up being associated with another variation of the phrase: “It’s the fraud, stupid.”
What follows is a non-exhaustive list of frauds currently capturing the attention of citizens.
The welfare fraud involves billions of taxpayer dollars being diverted to what can fairly be described as leftist grifters by way of predominantly leftist programs with so little oversight that one could believe that the fraud was intentional.
Even when the fraud occurs in a red state, its leftist roots and benefits are undeniable. As columnist Gary Gindler recently put it: “By flooding welfare offices, the plan allegedly aimed to bankrupt cities, erode the work ethic, and create a permanent underclass dependent on the state — paving the way for socialism.”
The progressive prosecutor fraud releases criminals onto the streets of our communities to repeatedly prey on innocent citizens in the name of empathy and addressing systemic racism. Again, if your goal was to undermine western civilization to lay the groundwork for a neo-Marxist revolution, this would be a great way to do it.
The election integrity fraud claims that Blacks and other minorities are incapable of obtaining IDs for voting. Thus, according to it, attempts to impose a voter ID requirement constitute a new Jim Crow. Of course, the type of neo-racist victimhood that argument promotes is so likely to impede rather than promote minority progress that it would make the KKK proud.
The political violence fraud claims that our current rash of political violence is a “both sides” problem. Meanwhile, the bulk of recent evidence — from repeated attempts to assassinate President Trump, to the gleeful celebration of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and adoration of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson murder suspect Luigi Mangione, to the rash of trans shooters — contradicts that narrative.
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The underlying theme here is arguably this: “The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.” And it is undeniably a leftist revolution.
The conservative hate fraud claims that conservatives advancing mainstream views constitute “hate” that must be censored and its proponents targeted. Exhibit number one: Southern Poverty Law Center, which was recently indicted for what can reasonably be described as funding the very hate it claimed to be opposing.
The systemic racism fraud claims that the U.S. is systemically racist and that all outcomes that disfavor Black people and other historically marginalized groups can only be attributed to discriminatory intent. That the relevant explanatory gaps in testing, crime, choice of major and family lifestyle can all be attributed to either the leftist welfare state and educational monopolies or to freely chosen personal preferences is completely ignored.
Tied to all of the above is the inhumane immigration enforcement fraud claims. These are made to prevent the removal of at least 20 million deportable aliens so that the left can retain political power through unlawful voters, ballot producers and illegitimate Census headcounts for elections.
Shanghai Neville Singham and George/Alex Soros fund, organize and train rioters to obstruct U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and convince the gullible to back away from supporting mass deportations and ICE.
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The transgender fraud claims that children can be born in the “wrong” body and men can become women simply by saying so. This is done to undermine traditional views on sex and marriage. The fact that women and children must be sacrificed on the altar of this cult makes little difference — and may in fact be a feature rather than a bug to the proponents of this fraud.
The green transition fraud claims that the best of all possible worlds is one in which developed, free nations sacrifice prosperity and security in favor of utopian “net zero” and related goals that will make no difference to the health of the plant. The confluence of radical activists, conflicted opportunists, useful idiots and cowards making this climate change industrial complex thrive is epic.
We don’t have room to cover the open borders fraud, the reparations fraud, the non-citizen voting fraud, the immigration benefits fraud, the wealth inequity fraud, the red-green alliance fraud, the empathy/affirmation fraud or the many others. But the point is that these are all frauds perpetrated by leftists and, to quote another famous phrase, U.S. citizens are “mad as hell, and … not going to take this anymore!”
• Stefan Padfield, JD, is a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a principal in its Free Enterprise Initiative, and Lora Ries is director of Heritage’s Border Security and Immigration Center.
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