The media keeps calling Democrats extreme. Trump? Not so much

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U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a celebration for the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, at Mount Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota, U.S., July 3, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

We are but 122 days from the most important elections of our lifetime, and on the day before our nation’s 250th birthday, those elections are under attack by the anti-American Republican Party and their wannabe king who already violently attacked us once.

As a type this on a steaming hot day across much of America, our clean air and water are also under attack by Republicans. A woman’s right to choose what she does with her body is also under attack by Republicans. Our books are also under attack by Republicans. Our vote, the backbone of any Democracy, is also under attack by Republicans. Life-saving vaccines are also under attack by Republicans. Affordable healthcare is also under attack by Republicans. Affordable childcare is also under attack by Republicans. Lower prices overall are also under attack by Republicans, who look the other way while their despicable commander in thief uses his office in our White House to rake in billions of ill-gotten dollars.

I could go on here for 20 minutes citing examples of the peril Republicans have put our nation in, I really could, but the sharper point is this: If you ask the dying breed known as the moderate Republican or Independent voter in America why, despite the absolute hell we are enduring as a people, they still might not vote for a Democrat in November, you will most likely get some variation of this answer:

They are worried about the Democrats’ extreme positions.

Yep, I know …

Go ahead and read again that abbreviated list of Republican positions I laid out above and tell me which one of them isn’t extreme.

I’ll wait.

The word extremeis yet another one of those loaded words that the Right has successfully co-opted to hammer the Left, while the Left obediently just sits there and dutifully takes their beating. Hell, some of them even repeat it!

“Radical” is another one of those words that gets disturbingly little pushback when describing Democrats. “Lawless” is another. “Dangerous” is yet another …

Sometimes when I read stories that parrot the line that Democrats are too extreme — often from left-leaning authors — I want to throw my computer out the window with the hope it will hit them in their fat heads.

Words and messaging matter, and the patriots of this county on the Left need to get far better at using them, because we won’t survive another election cycle if we don’t.

That means they need to get with it PRONTO.

So let’s try this:

If asked to describe the current President of the United States, I’d readily answer this way (please feel free to repeat after me, and share, er, liberally):

“Well … to start, Donald Trump is a lawless, radical America-attacking convicted felon and bigot, who has lied tens of thousands of times (and under oath), has physically and verbally attacked women countless times, runs with a crowd of Epstein corporate elites who rape women and children and snicker about it, exclusively sides with dangerous and extreme fascist regimes around the world, and has made an absurd profit using the most powerful office in the world to launder our money into his overflowing bank accounts.”

You can go ahead and fact check that one, but I’m confident after editing it down some for tightness that I hit it right on the nose.

The man is “lawless, extreme, radical, and dangerous,” or everything that the Republicans have successfully lobbed at the Left for decades.

Every accusation is truly a confession.

It would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad, and infuriating that they are so easily able to get away with it.

I guess all of this is worth mentioning on this terribly sad day, because Trump and his slobbering party are exactly what the flawed framers of this country hoped to prevent 250 years ago, as they worked to emancipate their newly minted imperfect nation from a pathetic king.

Unfortunately, they failed to fully account for another wannabe king ruling us in the future like Trump because they were writing from the perspective of rich, earnest white guys who had mostly honorable intentions, but were landowners — and in some cases people-owners — who never saw a single tax they liked.

Had women and people of color been a part of crafting our governing charters, based on their hard-earned experiences of dealing with white men in power, they most assuredly would have accounted for the strong possibility that an entitled, violent white devil was going to come along and burn everything to the ground for his gain.

This wasn’t a real reach, and the fact it hasn’t happened more frequently actually speaks to some goodness in the land of the mostly free.

The South’s secession in 1860 and 1861 was the first attempt to destroy our union. January 6, 2021, was the second, and if Trump and his subservient Republican Orcs get their way and an approving nod from our bought-off Radical Right Supreme Court, November 3, 2026, will be the third.

The “lawless, extreme, radical, and dangerous” Trump does not intend to answer to a Democratic House and/or Senate, and will do everything he can to protect himself from that. Anybody who doesn’t think he will violently attack us again to prevent that, has somehow missed the fact that he has proven himself to be easily the most dangerous man on Earth.

The New York Times broke out an important story Thursday afternoon headlined:

The Many Ways Trump is Trying to Tip the Scales for the Midterms

And go ahead and read that headline again, because as we have discussed today, words matter. Why did the editors at the Times use the words “tip the scales” when the word “steal” would have worked perfectly and economically?

Try this:

THE MANY WAYS TRUMP IS TRYING TO STEAL THE MIDTERMS

There, better.

Anyway, in their meaty piece, the NYT lists six ways Trump is continuing his attack on America. (The last six words of that sentence are mine, because the pinky-outs on the editing desk of the paper would never use such plain and accurate language to support their reporters’ hard-hitting work, when beating around the bush is such an attractive option.)

The Times’ broke the story into six sections with the following subheads highlighting his plan of attack:

Taking steps to nationalize elections
Trying to tighten voting restrictions
Pushing for mid-decade redistricting
Cutting election security
Undermining faith in the electoral system by questioning previous results
Punishing those who have worked against election denialism

All of these are pretty self-explanatory, and underway in all 50 states. The Times, in so many coded words, is telling us that the ongoing Republican attack on America is gaining steam.

But Democrats are “extreme” …

Anytime you hear, see, or read a word like that associated with a Democrat, you need to stop it dead in its tracks — especially if it is coming from authors and/or pontificators on the Left. They are either up to no good, or too damn stupid to understand how dangerous this is.

Because words matter, and we have exactly four months to get our messaging straight.

So one more time:

Donald Trump is a lawless, radical America-attacking convicted felon and bigot, who has lied tens of thousands of times (and under oath), has regularly and violently physically and verbally attacked women countless times, runs with a crowd of Epstein corporate elites who rape women and children and snicker about it, exclusively sides with dangerous and extreme fascist regimes around the world, and has made an absurd profit using the most powerful office in the world to launder our money into his overflowing bank accounts.

Please spread the word.

D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here, and follow him on Bluesky here.

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