The Worst Lies Are the Ones We Tell Ourselves
Self-delusion has a terrible cost.
By Tom Klocek
Nobody likes to be deceived. But we do it all of the time, especially to ourselves. And we hate it when it comes back to bite us. The Democrats and the leftist media are learning this now. Hopefully, many of our academic institutions will also learn, and quickly. A decline in donations has already occurred, so there is some hope on this front.
Even Joe Manchin, the retiring senator from West Virginia and a life-long Democrat, is tired of the lies.
A recent report from a Democrat research group had one focus group respondent talking about candidate Harris, saying, “It seemed like a lot of what she came out and said wasn’t really off-the-cuff, wasn’t coming from her.” Another man who voted for Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2024 said, “Seemed like every interview, every time she came out and talked about something, it was planned out and never her thoughts, didn’t seem genuine to her thoughts, whereas, Trump, even though you never really knew what he was going to say, when he was going to say it, it was always him and genuine to what he thought, so that’s what swayed me.
According to The Patriot Post, ”[Lindy] Li, a big-time DNC fundraiser, announced she had left the party … citing the abuse she received for observing that ‘Democrats have a stench of loser hanging over them.’ Li criticized Democrats for ‘indulging in delusions’ by asserting that Harris was a viable future candidate.“ Other donors have bailed as well. Self-delusion is ultimately a losing strategy.
Another reflection on the delusion disaster is that the mainstream media has lost lots of ground and almost all of its credibility. A whole range of alternate news sources, many of them supporting a conservative perspective, have cropped up on the internet and are garnering lots of traffic. Fox News, which is deemed to be leaning conservative but is mostly centrist, continually dominates network news sources. It has gotten so bad for some of the left-wing delusionists that specialty networks like HGTV beat MSNBC and CNN on occasion. Even Hallmark’s Christmas movies beat out many news networks.
Of course, the most obvious example of a losing gaslighting strategy was the November election. Throughout the campaign, the networks and the Democrat Party touted how strong a candidate Kamala Harris was and how well she was doing. Up until the last week or two of the campaign, I don’t remember them saying that she was behind in any poll. Just days before the election, NPR was touting an Iowa poll claiming Harris well ahead of Trump. Trump beat Harris in Iowa by 13 points.
The question that needs to be asked is whether anyone is really learning from this lesson. It appears, from the election results, that more and more of the public are seeing through the lies. But have the elites and intellectuals?
It comes down to pride. Fox News’s Greg Gutfeld commented after the election that this delusion was a matter of pride and ego.
In the era of moral relativism, self-deception is one of the most significant practices among those who don’t suffer from their mistakes. We also see this in the number of elites who say one thing, trying to impose it on others, but who do not follow their advice in their own lives. Think of all of the elites who push the failed public school system while sending their children to elite private schools. And they won’t even support school choice to give others a chance. Of course, they know better what’s good for themselves and others; just ask them.
One of the greatest current examples of self-delusion is the transgender lie. It had the Left so deluded that a woman nominated to the Supreme Court (because she was a woman) couldn’t identify what a woman was because she wasn’t a biologist. Unfortunately, this delusion, having been applied in what some call "healthcare,” has ruined the lives of thousands of children, many of whom have suffered from transitioning, and many of whom are trying to return to their natural sex (detransition).
And many business firms have learned the lesson, having bought into the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) delusion that we (especially all whites) are inherently racist and that demographic (read: racial) quotas, as opposed to merit, would benefit their businesses. Now if only we can get the Department of Defense and our military academies to get the message, we might be back on track to rebuilding a strong military instead of shooting our own aircraft down. We don’t know if this incident was the result of DEI policies, but too many training resources have been diverted to push DEI policies, resulting in an overall reduction in readiness.
Self-delusion has a terrible cost. The lies we tell ourselves and push on others are not only expensive monetarily but have real costs in lives (e.g., abortion and transgenderism), happiness (Pew regularly reports that people of faith are happier and more stable than those without religion), and health. Once people have to live with or answer for their mistakes, they might actually try some self-reflection.
Will the Left learn to be more open to discussing differences of opinion in the coming Trump years? It seems there are many still bent on obstructing any effort to normalize American life again. They don’t seem able to acknowledge mistakes — the worst thing one who wants to lead can do, be it a family, a business, or a nation.
Supposedly, one-third of Democrats identify as pro-life, but if there are any in public office, they are few (or well hidden). Some have seen the light and changed their political alignment. But that is not really a change in the party. Without a change in the party culture, the Democrat future looks bleak for the next four years (and possibly 12, if the Republicans can stick together). A one-party government is not good, regardless of who is in charge. Let’s pray that we can return to meaningful dialogue and unity of purpose. God bless the USA.