By Peter Lemiska

The Democrat Party has undergone some dramatic changes in recent years, changes that can best be described as bizarre, maybe even un-American.

One of the earliest signs of trouble appeared in 2020 after George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer. Democrats went berserk, launching an all-out effort to defund police departments across the country. But the self-evident lunacy of that idea, together with the subsequent explosion in crime, gave them second thoughts. They don’t talk about it much these days.

Still, the Democrat Party remains the party of the absurd. American voters seemed to understand that when they showed them the door in November.

It turns out most Americans resent being scrutinized or investigated because of their Christian values. They strongly reject the idea of men disguising as females so they can compete in women’s sports or hang out in women’s restrooms. And they’re fed up with an educational system that doesn’t educate their children but rather indoctrinates them into radical, woke ideologies.

And American voters overwhelmingly reject open borders. They despise deceitful politicians who, in the midst of utter chaos, smugly assure them everything is under control. They’re especially outraged by the billions of taxpayer dollars spent to accommodate the flood of illegal aliens Democrats ushered into our country, and they’re incensed by the countless innocent Americans victimized by criminal aliens.

How could any major political party become so out of step with the American people?

Not that long ago, the Democrat Party seemed much more rational. Democrats shared the same convictions as most Americans on basic values. But when party leaders succumbed to an insane woke ideology, party loyalists decided it was more important to stand with the party than to stand by their convictions.

Now they’re completely discombobulated. Many longtime Democrats finally decided to leave in disgust, all expressing essentially the same reason: “I didn’t leave the party; the party left me.” Others are trying to understand exactly why their radical agenda failed. Still others have decided to fight on, resisting and defying everything in President Donald Trump’s agenda — including his deportation plans. They’ve somehow convinced themselves that they’re champions of democracy, that defying our immigration laws is one of the tenets of democracy.

This is what Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said about Trump’s deportation plans: “To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans: I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior.” He added, “You come for my people, you come through me.”

And predictably, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson turned it into a racial issue: “We’re going to defend the people of this city because his attack, let’s be very clear — the president-elect, former President Trump, his threat is not just toward new arrivals, and undocumented families. His threats are also against Black families.”

Why are these fanatics so determined to defend radical agendas that Americans across the board overwhelmingly reject? Do they actually believe it’s compassionate — even noble — to open our country to millions of unscreened foreign citizens and to shield criminal aliens from deportation?

Maine’s Democrat governor, Janet Mills, may have blurted out the truth in her recent fundraising appeal: “The work to push back against Trump and his agenda begins at the state level. Can you donate $10 to the Maine Democratic Party…”

So, is it just about their unbridled hatred of Trump?

Blind hatred robs the mind of common sense and reason. It robs the soul of compassion and humanity. That was made abundantly clear during Trump’s recent address to Congress. During what should have been a unifying, uplifting event, bitter Democrats could not even cheer a young cancer survivor or even acknowledge the tragic victims of violence by criminal migrants.

Many have suggested that those who oppose Trump’s policies do so because they hate him more than they love America. But maybe that’s being too generous. Yes, they hate this president and oppose everything he does, but how much love can they have for a country that they are determined to drastically transform? Maybe their contempt for this president simply reflects their disdain for the commonsense American values that he represents. Maybe they hate Trump because they hate America.

The vast majority of Americans support Trump’s efforts to restore commonsense values to our country. Those self-appointed champions of democracy will likely press on in their mission to put men into women’s restrooms and sporting events and to shield all illegal immigrants, including vicious criminals, from deportation. They’ll also continue to blindly oppose everything in President Trump’s agenda.

But if the Democrat Party again wants to be taken seriously, its leaders will have to reacquaint themselves with the main function of elected officials — to represent the will of the people.