Foster: A Painful Dose of Reality Is the Only Known Treatment for the ‘IRS’ Condition
The piece argues that a pattern the author calls Inconvenient Reality Syndrome (IRS) explains contemporary Democratic politics: an internally directed tendency to blame others for their own failures, rather than facing inconvenient facts. IRS is contrasted with Trump Derangement syndrome (TDS), which the author describes as an external, reactive stance toward Trump.
key points and examples:
– IRS is used to criticize Democrats for blaming president Trump for issues tied to Biden-era policies,such as what the author sees as monarchical tendencies and the use of “lawfare.”
– The author cites instances like Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness and open-border policies,arguing these reflect IRS-like thinking by blaming others for consequences.
– the piece points to Democratic figures-Illinois Governor JB pritzker, California Governor Gavin Newsom, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and others-as examples of IRS through complaints that shift responsibility onto Trump or other political actors.
– It argues that Democratic protests and messaging sometimes appear hypocritical or inconsistent, including references to political theater and selective emphasis on “science” and “democracy.”
– The author distinguishes IRS from TDS, describing IRS as inward and self-blaming while TDS is an external, resentful reaction to Trump. He suggests that resistance to IRS within the party has weakened over time.
– The essay concludes with author credentials (J. D. Foster, former OMB economist) and a note that the views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily the Daily Caller News Foundation.
the author frames IRS as a growing,internal rationale used by Democrats to account for electoral and policy setbacks,positioning it as a distinct phenomenon from TDS.
When a patient presents a pattern, a persistent psychosis, the ailment deserves a name. For modern Democrats, call it Inconvenient Reality Syndrome, or IRS.
Consider the recent “No Kings” rallies. The Left claims President Donald Trump exhibits authoritarian tendencies – acting the king – when he applies the law as written, yet the Left accepted without a murmur that Joe Biden is ignoring the law.
We’re speaking of his rankly political student loan forgiveness and open border policies, of course. King Joe?
But Biden’s monarchical habits went further. It is no surprise the term “lawfare” gained currency during his blessedly single term as he led the Left up and down the political scales in attacking Donald Trump with spurious legal claims.
While the Left’s opposition to Trump is serious, their behaviors are anything but. Prancing around in costumes sporting signs calling for the Epstein files to be released while Biden sat on said files for four years is truly odd. Waving other signs sporting such vagaries as “science” and “democracy” are equally so.
Do the protestors stand for anything beyond opposing Trump? It’s hard to tell from their signage.
A telltale symptom of IRS sufferers is blaming others for their own failures. Take Illinois’ Democratic Gov. JB (Biscuits) Pritzker. When Jose Medina, a Venezuelan illegal, gunned down Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman recently, Pritzker blamed Trump.
Apprehended by border patrol and released by Biden in 2023, the illegal made his way to Immigration and Customs Enforcement-resistant sanctuary city Chicago. Pritzker implicitly acknowledges the illegal was bad news by insisting Gorman’s death was Trump’s fault because Trump failed “to go after the worst of the worst” in his deportations. Resist ICE and then blame Trump for Sheridan’s murder for not being vigorous in deporting illegals; classic IRS.
Or consider California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom blaming Trump for high gas prices. “Look at your cost at the pump the last few days. That was an act of the Trump Administration.”
Reality: Thanks largely to Newsom’s policies, gas prices in California were among the nation’s highest long before the war on Iran. Recently, the national average was $2.99 a gallon. California’s average was $4.65. Call it the Newsom surcharge. And when oil prices fall again, Californians’ will still be stuck with the Newsom surcharge.
California’s pain will worsen yet as Newsom drives out California refineries. It’s not complicated. Refineries gone, California now imports expensive gasoline, tanker after tanker. Even slick Gavin can’t explain how that’s green.
New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul recently showed modest resistance to IRS. Rich New Yorkers are fleeing the state, with more to follow, thanks to New York’s shoot-self-in-head tax policies. Hochul suggested going to “Palm Beach and see who we can bring back home because our tax base has eroded.”Good luck with that Kath.
Michelle Obama presented a wonderful example of IRS as she sought excuses for why Democrats lost elections running women for president. She opined the nation has “got a lot of growing up to do, and there’s still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman.”
Let’s see: 15 percent of the population is Black or Black in combination with some other race, yet irredeemably racist America (according to the Left) twice elected a Black man, Michelle’s husband, as president. Over half the population is female, yet according to Michelle, Americans won’t elect a woman. Go figure.
But Michelle’s preachy whining gained traction in the Left’s echo chamber as otherwise they’d collectively have to admit the losses by Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris had nothing to do with sexism. Trump had simply beaten weaker candidates.
To recall, Clinton lost because many Americans knew her well and wouldn’t trust her with a wooden nickel, and because she made some terrible late-game campaign decisions.
Harris lost because the Democratic Establishment – that would be Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, for example — let Biden hang on too long, thus dealing Harris a terrible hand. Harris just couldn’t toss enough word salads to recover.
Inconvenient Reality Syndrome should not be confused with Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), though the two are complementary and often found cohabitating. IRS is an internally directed disorder while TDS is external. IRS appears when the patient blames others for the consequences of their own mistakes. TDS presents when the patient reacts with fury to anything and everything Trump does or says just because it’s Trump.
Historically, while some Democrats suffered IRS, many resisted it. The resisters’ ranks are thin today and getting thinner under constant pressure from the rest of the party’s TDS wing. Unfortunately, neither social distancing nor surgical masks protect against either IRS or TDS.
J.D. Foster is the former chief economist at the Office of Management and Budget and former chief economist and senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He now resides in relative freedom in the hills of Idaho.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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