‘Hands Off’ Irony Is Lost On The Left

We were bemused at the Orwellian doublespeak of the weekend protests, which were waged under the banner of “hands off.”

Hands off? What the protesters really want is for the government to keep its hands on – on our throats choking out our freedoms and in our pockets stealing our money.

Naturally, the protesters describe themselves as “defending democracy” and the current situation a “crisis.” What else is new?

But this particular effort – reported by most of the press to be “massive,” encompassing, said CNN, “scores of people” (20s of people?) – was more mindless than usual.

The “Hands Off” website claims that “Trump and Musk are attempting an illegal power grab,” but that they are also “gutting services” – not aware that this is a flat-out contradiction.

How is Donald Trump amassing power by cutting the size of government, squeezing out waste, and deregulating the economy? Or by ending the weaponization of law enforcement? Waste, fraud, heavy-handed regulations, politicized law enforcement are all the hands-on weapons of autocrats and dictators.

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The Hands Off folks claim Trump is “racing towards slashing Medicaid, Social Security, and more.” Really? Trump has made it clear that Social Security is off the table. And Medicaid wastes billions of dollars every year on fraudulent claims, ineligible beneficiaries, and general waste.

The Government Accountability Office reported a year ago that Medicaid made more than $50 billion in “improper payments” in 2023. That’s just what was caught. In one year. Recently in this space, we pointed out that states use a Medicaid “provider tax” scam to improperly grab hundreds of billions of federal money – something even Joe Biden wanted to end (see “Dems Fight To Protect A $600 Billion Medicaid Tax Scam That Joe Biden Tried To Kill”).

Medicaid has been on the GAO’s “high risk” list for “mismanagement and fraud, waste, and abuse” for more than 20 years. And what’s been done to fix it? Nothing.

Is allowing this fraud to continue what the protesters mean by “hands off”? (Editor's Note: Yes, Exactly!)

Besides, the government is running annual deficits of more than $1 trillion a year, on top of $36 trillion in federal debt. If protesters really were about “hands off,” they’d demand that government release this debt grip on future generations.

The “hands off” protesters also “demand an end to the attacks on immigrants.” But Trump isn’t attacking immigrants. He’s trying to stop illegal immigration and deporting those who are here illegally. Since Trump took office, the State Department has issued on the order of 100,000 legal immigrant visas.

And, of course, what would a leftist protest be these days without calling out supposed attacks on “transgender” people? 

But hang on a second. The vast majority of the public opposes allowing boys who claim to be girls to compete in girls’ sports. And most Americans support laws banning the mutilation of children by adults in the name of “gender-affirming care” – just as they support laws banning minors from getting tattoos in the name of “self expression.”

We’re not sure what they’re referring to when they complain about “invasion of privacy.” But you’d think the left would be more concerned about government-sponsored censorship. Except that was something the Biden administration was doing that Trump ended.

Then again, as Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds helpfully documents, many of the protestors had no idea what they were protesting. 

These protests are just another sign that the left has nothing to offer. Nothing but fear itself.
 

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