OPINION:
At a “No Kings” protest of the Trump administration this weekend, North Carolina state Rep. Julie von Haefen, a Democrat, proudly posted a photo on X that called for President Trump to be beheaded.
In Los Angeles, law enforcement officers continue to deploy tear gas and rubber bullets to clear out nightly rioters, who have looted stores, graffitied federal buildings and set fire to cars for almost two weeks straight.
A curfew is in effect, but Mayor Karen Bass remains defiant in protecting California’s sanctuary state policies and downplaying the rioting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement as “limited,” “mostly peaceful” and not comparable to the 1992 unrest.
Meanwhile, Google’s Waymo extended the suspension of its self-driving car service in downtown Los Angeles over the weekend out of an “abundance of caution” as local shops remain locked and boarded up.
Since Mr. Trump’s inauguration, the left has celebrated the assassination of UnitedHealth’s CEO, the firebombing of Tesla dealerships and cars, and the antisemitic protests on college campuses nationwide.
Democratic lawmakers refused to stand or clap for a 13-year-old boy with terminal brain cancer honored by Mr. Trump during his speech to a joint session of Congress in February, flew to El Salvador to defend an alleged MS-13 gang member and human trafficker who beat his wife and was deported by Mr. Trump, and assaulted ICE agents outside a detention center in Newark, New Jersey.
On Thursday, Sen. Alex Padilla of California crashed a press event hosted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and was forcibly removed. His political performance was exalted by Alexander Vindman, a hero of the left’s “resistance” for sparking Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial, who penned on X “Hey @KristiNoem f*ck off you fascist bitch!”
Democrats are clearly unwell, and that’s a statistical fact.
Liberals are more than twice as likely to say they have poor mental health. Conservatives are more than twice as likely to say their mental well-being is “excellent,” according to data collected from the 2022 Cooperative Election Study from Tufts University, recently reported by statistician Nate Silver.
A 2023 study from Monitoring the Future found similar ideological results. Twelfth-graders who identified as liberal outpaced their conservative peers in feeling dissatisfied with their lives, lonely and hopeless. Of the 16 mental health traits tracked, liberals suffered more psychological distress than conservatives on every measure.
This phenomenon is not new, but it has accelerated with the rise of social media and as public and private institutions veer toward more woke socialist leanings and away from traditional Judeo-Christian teachings.
“Conservatives are more likely to be patriotic and religious. They are more likely to be (happily) married and less likely to divorce,” American Affairs observed of the happiness index between conservatives and liberals. “Religiosity, in turn, correlates with greater subjective and objective well-being. So does patriotism. So does marriage. Consequently, some have argued that the apparent psychological benefit of conservatism actually comes from feeling deeper connections with one’s country, one’s family, and the Divine. On this model, conservatism itself would be largely incidental to the happiness gap.”
Pew Research Center studies show that 51% of those who identify as liberal also identify as religiously unaffiliated, and that number is growing. The percentage of liberals who never attend religious services has tripled since 1990, according to the American Survey Center.
Patriotism is also declining among Democrats.
In 2003, 65% of Democrats felt “extreme pride” in America; by 2023, it was down to 29%, according to a Gallup poll. Of liberals ages 18 to 34, only 18% said they were “extremely” patriotic, a precipitous drop from 85% in 2013.
“Party identification remains the greatest demographic differentiator in expressions of national pride,” Gallup said, “and Republicans have been consistently more likely than Democrats and independents to express pride in being American.”
As liberals protested nationwide Saturday while waving Mexican and Palestinian flags, Mr. Trump was celebrating the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday with a parade and fireworks in Washington.
“With the creation of America’s Army on June 14th, 1775, liberty got its shield and the freedom got its sword,” Mr. Trump said. “And tonight, we affirm with unwavering certainty that in the years ahead, and in every generation hence, whenever duty calls and whatever danger comes, the American soldier will be there.”
Sen. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Democrat, had the audacity to agree with the commander in chief.
“250 years of Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, Personal Courage — and the world’s greatest soldiers,” Mr. Fetterman wrote on X. “Happy Birthday, @USArmy!”
The same day, his name was booed at a “No Kings” rally of his ideological peers in Philadelphia.
• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.
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