Democrats and their faux ‘independent’ thinking

OPINION:

Karine Jean-Pierre, former White House press secretary to ex-President Joseph R. Biden, has switched from Democrat to independent, saying in a video shared on Instagram that it’s time “we” — meaning everybody — “stop thinking in boxes and think outside of our boxes and not be so partisan.” 

She made the remarks coincidentally enough at the same time that she’s promoting her new book about the broken two-party political system and the need for people to be more independent.

That’s called marketing.

That’s called branding — or more to truth, in Jean-Pierre’s case, rebranding.

Jean-Pierre is a longtime Democrat Party hack who served in the Barack Obama administration and in the Biden 2020 campaign and as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential chief of staff and as press secretary for Biden, and who has never, no never, served for a Republican, on behalf of a Republican or on the side of a Republican — and certainly not on the side of any MAGA-loving Republican.

To believe that she’s suddenly seen the light, err, make that darkness, of partisan politics and is not only running from this darkness but warning others to do similarly, is disingenuous. She’s gone independent? More likely — this: Her book is called “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.” So her publisher no doubt advised her to do as she wrote.

In the announcement for her book, Legacy Lit, an imprint of Hachette, wrote: “In a hard-hitting yet hopeful critique, Jean-Pierre defines what it means to be part of the growing percentage of our fractured electorate that is Independent.”

It’s sure to be a gripping exposé.

Jean-Pierre no doubt draws from her own hours and hours of experience as an independent. 

Her hubris is gasp-worthy.

But she’s only doing what all Democrats do — they think that if they pretend something to be true, that it will be true. 

Truly, Democrats don’t know what it means to be independent.

What they do know, however, is how to redefine language so as to spin the narrative to suit their personal purposes. It’s kinda their thing. 

When Biden wanted all of America to get the COVID shot, and then another and another and another shot, he redefined what it meant to be a patriot. He turned independent thinking and decision-making into a negative and put forth that it was an act of patriotism to obey the will of the government, for the collective good. It was a redefine combined with a call to obey. 

Then came the Biden-era Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s changed definition of vaccine and vaccination so as to accommodate for the failures in efficacy of the new COVID shot — that was a redefine with an implicit call to obey. 

Then came the Biden-era pretend shutdown of America’s borders and continual insistence that the open borders were actually closed and that the unsafe borders were actually safe. That was a redefine of border control so as to accommodate for the refusal of the Democrats to control the border. That was an implicit call to fight Republicans who wanted to strengthen the border — that is, to obey the will of the Democrats.

Then came the Biden-era redefining of Christian nationalism, to turn the founding ideals of this country into racist, derogatory, hateful principles that all ought to flee. That was an implicit call to fight all-things-MAGA. That was a call to support only Democrats.

There was the Biden-era pretend prosperous economy — the Biden-era pretend successful Afghanistan withdrawal — the Biden-era pretend protection of children and pretend preservation of parental rights and authorities. The price of food may have soared; the terrorists may have taken back Afghanistan; and the LGBTQ fantasies may have turned many a boy into a girl, over the objections of horrified parents. But a little redefining here; a little gaslighting there. Voila, vote Democrat, if freedom is to reign.

Fact is, Democrats aren’t known so much for their critical thinking skills and individualism as for their ability to herd ignorant voters like sheep — as for their collectivism. 

Jean-Pierre may have a book called “Independent” that she’s trying to market from a first-person perspective of independent thinking. But she’s as far from independent as Democrats are from truth. Only by gaslighting, only by changing the definition of independent, can Democrats claim a love of individualism.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.