Democrats’ Nightmares–African Americans See Racism in Democrat Attacks on Clarence Thomas.

An idea for a poll: Survey black Americans to see if they think racism is any way behind the three-decade-long, never-ending criticism of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

This shouldn’t be a controversial notion. Progressives and Democrats have long attributed racism to criticism of black government officials they like. Only last month, former White House chief-of-staff Ron Klain said racism is behind the criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris (of course along with sexism).

The left never tires of telling us how deeply racism infects the nation, that American institutions are embedded with systemic racism, that white people can’t recognize the unconscious racist attitudes they harbor about people of color, that white children develop racial bias as early as 4 years old, that racism permeates even math and science, that “white privilege” remains an ongoing injustice, and on and on.

With racism so deeply entrenched in American society, criticism of black politicians and government officials can be — even sometimes must be — based on race, according to progressive thinking.

That is, it applies when the criticism is aimed liberal office holders and public figures, according to the progressive narrative. You never heard that accusation when black conservatives are attacked.

That’s a double standard at the heart of liberal cries of racism.

But, if America is so deeply and intrinsically racist, as the far left never hesitates to remind us, why would any black official, including conservatives, be immune from race-based attacks?

Which brings us to the case of Justice Thomas.

Now it’s true that there is a bigger picture at work at the present. The most recent criticism of Justice Thomas comes amid a broad-based Democrat and left-wing assault on the Supreme Court, a full-scale, no-holds-barred campaign to delegitimize the nation’s highest court.

Like the segregationists of the 1950s and ’60s who sought to undermine the high court because of its rulings ending segregation in schools and public places, today’s progressives attack the independence and integrity of the court because they hate its prominent rulings, most notably the one returning the issue of abortion to the people to deal with through their state legislatures.

But the brunt of the anti-court blitz falls on Justice Thomas. And it’s just the latest example.

He’s been the victim of attacks, innuendo and insults from Democrats and liberal media for more than a quarter of a century, starting with the 1991 hearings in the Senate that ultimately, despite an unfair smear of sexual harassment against him, led to his elevation to the high court. He understandably characterized that smear campaign as a “high tech lynching.”

In the years and decades since, he has been singled out time and again for public criticism, attacks and smears. Last year after the court’s abortion decision, Hillary Clinton attacked Justice Thomas as a “person of grievance for as long as I have known him — resentment, grievance, anger.”

It doesn’t stop with the jurist himself. Attacks aimed at his wife allege her political activity constitutes a conflict of interest for the justice.

This comes in a capital city crowded with spouses of powerful elected officials and administrators engaged in work in lobbying, media and the Washington bureaucracy. What hypocrisy. And again, a left-wing double standard. It’s tempting to say that if it weren’t for double standards, the progressives would have no standards at all.

The latest assault began with ProPublica articles focusing on Thomas’ friendship with a wealthy man, the luxurious vacations they took together that he funded, and a real estate transaction — all filled with insinuation that something was wrong, shady or unethical. James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal took a deep dive into all the details — the relationship, the travel, the transaction, the rules on disclosure — and found it was a lot to do about not much. What’s more, the wealthy friend had no cases before the Supreme Court — not even a whiff of impropriety.

Next came — what else? — a renewed attack by the Washington Post on the justice’s wife for her political activism.

Under the category of no good deed goes unpunished, ProPublica chimed in with an ugly article about Thomas trying to help a troubled grandnephew with his wealthy friend chipping to pay for a private school for the young man.

An act of charity is turned into Washington political fodder.

It’s no wonder that so many Americans have nothing but contempt for Washington and its media.

Why has Justice Thomas been singled out over the decades for so much contempt from the liberal elites in politics and media?

President Joe Biden inadvertently let the cat out of the bag during his 2020 election campaign against then President Donald Trump.

At the conclusion of an interview, a well known black radio host said Biden should return for another interview because he had more questions. Biden responded, “Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” (Biden later apologized.)

There it is in a nutshell. White liberals decree that African Americans have to think a certain way or they’re not authentically black.

The one thing a white racist cannot tolerate is a black man who thinks for himself. A black man or woman with an independent streak. A black individual who speaks his mind. One not bound to the liberal worldview.

That’s who Justice Thomas is.

He is one of the most consequential black figures in modern America — actually one of the most consequential Americans of our time, period. And he did it by charting a thoughtful independent course in judicial thinking. And he’s a conservative.

Yes, prominent black liberals in politics and the media have joined in the attacks on Thomas. It’s up to them to decide whether in the long run it’s in the best interests of African Americans to continue to support this unrelenting and vicious personal assault on such a historically important, independent-thinking black American. Maybe they would profit from a poll to see if America’s black population thinks race plays a role in the progressive onslaught against Justice Thomas.

Burgess Owens, a black Republican congressman from Utah and former star professional football player, summed it up last year: “If these attacks were aimed at Barack Obama, for example, it would be called out by … the media for exactly what it is: pure racism.”

Progressives cannot abide a black man who refuses to bend to their notion of how blacks should think. If a black American doesn’t toe the liberal line, then, as Biden put it, “you ain’t black.”

Is that racist?

It’s a question progressives can’t avoid. They’ve never hesitated to play the race card, never shied away from shouting racism, never missed an opportunity to assign the worst racial motives to their opponents.

It’s far left liberals who’ve set the standard that virtually every facet of American life revolves around race. It’s their standard, so they have to be judged by it.

Is there racism in the decades long drumbeat of criticism of Justice Thomas?

It would be interesting to hear what black Americans think about that.

Any polling firms interested in finding out?