It’s July 4th, so that means we will get a series of hot takes from Democrats talking about how awful the country is. Condemnation of the nation that has given them so much has become a yearly ritual, with some examples being more overt than others.

And while Joe Biden isn’t allowing fireworks at Mt. Rushmore for the second year in a row because he’s a petty old man, Democrat Senate candidates are holding events with no such concern. One of those candidates is Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D-WI), and a video of him calling the founding of America “awful” is now going viral.

As America celebrates its independence, Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor and Democratic Senate candidate Mandela Barnes (@TheOtherMandela) would like you to know that "the founding of this nation [was] terrible." pic.twitter.com/64ZokLBmkX

— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) July 3, 2022

What an inspiring message to enjoy on this Fourth, right? I’m sure this is going to help Barnes greatly in his already uphill battle to unseat Sen. Ron Johnson in Wisconsin. I mean, really, who exactly do politicians think they are winning over with stuff like this?

Yes, the founding of the United States of America included some evil, immoral things being present in society. Still, I don’t think it’s crazy to suggest that shouldn’t be your message when speaking of its inception, and it certainly shouldn’t be as a precursor to Independence Day. There are things happening in this country right now that I find terrible, namely the fact that killing babies until birth is legal in many Democrat-led states.

Yet, I still find this a nation worth celebrating, as flawed as it has been and remains. The fact that slavery existed in 1776 is not a reason to call the founding itself “awful,” and doing so just comes across as ungrateful and tone-deaf.

With all that said, I believe you could make a convincing case that Barnes was simply addressing only the institution of slavery and didn’t actually mean the founding itself when he made his statement. That’s why I found his explanation after the fact worse than the original comment.

The ability of Democrats to decry slavery and defend killing babies in the same breath will never not be nuts to me. pic.twitter.com/OrnHCIWmHr

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) July 4, 2022

The cognitive dissonance is just astonishing. Here, we have Barnes (via a spokesperson) defending his comments by asserting he was talking about slavery, and then in the same breath, he offers a defense of killing babies. And to be clear, Barnes’ views are extreme, as he supports essentially no limits on abortion.

I don’t think I’m out of bounds to suggest that you lose the moral high ground to keep using the long-ended (in the United States) institution of slavery as a political talking point if you can’t even be counted on to protect the current humanity of children. Barnes is a hypocrite, decrying the past stripping of personhood from one group while promoting stripping others of the same thing because it fits his politics.

So while calling the founding of America “awful” was not a good look, Barnes’ response shows how truly depraved he is. You can’t call yourself a champion for justice, trying to gain power by doing so, while at the same time denying basic rights to the unborn. That simply does not compute no matter how many times Democrats try to thread the needle.