In his piece, author Paul Waldman slammed conservatives over President Joe Biden’s crack pipe fiasco, claiming that reports that the White House was planning to fund the distribution of drug paraphernalia were not only misinformation, they were also racist. That’s right: it is not the president who is racist for funding “smoking kits” for black Americans in the name of racial equity, it is the people who are reporting on it. The author wrote:

There’s an old opposition research tactic campaigns use: Take a huge bill your opponent voted for, scour it for the most controversial provision, and accuse the opponent of advocating something shocking. “Look what this scoundrel is spending taxpayer money on!” you can then say.

It’s usually baloney. But when Republicans do it, they almost always seem to gravitate in one direction: race-baiting.

Waldman continued, explaining that the $30 grant program is designed to provide a variety of different resources for groups who serve predominantly minority communities that have issues with addiction. Among other things, these “harm reduction” projects typically provide smoking kits and in some cases, they include actual pipes for crack cocaine, methamphetamines, and other illicit substances.

The author cites the Washington Free Beacon report which originally brought the issue to light, accusing the outlet of publishing fake news about the matter. He is one of many media activists on the left claiming the reports have been proven false. However, my analysis of the matter shows that this isn’t quite as clear-cut as they would have their audience believe.

In the article, Waldman contends that reports on the matter from right-leaning media are “race-baiting, pure and simple” because “[c]rack cocaine is associated in the public mind with Black people in cities .. just as crystal meth is associated with White people in rural areas.”

He continued:

Republicans know a juicy excuse for racial incitement when they see one. “Taxpayer $$$ shouldn’t be used to provide drug paraphernalia like crack pipes to Americans,” tweeted Sen. Chuck Grassley. Sen. Marco Rubio linked the mythical crack pipe distribution to “racial equity,” and rushed to draft a quickie bill, which a bevy of Republicans co-sponsored, called the Cutting Off Rampant Access to Crack Kits (CRACK) Act.

Not the OPIOIDS Act, or the HEROIN Act. The CRACK Act.

Waldman also points out that the CRACK Act “will never be the subject of a congressional hearing, or a markup, or a vote. It’s essentially a Fox News pitch written in legislative language.”

Okay, he’s probably right on that point. Nevertheless, his argument regarding race-baiting leaves much to be desired. “This is a good reminder of how absolutely central race-baiting is to today’s conservative media, which is built on keeping its audience of older White people in a state of perpetual anger and resentment,” Waldman wrote.

The author then goes on to target conservative media figures like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Tucker Carlson, and others, claiming that they “reached the top by leaning hard into race-baiting,” and pointing out how harshly they criticized former President Barack Obama. As with most leftist media activists, Waldman doesn’t catch the fact that he is engaging in the exact same behavior of which he is accusing conservatives – and he is also missing a deeper reality: Democrats are far more reliant on race-baiting than Republicans.

Even by bringing up Obama, the author shows how disingenuous his arguments are. Most people can remember how often conservatives were called racist for simply disagreeing with Obama on policy. Members of the activist media frequently insinuated Republicans who criticized Obamacare were only doing so because the president was black.

But let’s fast-forward into present times, shall we?

Which is the party claiming that if you don’t agree with their voting rights bill, you are similar to people like Bull Connor and others who upheld Jim Crow laws? Who are the ones calling GOP election laws “Jim Crow 2.0?”

What about immigration? How often have we seen progressives pretend that enforcing immigration laws means that you hate brown people? At every turn, Democrats call people who disagree with them racist. It is one of their favorite tactics, and they haven’t yet realized it is not as effective as it once was.

By writing this piece, Waldman is simply employing the “accuse your enemy of that which you are guilty” strategy that has become so beloved on the hard left. He knows he is engaging in hypocrisy. Unfortunately, his audience will likely eat it up.