Opponents of crucial race idea show up at a packed Loudoun County Faculty board assembly in Ashburn, Va., June 22, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

As a mom and dad-led grassroots backlash to crucial race idea (CRT) in community-faculty lecture rooms has swept the nation in excess of the course of the previous six months, the left-wing establishment — the two in the Democratic Bash and the progressive-pleasant mainstream media — has largely reacted by dismissing parents’ problems as baseless. Inspite of the evident evidence to the opposite, the formal organs of the Left have managed that the ideology is not taught in general public universities at all, and that parents’ concerns are pushed by some mix of ignorance and outright racism.

That ended inadequately for Virginia Democrats very last week. On the marketing campaign trail, Democratic gubernatorial prospect Terry McAuliffe consistently knowledgeable voters that CRT was “not taught in Virginia,” and that the “created-up” time period was a “racist puppy-whistle.” All that, in spite of the simple fact that his condition had turn out to be the tip of the spear in the national discussion about the ideology, and that — as leaked files showed back in Oct — the Virginia Department of Education and learning had encouraged educational institutions to “embrace” CRT when McAuliffe was governor. Subsequently, the remaining-leaning condition observed its governor, lieutenant governor, lawyer common, and Home of Delegates all flip pink in the November 2 election, partially as a final result of mother and father of K–12 college students turning out for the GOP. “Education” was routinely ranked as a single of the best issues in the race, and while that very likely encompassed a variety of aspects — COVID-connected school shutdowns, mask and vaccine mandates, university safety and quality — CRT was definitely a main component in the race. 

But the Remaining doesn’t seem to have uncovered its lesson nevertheless. If something, it’s doubling down. Write-up-election protection in the legacy media accused Virginia voters — who had voted for Biden by extra than 10 points just a yr prior to — of racism, irrespective of the fact that previous week’s race elevated the initially black lady and very first Cuban-American to the positions of lieutenant governor and legal professional common, respectively, in the state. MSNBC declared that Glenn Youngkin’s victory “proves white ignorance is a impressive weapon,” and that — you guessed it — CRT “is not genuine.” CNN is taking the similar solution: “Just to be crystal clear, it’s not in the curriculum,” the network’s Brianna Keilar knowledgeable viewers. And the New York Times wrote that “by promising at just about just about every campaign prevent to ban critical race concept, an advanced educational concept not taught in Virginia colleges, Mr. Youngkin resurrected Republican race-baiting techniques in a state that once served as the funds of the Confederacy.”

Newsflash: Gaslighting voters — telling them that the curriculum that they’re observing with their individual eyes does not exist, and that they’re racist for considering it does — backfires. Who would have believed?