At the end of this second decade of the new millennium, it’s natural to draw up our lists indicating our favorite movies and music, as well as our prognostications about what last year’s polls mean about this year’s politics. Yet, strangely and horrifically, the last month of 2019 provides the best overall predictor for what’s ahead in 2020.

The epidemic of attacks on Jewish people in the New York City area and New Jersey is not an acute, unpredictable event, but a horrific outgrowth of Democratic Party and liberal establishment attitudes and policies. The bizarre inability of Democratic leaders to admit their culpability in the spread of anti-Semitism is not surprising.

The constant effort by the Democrats is focused on reinforcing their preferred narrative – that white supremacism” is the scourge America is facing and that President Trump is the leader of this menacing monster.

BEN SHAPIRO: ANTI-SEMITISM IS ON THE RISE BUT THE LEFT (AND ITS MEDIA ALLIES) PLAY A DANGEROUS GAME

It is this narrative that is to take precedence over everything, even if it means serving up a completely bogus explanation of what is happening and why.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, exposed this habitual narrative reaction to an event that transcends partisanship and horrifies every decent person – the anti-Semitic attack earlier in December on a Jersey City kosher supermarket.

“This is heartbreaking. White supremacy kills,” Tlaib declared in the since-deleted tweet. The suspects, in fact, were revealed to be African-American, and part of the so-called Black Hebrew Israelites, who subscribe to an extreme anti-Semitism. Even knowing who the attackers were didn’t stop Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, from spinning.

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Erielle Davidson at the Federalist noted: “When questioned about the attack on the Jersey City kosher supermarket earlier this month, Mayor de Blasio ignored the motivations of the perpetrators, who belonged to a radical left-wing fringe group known as the Black Hebrew Israelites. Instead, he deflected in a bizarre maneuver, opting to discuss the scourge of white supremacy and private militias.”

James Higgins, the organizer of “The Monday Meeting,” a center-right coalition in New York, noted on Twitter: “Might it be that progressive encouragement of ‘The Squad’ and of BDS is a dog whistle that has sent anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York City up 53% in one year?” Might it, indeed.

There was a hate crime against Jews every day at the end of 2019 in New York since Dec. 23, also the second day of Hanukkah. Any normal person, upon seeing their rhetoric targeting Jewish people manifesting in this manner would sit back in self-reflection, horrified at the result and contemplating how to stop the madness.

But not the Democrats. Instead, after the machete attack on a rabbi’s house Saturday, the seventh night of Hanukkah, in Monsey, N.Y., the reaction among many leading Democrats was like a template: Yes, they would lament the rise in hate crimes against Jews, but hey, don’t look over here, it’s because of that evil orange man in Washington.

De Blasio sat down for an interview with Fox News’ Ed Henry the day after the Monsey attack. What viewers saw was a master class in the idiotic art of deflection as he blamed the “tone” coming out of Washington, including from the president.

Bethany Mandel, a contributor to the Washington Examiner, had perhaps the most illuminating response to this disgusting effort.

“Those who reflexively blame President Trump for any and all attacks, no matter how unrelated his administration, actions, or rhetoric are, have made a conscious choice: They would rather play politics than put an end to the violence,” Mandel wrote. “And worse, it seems they would like it to continue, in order to have more ammunition against the White House leading up to the 2020 election.”

The frenzy to gaslight Americans into not believing their own eyes is not limited to the attacks on Jewish people. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to try to blame Trump and the federal government for the continuing collapse of civil society in California. Homelessness, drug use, tent cities, human excrement on the sidewalks and crime now define that previously great state.

Medieval diseases such as typhus and typhoid fever – in addition to outbreaks of hepatitis A and tuberculosis – stalk the people of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Officials have recently expressed concern that conditions could invite a return of the plague.

It’s all Bad Orange Man’s fault, they tell us. We shake our heads and wonder what it will take for Democrats to admit their policies are failures and destroy people’s lives.

Then there’s Baltimore, where despair, drugs and violence continue to condemn its residents.

“Baltimore could wrap up 2019 with its highest per-capita homicide rate on record as killings of adults and minors alike for drugs, retribution, money or no clear reason continue to add up and city officials appear unable to stop the violence,” The Associated Press reported.

As National Review put it: “Baltimore, a once-great American city, has all but imploded thanks to decades of corrupt leadership, crime and the progressive policies now trumpeted by Democratic presidential hopefuls as solutions to the country’s cultural and economic divisions.”

Whether it be New York, California, Baltimore or any other liberal city and state, these realities prove one thing: Policy and leadership matter. So one must ask: Why do the Democrats in these places continue to deny the truth? Perhaps it’s because the only thing they value is their own power, to be preserved at any cost.

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Make no mistake, what we can expect in 2020 is not complicated. It will be more of the Democratic establishment spending all its time and energy convincing you to not believe your lying eyes.

The only way these problems will be solved is for Americans to follow the lead of the British by sending an undeniable message in November rejecting those who promote Jew-hatred and policies that are meant to sow division and chaos.

This column is adapted from a column that originally appeared in the Washington Times.

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