The Liberal Heart that Hates First

Guest Post by Todd Hayen

I know I’m on the right side of the side of the fence with most of this crap we are experiencing is because every time I drop a verifiable, ironclad fact that punctures one of the “other side’s” sacred lies, I get a verbal Molotov cocktail lobbed at me.

Not a reasoned debate, not a “let’s check the data,” but a personal attack—as if I’ve just spat on their dead cat’s grave. This isn’t about opinions; it’s about truths so solid you could build a house on them. When liberals respond with venom instead of logic, it’s proof their thinking’s lost in the weeds, while mine’s on the straight and narrow.

I have mentioned this story before, but it deserves repetition.

On social media, one fine day, I encountered a posting by a very dear friend railing against dear old Trump for allegedly cancelling a gay choir performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, after strong-arming his way into the chairmanship of its board. My friend cast Trump as a bigoted overlord, choking out artistic freedom with his tiny hands. Skeptical, I did some digging. Lo and behold, a CNN article—hardly a Trump fan club newsletter—revealed the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC, performance, A Peacock Among Pigeons, was cancelled before Trump became chairman on February 12, 2025. The decision, tied to budget cuts and scheduling conflicts, had zero to do with him, as the Kennedy Center itself confirmed.

So, I politely corrected my friend, linking the article for good measure. His response? He unfriended me, declaring he wanted nothing to do with someone defending “satan incarnate.”

Well, excuse me!

I didn’t defend Trump—I just waved a fact in his face. But facts are kryptonite when the liberal heart hates first. This hate slices through truth like the proverbial hot knife cuts through butter.

What is this hate? Where does it come from? What triggers it, and why is it a raging inferno among today’s liberals when it comes to Trump? And most importantly, what can we do about it?

Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist who mapped the murky depths of the human psyche, offers a lens to decode this lunacy. He argued we all have a shadow—the dark, repressed corners of our minds where we shove traits we’re too ashamed to face. Aggression, hypocrisy, fear of chaos, or intolerance fester there, denied by our polished, conscious selves. When we can’t stomach these flaws, we project them onto others, turning them into scapegoats for our inner mess. For liberals, who wear their compassion, intellectualism, and inclusivity like a merit badge, Trump is the ultimate shadow screen—a larger-than-life figure onto whom they can dump their disowned demons.

Why Trump? He’s a walking middle finger to their values: brash, unfiltered, and defiantly individualistic. Jung would call him an archetypal “Trickster” or “Shadow King,” a disruptive force who exposes societal contradictions. Liberals pride themselves on diplomacy, yet their shadow harbors aggression—think of the vitriol in their protests or X posts. They project this onto Trump, branding him a “bully” while ignoring their own venom. They champion rationality but fear chaos, and Trump’s unpredictable style—tweeting like a drunk uncle at a wedding—becomes a lightning rod for that dread. They tout moral superiority but dodge their own hypocrisies, like preaching equality while dismissing rural voters as backward. Trump’s existence forces liberals to glimpse their shadow, and they hate him for holding up that mirror.

Take another example: liberals raged when Trump, as Kennedy Center chairman, ousted Biden appointees like David Rubenstein. They framed it as a power grab, proof of his authoritarian streak. But dig deeper, and it’s standard procedure for a new chairman to reshape the board. The projection? Liberals, who often control cultural institutions, fear losing their grip and project their own power-hunger onto Trump, painting him as the tyrant they secretly worry they could become.

What ignites this projection? First, fear. Trump’s rise—and his staying power—threatens the liberal dream of a progressive utopia. His populism, distrust of institutions, and appeal to the “forgotten” shake the foundations of their worldview. Jung said threats amplify projection, as groups externalize anxiety onto an “enemy.” Trump, with his MAGA hats and Truth Social megaphone, becomes the bogeyman for their fears of cultural regression or democratic collapse. My friend’s meltdown over the Kennedy Center myth wasn’t just about a choir—it was about Trump as a symbol of everything he dreads.

Second, identity. Liberals cling to a persona of empathy and enlightenment, but their shadow hides intolerance and elitism. Admitting this would shatter their self-image, so they project it onto Trump, making him the sole source of division. My friend didn’t just reject my fact—he rejected me, because questioning his narrative threatened his identity as a “good” liberal. To him, I was aiding the enemy, even though I was just pointing to a CNN article.

Third, mob mentality. Jung warned that projections turn vicious in groups, fed by shared outrage and echo chambers. Liberal media, X influencers, and coastal cliques amplify Trump as a cartoon villain—fascist, narcissist, existential threat. This creates a feedback loop where hating Trump becomes a social currency. My friend wasn’t acting alone; he was swept up in a cultural tide where Trump-hate is a virtue signal. One stray fact from me was enough to brand me a heretic, because groupthink trumps truth.

Why is this hate a five-alarm fire among liberals today? We’re in a societal pressure cooker. Inflation, geopolitical tremors, and cultural fractures have everyone on edge. Liberals, once smug in their cultural dominance, feel besieged by populism and skepticism of their sacred cows—think legacy media or academia. Trump, as the poster child for this rebellion, absorbs their rage. His Kennedy Center takeover, however routine, stokes fears of losing cultural turf. Even when he didn’t cancel the gay choir, the myth persists because it fits the projection: Trump as the enemy of their values.

Jung would say this ferocity stems from a collective failure of individuation—the process of integrating the shadow for psychological wholeness. Liberals, like most of us, dodge this grueling work. It’s easier to demonize Trump than to admit their own flaws: dismissing his supporters as “deplorables” while claiming inclusivity, or pushing policies that sound noble but screw over the working class. The deeper the denial, the hotter the hate, and Trump’s polarizing presence makes him a magnet for it. His every move—tweeting about “fake news,” shaking up institutions, or even just existing—fuels the projection, because he embodies what liberals refuse to see in themselves.

So, how do the liberals douse this fire? Jung’s prescription is brutal but clear: face the shadow. Liberals need to own their aggression, hypocrisy, and fear instead of dumping them on Trump. This means questioning their narratives, talking to Trump’s supporters—not as “cultists” but as people—and admitting their role in polarization. My friend could’ve said, “Huh, maybe I got that wrong,” and we’d still be friends. Instead, he chose hate over truth, a snapshot of the broader disease.

For us shrews, the mission is to keep jabbing at these projections with facts, even if it earns us digital guillotines. We can’t force liberals to integrate their shadows, but we can plant seeds of doubt. Call out the lies—like the Kennedy Center fable—with calm, relentless precision. Share the CNN link, the NBC report, the primary source. Stay unshaken when the hate rolls in, because it’s just their shadow screaming. And don’t take it personally—it’s not about you; it’s about their inner chaos.

But let’s not kid ourselves: this isn’t just a liberal problem. We all project, and conservatives have their own shadows to wrestle. The difference is, right now, the liberal heart’s hate is louder, shriller, and more unhinged. It’s a cultural force, tearing through friendships, families, and reason itself. Jung would urge us to rise above, to seek truth over tribe, and to start with ourselves. If we can’t look in the mirror, we’re no better than the mob.

This liberal heart that hates first isn’t just a quirk—it’s a psychological prison. By projecting their shadow onto Trump, liberals dodge the mirror and fuel a cycle of division that’s tearing us apart.

Jung would demand better: look inward, own your darkness, and choose truth over comfort. I would like to think that for me, every unfriending, every hissed insult, is thought of as a badge of honour. It means I’m hitting a nerve, exposing a lie, and standing for something bigger than their tantrums. The truth doesn’t care about their feelings, or mine. It just is. And I’ll keep waving it like a flag, no matter how loud they scream.