[posterchild]

Ideological possession: https://fee.org/articles/the-diagnosis-and-treatment-of-ideological-possession/

[Steely Tom]

That is a superb reference. Thank you. "Ideological possession" is the perfect term for a phenomenon we've all noticed for years, that is often — I might go so far as to say routinely — used by the left. That phenomenon is "X is something that all Y want, therefore if you are against X you must hate Y and therefore want to destroy Y."

"If you are against abortion, you must hate women and want them all barefoot and pregnant."

"If you are against welfare, you must hate poor people and want to kill them."

We all know the endless variations on this theme. Nancy Pelosi, Hillary and Bill Clinton, and virtually every other Democrat has used this formulation, particularly when their backs are against the wall.

Remember Ted Kennedy?

"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists would be censored at the whim of the government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is often the only protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy."

That quote is from the Congressional Record - Senate, for 1 July, 1987.