This right wing obsession with claiming that most political opponents are pedophiles is both nauseating and concerning.

When trying to make sense of it, I think it boils down to one of a few things:

For a while now, or I should say, since Trump stepped into the political spotlight and began validating these people's worst impulses and feelings, conservatives have become more and more emboldened in spreading flagrant falsehoods, misinformation, conspiracy theories, unsubstantiated rumors and so forth, facts be damned. So why are so many of these claims centered around pedophilia? Why is this what they almost instinctively jump to?

Because for one, it's considered one of the most heinous acts a person can commit. So, for the sake of trying to rationalize their hate and their prejudices and preconceived notions about their political enemies, and especially about social groups like the LGBTQ community, they resort to calling them the worst thing you can call somebody.

Part of this is clearly rooted in a deep seated animus towards the LGBTQ community. They're trying to justify their revulsion by accusing the groups they both hate and fear of being pedophiles, groomers, sexually depraved, mentally ill, etc...

The facts don't matter, they've already jumped to their conclusions about these people, it's just a matter of how they affirm those conclusions, and consequently, how they rationalize their distaste and contempt for anyone associated with the LGBTQ movement. 

It's also related to a growing right wing movement of conspiracists, contrarians, deranged cynics and fanatics who have embraced the narrative that "the left" is coming for your children.

Whether it's indoctrination in schools, pornography in school libraries, teachers and educators inculcating children with LGBTQ and gender pedagogy, drag queens grooming kids, leftists forcing children to undergo sex change operations, brainwashing them into becoming transgender, "turning" them gay, coercing them to use different pronouns, perverting classrooms with sex education, etc...

While some of their most outlandish accusations include liberal pedophile rings, child sacrifices, *adrenochrome," blood drinking, among other things. 

Then there are claims that arent gender or sex related. Like claims that schools are teaching white children to feel guilty for being white, like claims that children are being brainwashed with cultural Marxist propaganda and lessons about critical race theory, even claims that children are being secularized, that they're being deliberately indoctrinated with atheist ideology, that they're being taught about a United States history that isn't whitewashed, about an accurate history of the civil war era, about a country not founded on Christian nationalism.

While other miscellaneous claims exist that are more about parent's frustrations with the curricula, like how climate change is being taught in the classroom, or in some cases, harmless lessons about things like how to manage their emotions. Some conservative parents have also expressed their frustrations that Christian dogma isn't being taught enough, but what they'd really like to say is that public school should resemble something closer to a private religious institution.

So conservatives around the country are latching on to these narratives because it helps them validate their feelings about people from different communities, but also about liberals in general.

This is also about feelings of superiority and entitlement. This one is pretty simple. By disparaging their political opponents, they can feel above them. They can feel self righteous, morally and behaviorally superior.

And then theres the most disturbing aspect of this. Projection.

Study after study shows that a vast majority of pedophiles are not disproportionately gay, trans, leftist, Democrat, or teachers, they're not defined by their sexual orientation or political ideology, but often by other demographics.

Most child sex abusers are close relatives or close friends of relatives, people that the children know well and might have previously trusted.

The data continuously shows that you're not more likely to be an offender if you're LGBTQ. Yes, no matter what group we're talking about, you're going to find offenders within that group, but that doesn't mean that all or most offenders belong to that group. Unfortunately, this is a generalization that conservatives aren't afraid to make.

The only exception, according to the data, is that a vast and disproportionate amount of offenders were male. Most are white males in fact, but being white isn't a common denominator, it's just that whites are the predominant race in this country.

The point is, you shouldn't be stigmatizing an entire community or group of people because someone on social media dishonestly highlighted one case in particular.

That being said, let's go back and talk about projection. I'm going to follow my own rules and I'm not going to make the case that because conservatives are obsessed with accusing others of being pedophiles, they must have some inclination themselves.

But I will point out that Donald Trump is a well documented, serial sexual abuser himself. He's been accused of sexual assault, harassment, or rape by dozens of women. And there is even an alleged case, that was never brought to court, but filed three separate times, about Donald Trump's sexual involvement with a minor. 

So in my mind, the last thing to talk about here, is how everything I just mentioned affords Trump supporters the perfect excuse to deflect from Trump's own sexual misconduct. This is the projection I'm talking about.

In the eyes of his supporters, he is infallible, he's incapable of wrongdoing, he's like a god. So by constantly accusing his opponents of sexual crimes, his supporters have found a way to minimize or entirely ignore Trump's history of abuse.