First, I’ve never had a problem with using fear in elections, if it’s rational and accurate. But I’m not the one who elevated “playing on our fears” to some sort of cardinal sin. It’s also worth noting that not only have the Democrats been fear-mongering, they’ve also been trying to gin up the troops by decrying Republican fear-mongering. Indeed, the GOP’s alleged attempts to exploit our fears is rapidly becoming the central explanation for both the Democrats’ problems and the GOP’s villainy. Beyond the hypocrisy of fear-mongering while decrying fear-mongering, it’s simply worth emphasizing that the people who claim to believe in “hope” and the candidate who once swore his main rival wasn’t a party or even a carbon-based life form but “cynicism itself” now has nothing positive to offer. All they’ve got is fear itself.