The hypocrisy card is a dead-end and reactionary. While the use of showing hypocrisy has its place when coupled with principles, the weaponized use of hypocrisy is extremely reactionary and merely serves to keep the public discourse free from examining principles and root causes. It’s a politics that resembles a sporting event where it’s nothing but gotchas and point-scoring.
There are liberals who are positioning themselves to the right of Donald Trump on issues because they feel it would score hypocrisy points. These same people don’t find anything strange about the fact that they went from supporting brutal regimes under every other administration (including Obama), and then want to increase chances of war if it means that they can score some mythical points in the anti-Trump sporting event.
Being anti-Trump is very simple and at most is apolitical. Being against Trump’s policies requires a self-evaluation that is very difficult for corporate/establishment Democrats. It requires them to honestly evaluate US history, foreign policy, and their favorite Democratic politicians.
Trump is very much what the US is all about. And we don’t change that by merely swapping out Trump for someone more polite and groomed and has a D next to her/his name. We need to be attacking the very things that led to Trump, and the very things we supposedly hate about him – not just reflexively opposing him and playing the hypocrisy card.