Name calling is the last refuge for one losing an argument. Much like a roundhouse punch that hits nothing but air, it’s a final effort in a losing fight. But it’s also been the one reliable punch for Democrats, playing the race card against opponents.

Not so much now, however. Shouting, “You’re a racist!” has been the preferred comeback for Democrats on the losing side of an argument. Alternatives to the word racist include Nazi, bigot, fascist, homophobe, sexist, and so on, but racist has the best quick jab-like sting.

Sometimes name calling can fall flat, as in calling Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh a sexist or misogynist, as Democrats did in his confirmation hearings. In reality he is the first Supreme Court justice to hire an entirely female group of clerks, something even the “Notorious RBG,” hero of the left, hasn’t done.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the latest Democrat finding herself holding a bad hand of race cards. Cards dealt by none other than the de facto Speaker of the House Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Here we all thought Pelosi was the face of liberalism, properly progressive on everything from abortion and taxes to global warming and immigration.

Yet Pelosi is not woke enough for “the squad”, four freshmen representatives representing the communist wing of an already far left Democrat party. I speak of AOC and her socialist sisters, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

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Pelosi has been speaker for six months and Trump is still president, not resigned or impeached, despite two years of promises from CNN, MSNBC, and many members of Congress. Pelosi hasn’t passed the Green New Deal, student loan forgiveness, a 70-plus percent top tax rate, reparations for anyone not a white heterosexual Christian male, or Medicare for all.

Times a wastin’ with the Democrat House is still searching for evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the election from Hillary Clinton. AOC and her squad are cracking the whip on slow-moving Democrats, drawing the ire of Pelosi and the ruling Democrat elites.

Unable to accept their freshman status and the well-established Congressional pecking order, what better way to light a fire under Pelosi than to call her a racist? Not directly, as Bernie Sanders did to President Trump, recently calling him "racist, sexist, homophobe and religious bigot."

AOC played it a little more subtly saying of Pelosi, "But the persistent singling out ... it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful ... the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color." Just a long-winded way of calling Pelosi a racist.

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This is not a new tactic. Kamala Harris did the same to Joe Biden at the first Democrat primary debate. While not calling him a racist directly, she deftly used her previous experience as a prosecutor to do just that with these words, "I do not believe you are a racist” but….

What goes around comes around. The race card is being thrown back in the faces of those who have played it for decades. The term “racist” has become such a cliché that it no longer carries any weight or meaning. Like the story of the boy who cried wolf, the public tunes out accusations of racism as meaningless and childish name calling.

Instead it is now just a punch to throw your opponent off balance. When policy or economic arguments fall flat, throw out the race card. No one wants to be accused of racism and will immediately go into defensive mode against such charges.

Biden, instead of advancing his agenda and rationale for being the Democrat nominee, whatever that might be, has had to shift to defense, apologizing for his innocuous comments about working legislatively with Senate colleagues who also happened to be segregationists.

How many Democrat Senators proudly worked with former KKK Grand Cyclops Senator Robert Byrd for decades, some even calling him their “mentor” as Hillary Clinton did?

Ironically it was President Trump who came to Nancy Pelosi’s rescue. Speaking to a gaggle of media magpies Trump said, “I'll tell you something about Nancy Pelosi that you know better than I do, she is not a racist. OK? She is not a racist. For them to call her a racist is a disgrace."

That’s statesmanship and grace, but more likely strategic. It’s being the adult in the room, something few in Congress, of either party, can claim to be. Trump could have easily deflected the question, tacitly agreeing with AOC’s accusation.

Will Pelosi return the favor or publicly acknowledge Trump’s rescue? Doubtful, as politics for Democrats is a blood sport and they won’t give an inch, even when called for by the rules of civility.

Trump could have used the opportunity to remind everyone of the racist history of the Democrat Party, from Bull Conner, George Wallace, and Robert Byrd, to their opposition of the Civil Rights Act and support of the KKK.

He could have mentioned how Democrats are wedded to Planned Parenthood, whose founder said, “We don’t want the word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.” Or how Democrat welfare policies have relegated many minority groups to poverty and dependence. And how Trump’s first two years in office are reversing this. How’s all that for a bad hand of race cards for Democrats?

Trump is no stranger to the racism charge. Back when he was a New York City mogul, paling around with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, supporting Democrat candidates and causes, no one ever accused him of being a racist.

Yet as soon as he announced his candidacy for president, promising to “build a wall” and implement many politically conservative policies, he too became a racist.

On cue, Trump is a racist again for tweeting that, “The progressive Congresswomen dubbed the Squad should go back to the ‘corrupt’ and ‘broken and crime infested’ countries from which they came.” The four ladies of the squad represent three different races, making the “you’re a racist!” charge against Trump laughable.

Situational racism is a substitute for logic and debate, just a means of shutting down anyone who you can’t argue with on the merits. From substantive discussion to name calling, it is the refuge of cowards and intellectual lightweights.

And in delicious irony it is boomeranging back on Democrats. Trump, by defending Pelosi, just threw a skunk into the garden party, keeping this issue in the news. Now each of the Democrat candidates will have to weigh in on whether the de facto leader of their party is a racist or not. CNN will hold panel discussions on the topic. Just what Democrats do not want to be talking about.

Now that “the squad” is tossing race cards across the room, how soon until Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are called racists? What goes around comes around.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a Denver based physician and freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in American Thinker, Daily Caller, and other publications. Follow him on Facebook,  LinkedIn, Twitter, and QuodVerum.