Twenty years ago, there was no greater villain to the left than Dick Cheney. The vice president was called a fascist. He was called a warmonger. He was called Hitler. He was the center and soul of left-wing derision and Democratic identity.

Their ire? The George W. Bush administration's 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, for starters, considered today to be one of America's greatest foreign policy mistakes. Even a majority of veterans believe it was not worth fighting. Then there was the torture, the rampant due process violations, and the fact that Cheney's advocacy for extreme executive power made him an enemy of the Constitution.

Concerning Cheney and national depravity, there's a lot to work with.

The progressive pundit Rachel Maddow was once all in on this left-wing hate. She built her early career on it.

Last week, Maddow attended Dick Cheney's funeral.

Cheney never apologized for or even said he regretted Iraq. He was seemingly down to torture until the day he died.

Maddow was not at Cheney's funeral to show grace to a once wayward man who had since repented. Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald noted of MSNBC's biggest star, "Maddow's career as a commentator began during Bush/Cheney, when she'd frequently compare Cheney to the worst monsters in history (I was on her programs when she said it)."

Greenwald added, "For so many liberals, Cheney is now rehabilitated despite regretting nothing: solely for opposing Trump."

That's it. Cheney was against Trump. In 2025, even for dead fascists, warmongers and Hitlers, that's all it takes for the left to sing your praises.

If this sounds simplistically silly, it's because it is.

Once Donald Trump finally replaced former villains Dick Cheney or George W. Bush as the Great Satan in leftist minds, there was virtually no self-awareness in Democrats' drift into turning these neocon Republicans they once despised into heroes. Dubya gets the same love.

In their blind hatred for Trump, mainstream Democrats also ended up becoming something closer to 2003-era Republicans in their foreign policy. One X user commented on the service for Cheney, "Anyone that attended Cheney's funeral is going to be upset with an end to war."