Despite President Joe Biden’s promise to unite the country, his supporters have continued to wage a dangerous, illiberal war against people with whom they disagree. While prominent outlets such as Forbes have focused their attention on blacklisting former Trump administration officials, everyday Biden supporters are extending the search-and-destroy campaign to include individuals who supported Trump in their private capacity.
The latest victim of the left’s Great Purge is Cara Dumaplin, a beloved baby sleep consultant who has saved thousands of new parents countless hours of sleep. Cara is a mom of four, a neonatal nurse, and married to a pediatrician. The program she founded, Taking Cara Babies, offers classes, e-books, and personal phone consultations to new parents struggling to get their newborns to sleep through the night. In addition to these paid resources, Cara offers free sleep training advice on her social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, where she has 1.3 million followers.
Despite her business and social media platforms being non-political, cancel culture aficionados took it upon themselves to dox her by searching her family’s names in the Federal Elections Commission database. After discovering that Cara and her husband donated nearly $2,000 to former President Trump and his reelection efforts, internet trolls publicly shared the information and used it to harass and boycott her business.
The targeting got so ugly, the entire Taking Cara Babies Facebook page is currently down. On Twitter — a sanctuary where CEO Jack Dorsey claims to promote “healthy conversation” — parents and blue checkmarks are enthusiastically cheering the targeting, harassment, and destruction of her business. In a display of “women supporting women,” moms are offering to share Dumaplin’s videos and ebooks for free in an attempt to sabotage her business.
“Okay now that this is over I can go back to thinking about how taking cara babies is maga and if that means I can just start giving away the pdf’s from her course so nobody I know has to give her money ever again,” wrote Hillary Dixler Canavan, restaurant editor at Eater, in a since-deleted tweet.
“Now that we hate #takingcarababies where can I find her materials online? Cause I’m no longer giving her a dime,” wrote @LB251_.
“Didn’t think 2021 would see me dm’ing taking cara babies that she’s a nazi, but here we are,” wrote @MoxietheMaven.
“Probably shocking to no one but Taking Cara Babies is full on MAGA-ist. If you are a parent looking for sleep resources hit me up, I can direct you to a million others that are not racist a**holes,” wrote Conzi Preti, content director for the parenting website Motherly.
In a statement to TODAY, Cara didn’t back down:
Taking Cara Babies is about helping babies get sleep and parents reclaiming the joy of parenthood that’s often lost due to sleep deprivation. Between 2016 and 2019, I made a series of donations (totaling $1,078) to the Trump campaign. As with many citizens, there were aspects of the Trump Administration that I agreed with and some that I disagreed with. I will continue to serve all parents by empowering them with the tools they need to help their babies sleep.
Considering the extent of the public attacks, one can only imagine the firestorm she’s facing in private. But unlike so many individuals and corporations that bow to the woke mobs, Cara released a statement rationally pointing out that a relatively small donation does not automatically mean she supported everything that occurred under the Trump administration.
What’s particularly egregious about this situation is that Cara never used her business or massive social media platforms to share or promote her political beliefs. She quietly donated to Trump’s reelection efforts in her private capacity, likely thinking she would never have to publicly explain herself.
Yes, Congress made rules that allow the public to see political donations, but the ability to donate, speak out, and support different candidates is a cornerstone of a Democracy. Americans should be able to engage in politics without fear of serious personal retribution or professional sanction.
According to a CATO poll conducted last summer, however, that’s no longer a popular view amongst the illiberal left. A whopping 50 percent of staunch “liberals” thought a person should be fired if he or she donated to Trump, compared to about a third of Americans overall. While these people are not the majority, they have an outsized voice in the American left.
It’s ironic how in the name of “tolerance,” the mob is building a totalitarian state, where to be a part of a functional society, there’s only one acceptable point of few. They label Cara a “Nazi,” while failing to recognize that only in a fascist state are individuals not allowed to hold their own personal, private views. In this sense, the mobs are exactly what they claim to hate.
During his inauguration speech, Biden said, “Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war.”
Publicly outing a mom’s politics and using that information to destroy her business is far from the “unity” he promised. When a Dock-a-tot turns into Dox-a-tot and moms are so woke they won’t even let their babies sleep, something has gone wrong.
In a free country, it’s one thing for individual moms to decide to not use Cara’s services. But it’s another to dox her private donations and use that information to bully others into destroying her business. Boycotts of big businesses — like Starbucks and Hobby Lobby — are nothing new. These actions have typically been associated with high-profile political or moral stances the companies have made. It’s a concerning new trend to see individuals getting targeted and canceled for their personal and private political opinions or donations.
Politicizing everything will ultimately lead to all sides losing. All sides win when the marketplace encourages people from all backgrounds, religions, and yes — worldviews — to work together to create and add value. Imagine if the scientists working on the COVID-19 vaccine refused to work with one another because politically, they didn’t see eye-to-eye. It would have taken longer, and lives would have been lost.
To much success, Cara has devoted her life and career to helping new moms and dads navigate the most difficult days of early parenthood. When one thinks about the great value Taking Cara Babies provides for new and sleep-deprived parents, one can see her as someone offering help and wisdom to try and make life better.
Cara is more than just a set of political donations — she’s a person. She’s a wife, a mom, a businesswoman, and someone’s daughter. Looking at our own sons and daughters during those early, sleepless nights, it’s hard to imagine ever defining them by who they donate to or how they vote. So, if we wouldn’t do it to our own children, why is it acceptable to do it to others?
