| Get Jonathan Bernstein's newsletter every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe. I've been giving the Republican Party a hard time recently. The sentencing of Michael Avenatti on Thursday for trying to extort $20 million from Nike Inc. is a good reminder of mistakes Democrats have made — and the important difference between the parties that Democrats would be wise to remember. Avenatti burst into national prominence as the anti-Trump lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels, and was rapidly embraced by many Democrats (not to mention many members of the news media). He was good at television and eager to be on show after show, telling critics of President Donald Trump things they wanted to hear. His demise wasn't a case of rank-and-file liberals realizing they shouldn't trust him, but of the law catching up to to him. Democrats shouldn't forget that short period of time when many of them (although of course not all) fell for Avenatti. At a time when Republicans seem to have been taken in by hoaxes, frauds and conspiracy theories, it's important to remember that everyone, Democrat and Republican, liberal and conservative and centrist, is susceptible to the appeal of such people and ideas. Nor is the Avenatti episode unique. During the George W. Bush presidency, Democrats were drawn to any number of false stories. The most notable of those were claims about voting-machine fraud in the 2004 election, but anyone hanging out with Democrats in those years heard plenty of whoppers. (I remember hearing multiple people who were absolutely convinced that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were storing Osama bin Laden's corpse and would reveal that triumph at some politically apt time.) Indeed, while many of the things Democrats believed about Trump over the last several years are based on solid evidence — more than enough to justify two impeachments and more — there are also a fair number of exaggerated or flat-out false things that many Democrats have bought. No one is safe from con artists. No one is safe from misinformation. Not everyone is equally likely to believe conspiracy theories, but it's far from clear that those who have any particular public policy preferences are most vulnerable. The easiest way to avoid falling for misinformation is to avoid hearing it in the first place — and especially to avoid hearing it from highly visible party leaders. And that's where the parties have diverged. Democrats have generally done a good job of avoiding conspiracy thinking, pushing quacks and scam artists to the fringes of the party, and valuing truth. Republicans used to do that, too. But they stopped gatekeeping some time ago, and at this point key Republican institutions and leaders actively encourage the worst nonsense. Some of those Republican leaders are the nonsense. Those are generalizations, and there are exceptions. But these are strong, and important, patterns. With real, important consequences. When things go badly for Democrats — and in a two-party system, that's going to happen from time to time — some in the party will naturally seek to emulate whatever Republicans do that seems different. But those who counsel imitating Republicans should be resisted. It may seem that there's some advantage in being able to say, and believe, anything. But even if there might be short-term benefits, it's a trap that only leads to trouble. 1. Lynne Chandler GarcÃa on teaching race and U.S. history at the Air Force Academy. Sensible. 2. Rick Hasen on the Supreme Court's attack on the 1965 Voting Rights Act. 3. Natalie Jackson on media choices and vaccination. 4. Lindsay Scorgie and Mallory Dunlop at the Monkey Cage on conflict in Congo. 5. Josh Kraushaar on Trump litmus tests and the Senate contests in Arizona and Georgia. 6. My Bloomberg Opinion colleague Daniel Moss on central bank decisions in Europe. 7. Emma Green on the battle over the courts. 8. And a Public Religion Research Institute study of religion in the U.S. Get Early Returns every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe. Also subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more. You'll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, the Bloomberg Open and the Bloomberg Close. | 
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