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It’s a rhetorical tactic that conservatives wield frequently: create a boogeyman buzzword that conjures up images of white horror.

Liberal California has long served as a boogeyman for conservative leaders, and frequently served as a punching bag during Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

In the wake of the 2020 racial justice protests, CRT, with help from Rufo, quickly became something of a "radical left" boogeyman.

The gig appears to take its name from a line in “Not Like Us”: “Sometimes you gotta pop out and show ... / Certified boogeyman, I’m the one that up the score with ‘em.”

While Hernández has consistently, statistically, underperformed, his reputation as baseball’s bumbling boogeyman overshadows everything.