Something really started bothering me as I read the news that our sister site, The Babylon Bee, was forced into a lawsuit against Governor Gavin Newsom and the absurd California legislature for passing an anti-free speech law in their state.
I read that news the same day I saw a "thread" post from mega-minister Ray Ortlund that stated, "Never Trump, this time Harris, always Jesus." The post was endorsed by Christian writer David French who affirmed, "This is the way."
From French's own words, and Ortlund's implications, I assume their opposition to Trump is because he represents a "threat to democracy" or some similar phrasing. Fair enough.
What I can't wrap my mind around is how they believe the solution to that is voting for the party that is banning free speech.
Though I personally have no fear of a coming autocratic tyranny should Donald Trump win re-election to office this November, I'm not opposed to those who do making their fears known. Frankly, I think a proper caution, concern, and even distrust of those eager to rule us is an appropriate, and even prudent, American impulse.
What alarms me isn't the fact that many people, including these long-time conservative thinkers and writers, wring their hands in a panic over the threat to our democratic systems should the MAGA movement regain power. It's the fact that those same folks don't have equal, if not greater concern over the threat to our democratic systems should the Harris-led far-left retain power.
It's not as though an objective observer struggles to find reasons for alarm when it comes to the left's autocratic tendencies. Here's former senator, climate czar, secretary of state, and 2004 Democrat presidential nominee, John Kerry:
This is what political tribalism can do. It enables people to take Donald Trump's promise to Christians that if they vote for him in 2024, they won't have to vote anymore because he'll get it all fixed and conclude, "Trump just said he's going to end all elections and become a dictator!"
AT THE SAME TIME, these same people overlook or brush off John Kerry's stunningly transparent animus towards the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.
The man is outwardly and openly lamenting that the U.S. government doesn't have a "ministry of truth" that allows it to shut down and silence whatever it deems to be "disinformation." If you're looking for a threat to liberty, democracy, and the rule of the people, you'd be hard pressed to find a more obvious example than that.
Don't stop there. Take this recent conversation between two of progressivism's modern-day champions, television host and comedian Bill Maher, and author Fran Lebowitz:
I haven't seen the full clip, so I'm hopeful that Maher pushed back against such a preposterous suggestion. But even if he did, it's not like Lebowitz's flirtations with authoritarianism are foreign to the Left. Ever since the new Supreme Court majority began steadily issuing rulings that roll back some of the rampant activism of previous courts, progressive liberals have been actively demanding everything from impeachment to court packing. It's become so extreme in some quarters that one of their aggravated activists even attempted to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh.
And remember, this zealotry has become inflamed not because the justices are engaged in any lawless, nefarious, unconstitutional conduct. No, Lebowitz and friends want to torch the Constitution simply because they don't like the rulings being issued. Is there any more dangerous fanaticism than the kind that says, "Any government institution that disagrees with my political opinions must be dissolved?"
It's a despotic impulse that makes Emperor Palpatine blush.
Besides, let's remember how we ended up with a conservative majority on the Supreme Court to begin with. President Donald Trump's appointments of Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch were confirmed by the Senate only because liberal Democrats did not possess the ability to filibuster their nominations. The Republicans held only a razor-thin majority in that body, far from the requisite 60 members needed to approve a cloture motion and end a filibuster.
Why did the Democrats not have that option? Because just a few years before, in a blatant power grab of his own, Senate Democrat leader Harry Reid ended the filibuster for judicial nominations. In an effort to fill the federal judiciary with progressive activist judges, Reid and the Democrats used their majority to deprive individual senators within the minority of their ability to grind those nominations to a halt through endless debate. Many leftists argued at the time that Reid's move was shrewd, crafty, and necessary. Then when Donald Trump and the Republicans used the same tactic, it became "anti-democratic."
My point is that in confirming those 3 critical, originalist Supreme Court justices to the bench, Trump and the Republicans did nothing more tyrannical or nefarious than what Obama and the Democrats had done just months prior.
The list of these examples is seemingly endless. So by all means, cast a cynical, skeptical, suspicious eye on Donald Trump and all things MAGA. Don't trust anyone who wants to wield supreme executive power over you.
But make sure that skeptical eye does, in fact, extend to anyone.
