Michael Leppert
The “Jesus, He Gets Us” folks made a splash during the Super Bowl on Sunday with their commercial about how “Jesus didn’t teach hate, he washed feet.” I don’t get what their intended return is for that kind of investment, but as far as commercials go, I liked that one as much as any of them this year. The “love your neighbor” messages never get old. To me, anyway.
In the last week, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for president has said many troubling things. But what makes them most problematic is that there is no one left in the GOP to object anymore. For Donald Trump to keep his angry and loyal following whipped up into their frenzied mania, he must keep escalating his rhetoric, or they will lose interest. It’s a predictable process.
First, he threatened to mobilize military forces to round up millions of undocumented migrants for deportation. According to Axios, not since Eisenhower has such a thing been pursued, and thankfully, that was a far different time.
Next, he mocked his Republican opponent, Nikki Haley, for her husband being absent from the campaign trail. Never mind that Trump and his wife, Melania, have only been seen together at her mother’s funeral during the last several months. Maj. Michael Haley is on a yearlong deployment with the South Carolina National Guard in Africa. There was a time when that kind of un-American mockery would turn off Republican voters.
Finally, nothing would have sickened Ronald Reagan Republicans more than taunting members of NATO. With what? With the threat of inviting Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to any non-dues-paying members of what Trump apparently believes is a Mar-A-Lago-style country club.
In today’s Republican party, an angry voter base is everything. But most people tire of being mad and need refueled on a regular basis. Feeding the desire for grievance is of paramount importance.
Buddhism’s Second Noble Truth states that the cause of suffering is craving. MAGA world’s insatiable desire for the next angriest idea is that craving.
Joshua J. Mark writes about it extensively for the World History Encyclopedia. “People whose understanding of life is darkened by ignorance, craving, and aversion condemn themselves to spinning round and round on this wheel, dying only to be reborn in the same suffering state eternally,” he writes.
In other words, the suffering won’t ever end until the craving ends.
The Republican-led killing of the immigration deal in the Senate last week confirms that keeping its own hatred addiction fed is more important than anything else. The Democrats capitulated to GOP desires and gave them what they wanted, to then find out nothing would ever be enough. Even the Trump-supporting Border Patrol union supported the deal, only to have the Trump sycophant of the week, Sen. Marco Rubio, declare the union is simply wrong.
Of course, Rubio also said that Trump’s pro-Russia, anti-NATO comments were simply misunderstood storytelling. That the Florida senator happened to say that is one thing, that he specifically appeared on CNN’s Sunday morning show, “State of the Union,” to give that excuse is quite another.
The crowd at the rally where it was originally said cheered the disgraceful comments just like all the rest. And in the Capitol, this cheering is converted to Trumpists’ opposition to fund Ukraine’s self-defense.
Back here in Indiana, under pressure from fellow Republicans, Gov. Eric Holcomb on Friday announced he would deploy 50 Indiana National Guard soldiers to Texas’ border with Mexico, “effective immediately.” The move might be more than a political gimmick if he was also supportive of the Senate deal. But his slippery Indy Star editorial on Monday avoids overtly expressing that support, in a nod to MAGA rage.
The GOP wants to continue funding Israel’s campaign to decimate Hamas. Ironically, the Jewish hate of which I’m most familiar in America has historically also come from the political right.
Which brings me back to the Super Bowl.
Stand up to Jewish Hate also had a good spot during the game, featuring Dr. Clarence B. Jones. He was one of the original drafters of Dr. Martin Luther King’s iconic, “I Have a Dream” speech. Yep, it was another good ad filled with imagery detailing the peril of all kinds of hatred, including anti-Muslim hate, and the benefits of a better approach to life.
These ads are so much more interesting than someone trying to sell me a car or make me feel better about a car I already bought.
From the Hebrew Bible, “There’s no peace, said the lord, for the wicked.” Especially when they don’t want peace and are too ignorant to see they actually are the wicked ones.
Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com. This commentary was previously published at indianacapitalchronicle.com. Send comments to [email protected].
