The Rise of "Justifiable" MAGA Anti-Semitism, Anti-People of Color, Anti-LGBQT+, Etc.

 

As Rosa Parks is erased from Florida history books, a state which now seeks to exclude “woke” mention of gender issues all the way through high school, as Tennessee makes it illegal for drag queens to perform in any venue where children may be present, as local police look the other way as threats and attacks escalate against Jews and synagogues, as people choose to challenge Asian-Americans in colleges and ignore the violence against Asian-American elders and as the GOP challenges the bona fides of asylum seekers at our southern border (Trump’s “rapists, murders…”)… you have to ask yourself what is happening to America, to basic civility. Did Donald Trump’s consistent and unambiguous litany of insults, blaming “others,” labeling and misstating the truth rewrite what is permissible in general American values? Were those “fine people” in Charlottesville chanting “they shall not replace us” setting a new acceptable social norm? Were the violent Jan 6th Capitol attackers “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse”?

Based on unsubtle pro-Christian opinions emanating from the US Supreme Court and egged on by the extreme right in the GOP’s Congressional constituency, there is a rising notion that the United States should adopt Christianity as our national religion, merely tolerating other faiths in our midst. As a primary constitutional architect Thomas Jefferson must be rolling in his grave; these “legal experts” are now suggesting that the First Amendment does not preclude the “establishment” of Christianity in that official role. One of our two major political parties fosters exclusion and limitations on whose vote matters, the other party is hell-bent on inclusion (a definitively “woke” agenda).

Politics has devolved into culture wars, where the only kitchen table political benefits to taxpayers are either the GOP tax cuts and deregulatory benefits for the rich (indeed, we now know conclusively that a “rising tide only floats all yachts”) or a Democratic litany of upgrades to our infrastructure, efforts to cut the cost of prescription drugs, maintaining or improving social and medical programs while only slightly increasing federal income taxes on people earning more than $400,000/year. Culture wars do not put chicken in every pot and generally serve to downgrade competitive educational standards by diluting the focus away from factual learning into censorship from political or cultural biases.

That there are a vast horde of evangelical ministers who proselytize against tolerance and not sitting in judgment of others, favoring gun ownership and the death penalty and fighting to limit who can vote and which “race” should rule. Aside from that flagrant denial of the teachings of Christ and the plain wording of the New Testament, it is exceptionally unlikely that the Republican Party would have anything more than a bare minority in Congress without this misinterpretation of basic Christian doctrine. Hiding behind “parents’ rights” and “right to life” mantras (which seem negated with support by imposing only approved parental input, open gun ownership and the death penalty), never really considering the burdens on young mothers completely unable to raise children (you have to keep them and raise them even if you cannot), they totally justify support for MAGA culture and label Democrats as unacceptably “woke.”

You’d think that with some in Donald Trump’s family having converted to Judaism plus his strong support for Israel that the MAGA GOP would be deeply protective of American Jews. But evangelical support for Israel is a precondition for that holy war in the Middle East that precedes an expected Second Coming of Christ. Without that war to end all wars – Armageddon – the heavenly rescue of faithful Christians (the Rapture) cannot occur. Indeed, if tolerance for American Jews really existed, the rising level of antisemitism, with frequent links to the MAGA right, would be fading. In fact, quite the opposite is occurring.

“A new report suggests the acts are part of a larger trend of record levels of physical violence, harassment and vandalism against Jews that has left no U.S. city or region with a large Jewish population untouched. The Anti-Defamation League said its tally of physical assaults was the highest it has ever logged.

“The civil rights organization, which identifies antisemitic incidents by researching reports from police, victims and news organizations, found that 139 Jews were physically assaulted in 111 incidents last year. The vast majority of the assaults last year did not involve deadly weapons. Still, the totals were up from 131 assault victims in 88 incidents in 2021…

“In total, the ADL found 3,697 incidents of antisemitism last year in the U.S., including vandalism and harassment in addi- tion to assaults. The number, the highest the group has counted since it began compiling reports on anti-Jewish hatred in 1979, represents a 36% increase from 2021. That year also set a record with 2,717 incidents, while 2020 showed a slight year-to-year dip, probably because of the slowdown of public life due to pandemic-related closures of houses of worship, businesses and workplaces.

“Overall, the ADL said, the pattern over the last several years has been one of growing violence, vandalism and rhetoric aimed at Jews. The group logged 2,107 antisemitic incidents in 2019 and 1,879 in 2018. The 2018 numbers included the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, at the Tree of Life congregation in Pittsburgh in which 11 were killed. In 2019, there was another deadly mass shooting, at the Chabad of Poway in California…

“Vandalism or harassment accounted for 97% of all incidents, according to the report. That in- cluded handing out antisemitic propaganda, a longtime strategy of extremist groups, which drop pamphlets at college campuses, synagogues and individual doorsteps across the country.

“White supremacist propaganda distribution more than doubled last year, the ADL said, with 852 incidents. Vandalism, including numerous instances of property damage against synagogues and Jewish schools, was up by more than half, with 1,288 instances. And the ADL said swastikas were more prevalent than in previous years, with the symbols used in 792 acts of vandalism.” Jaweed Kaleem, writing for the March 24th Los Angeles Times. Simply, as White Supremacy gains legitimacy, as it does every year within the MAGA GOP, the number of antisemitic events rises accordingly.

I’m Peter Dekom, and if this litany of assaults on minorities is justified by misapplying religious doctrine, if blatant incivility including beating and killing those “cultural” groups that some Americans find distasteful is acceptable, who exactly are we as Americans and what do those Constitutional protections for our basic rights really mean?