Truth: The Only Remedy for the Anger that Fuels the MAGA Mob

(written Jan 7, 2021, a day after the deadly domestic terrorist attack on the US Capitol)

The “Make America Great Again” mob did not become a “mob” in the eyes of Republicans until they turned their hate on the privileged occupants of the seat of power.

But in four years this mob has terrorized mothers at our border, attacked people at places of worship, conspired to kidnap the Michigan governor, communicated death threats against election volunteers, assaulted peaceful protesters, and emboldened white supremacist terrorists.

The mob is a group of people: mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers who believe the lies they have been fed by the Republican ideological machine. This ideological weapon has been used throughout our history by people seeking power through racial and economic division. It was used during slavery to treat people like animals. It was used after reconstruction to codify white supremacy. It was used after the civil rights era to justify mass incarceration and disenfranchisement. And it has been used since the Obama presidency to seize power for a mainly white group of people who are angry and afraid.

The present outrage against this particular mob is understandable. The anger at the police for their selective enforcement (arresting 300 peaceful BLM protesters but only 32 white terrorists at the Capitol) is reasonable.

But our attention and energy should be more focused on the people with power and influence who used and benefited from the Republican ideological machine which is trafficking in lies. Every time someone circulated a political lie or blew a racial dog whistle and a Republican leader did not repudiate it, they threw another rock on the pile of ideological rubble. (The number of misleading statements from Donald Trump alone, as of November, was 29,508).

Yesterday we saw a pile of accumulated lies fall like an avalanche upon the heads of leaders who were exploiting them. The “mob” was a creation of the political machine it attacked, a Frankenstein Zombie attacking its creator. It’s a deadly ideological chimera that has set our democracy on fire. These were misguided people following their lying leaders.

The one remedy for this illness, one treatment for this wound, the water for this flame, is Truth. The kind of Truth I hope for requires discomfort, humility, patience, vulnerability, and justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr. defined justice as the perfect combination of love and power: “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”