The Right To Free Speech Isn't A Right To Engage In Character Assassination

Hey, man; why ya gotta be such an asshole?

Jackson Lahmeyer, a MAGA pastor who has launched a primary challenge against Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, has begun hosting a nightly livestream on his Facebook page called “The Jack Law Show.”

On Tuesday night’s show, Lahmeyer lamented that “our nation is living upside down right now” because a “mass murderer” like Dr. Anthony Fauci is walking around free while “an American hero” like Kyle Rittenhouse might wind up in prison….

“Kyle Rittenhouse, in my opinion, and in the opinion of a lot of people, is an American hero,” Lahmeyer added. “He’s a patriot. He defended his community. He defended himself. He’s going through Hell now because of it. I am hopeful, and I believe that he’s going to be found not guilty. I’m praying for Kyle, and I think it’s important that you pray for Kyle as well.”

Later in the broadcast, Lahmeyer declared that if he is elected to Congress, he will do everything in his power to ensure that Fauci is “arrested and convicted for crimes against humanity.”

“Anthony Fauci is responsible for the creation of this man-made biological weapon virus called COVID-19,” Lahmeyer declared. “I have made the commitment [that] I am going to call out Anthony Fauci every single day because Anthony Fauci is a mass-murdering demon doctor. … I call him a Luciferian. Anthony Fauci needs to be fired, arrested, and convicted for crimes against humanity.”

For me, one of the saddest aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the realization of how many truly, profoundly awful (barely) human beings walk among us. It’s not even the reality that I disagree with everything Jackson Lahmeyer stands for. It’s not even that he’s as much a Christian as I am an NBA point guard. No, it’s that Lahmeyer is a liar, a troglodyte, and a faux Christian zealot whose primary and only interest lies in his self-aggrandizement.

Lahmeyer is either knowingly lying about Dr. Anthony Fauci to further his political prospects…or he’s lied so often that he’s convinced himself that he’s telling the truth. Referring to Fauci as “a mass-murdering demon doctor…a Luciferian” is so far beyond the pale that it’s difficult even to know where to begin.

The right to free speech being what it is, Lahmeyer can scream to the four corners of the globe about how “Fauci needs to be fired, arrested, and convicted for crimes against humanity.” The truth, however, is that Lahmeyer has no evidence of any crimes committed by Fauci. He’d be specifying them instead of engaging in non-specific character assassination if he did.

“It’s just amazing that you’ve got a guy like Anthony Fauci [who] gets away with mass murder,” he continued. “We’re talking mass murder and destruction like we’ve never seen before in our lifetimes. And everybody knows this. You got Fauci, he’s in it with Bill Gates, and you tie that back into Jeffrey Epstein, and it’s just this crooked, nefarious, evil, corrupt world. Here’s this guy—St. Fauci—oh my goodness, he walks on water. You say anything negative about him and the whole world just blows up. They worship this guy and it’s unbelievable. They worship a mass-murderer. He’s a mass-murderer! He belongs in prison. But Kyle Rittenhouse, who defends himself against a convicted pedophile, a convicted woman-beater, is fighting for his life not to go to prison. Our nation is living upside down right now.”

No, what’s “just amazing”- and sad- is that mental and moral nonentities like Lahmeyer can drag those with resumes of actual accomplishments through the mud. What has Lahmeyer contributed to society?

Anthony Fauci has been fighting communicable diseases going back half a century. Anyone who’s ever read Randy Shilts’ And The Band Played On understands Fauci’s role in the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis when gay men were dying by the thousands and few cared.

Lahmeyer has trafficked in conspiracy theory and bastardized Christianity to raise his profile, raise money, and inflate his political prospects. He’s a greedy, power-mad thug devoid of integrity, honesty, and class.

And don’t even get me started on claiming that Kyle Rittenhouse is “an American hero.” Please. The shameless idiocy is almost overwhelming.

To borrow a phrase from one of my high-school basketball coaches, Jackson Lahmeyer isn’t fit to carry Anthony Fauci’s jock. Fauci has done more in his five-plus-decade career than Lahmeyer will ever come close to accomplishing in his miserably dishonest and mean-spirited life.

Anthony Fauci isn’t a saint, nor has he ever claimed to be. He should, however, be recognized and honored for what he’s added to humanity’s collective knowledge of infectious diseases. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s translated very complex and detailed scientific information into language that non-medical people could absorb. Fauci has undoubtedly helped save thousands of lives, even if Jackson Lahmeyer insists on dragging his reputation through the mud to win a Senate seat from Oklahoma.

Though Lahmeyer has a very high opinion of himself, there’s no such thing as a “MAGA pastor.” You’re certainly free to worship Donald Trump. Or Jesus Christ. But you can’t honor both; they’re undeniably ideologically incompatible. Lahmeyer could be fairly called a “MAGA hypocrite” or a “hypocrite pastor,” but a “MAGA pastor” is the theological equivalent of mixing oil and water. No matter how fast or how long you put your mixer on “high,” the oil and water aren’t going to blend.

Before he goes off calling Fauci a “Luciferian,” Lahmeyer should take a good, long look in the mirror.

I’m a big believer in karma, the idea that you get out of life what you put into it. Anthony Fauci will have libraries, buildings, streets, and wings of medical schools named after him, and he’ll be eminently deserving of those honors.

Jackson Lahmeyer will be lucky to have a portable toilet or two named after him. Unfortunately for him, that may turn out to be more than he deserves.

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