(Todd A. Smith)
One of the problems that many people have with President Donald Trump and his administration is the selective outrage and selective use of law of order.
If someone or some group supports President Trump, they are great people and patriots.
But if his critics do the same things that his supporters get away, Trump wants to use all his power to humiliate them and hold them accountable for their alleged crimes.
Rev. Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta recently called for the arrest of a protestor who interrupted one the church’s services considering the arrests of those who interrupted a church service in Minnesota.
The arrests included the apprehension of independent journalist Don Lemon.
Bryant is absolutely correct in demanding the same treatment for all churches and pastors, instead of the preferential treatment shown to preachers who support Trump and the violent I.C.E. raids in Minneapolis.
Haniyah Philogene of The Grio reported, “Pastor Jamal Bryant is asking the U.S. attorney general to keep the same energy she showed in protecting people’s rights to worship peacefully in Minnesota after a man disrupted church service at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church with a protest. Videos circulating online show who Bryant describes as a ‘White evangelical nationalist pastor’ barging into the building before shouting condemnations at the congregation in the middle of the service.”
On his “Let’s Be Clear” podcast, Bryant said, “A White evangelical nationalist pastor had the audacity, he and his wife, to get out of his car…and for propaganda and disturbance, filmed themselves coming into our church using hate speech, condemning us with wrath, judgment and correction. And since you are against places of worship being disturbed, this gentleman attempted to do it at a Black church. I want to know [where] is the arrest warrant?”
Bryant knows, like many other Americans, that Trump and his administration do not care about church disturbances.
They care about disturbances to their un-American, un-democratic and unpatriotic policies and agenda.
That is why the White evangelical nationalist pastor has not faced the same law enforcement response that Lemon and others did in Minnesota.
Bryant knows no arrest warrant is coming for the White evangelical nationalist pastor because Trump enjoys support from the White evangelical nationalist demographic.
Trump and his administration frowned at the late Alex Pretti carrying a legal handgun while filming I.C.E. in Minneapolis, with Trump saying that people should not bring guns to protests, even though the First and Second Amendments to the United States Constitution would say otherwise.
However, the political right applauded Kyle Rittenhouse for bringing his weapon and killing someone at a Black Lives Matter protest years ago.
Trump and his administration calls people like Pretti and Renee Good domestic terrorists for exercising their constitutional rights.
But Trump pardons and praises Jan. 6 insurrectionists who violently tried to overthrow American democracy, American government and a fair American presidential election because they did something that would have benefitted him.
Bryant made his comments on his podcast after Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed to protect people’s rights to worship without disturbance from protestors.
On the social media site X, Bondi said, “Make no mistake, under President Trump’s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely. And if I haven’t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”
Well Bondi, I am glad you said that because you need to put your money where your mouth is and come after the White nationalist evangelical pastor who interfered with people’s rights to worship freely at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.
If the Trump administration does not apply the law equally, they just prove their critics right when they say that Trump only cares about himself and those that kiss his you-know-what.
If you are not on Trump’s side of the political spectrum and he is not your lord and savior, his administration will persecute you, all while claiming to represent the real Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Past presidents have vowed to be every American’s president, not just president for those who voted for them.
Trump does the opposite, and many on the political right wonder why the country is so divided and polarized.
The country will remain divided as long as law enforcement is divided.
The authorities “ride” for those who support Trump, while “riding” against those who dare to use their First Amendment rights.
But America has always had two levels of justice.
One level of justice is for White people.
The other justice system is for Black people and other minorities.
The laws are set up to protect the rights of White Americans, while blatantly trampling on the rights of all other racial groups, especially Black Americans.
However, Trump seems like the first president in a long time to not even try to hide the double standards in the American justice system.
If Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement wants to bring people together and lower the temperature, they must only treat everyone equally.
They cannot have a lenient set of rules for their friends and a harsher set of rules for their adversaries.
More importantly, they cannot complain when people on their side of the political aisle are held to the same laws that they claim to support.
If Trump wants to be the law-and-order president, the same laws and the same amount order must be applied to all Americans, not selectively used to help his supporters, while simultaneously being used to silence MAGA detractors.
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