Some Americans have always been good at hating. By hate I don’t mean the sentiment, the personal animosity against another person.
I’m talking about a spirit that possesses some American groups against some other groups—a societal thing. And at this social level, the emotion is, at first, fear, fear of the other. Once a group has been infected with such fear, it then sometimes morphs into hatred, the group becomes a mob, and then the mob is moved to act.
So by MAGA hate here, I mean bad action: hurting some people because you think that it is okay, maybe even required, required by the demonic force that possesses the mob.
Wipe out the Pequot, forcefully relocate the Cherokee. Enslave Africans. Marginalize and try to contain African Americans, the Jews, the Irish, the Italians. Prosecute the communists. Deny the human rights of anyone who isn’t heterosexual or identify as you think they should, never mind the words of the Declaration of Independence. Vow vengeance against your political rivals. The list of peoples some American groups have hated in these concrete ways is old and long.
The MAGA movement is the latest avatar of this malign demonic possessing spirit. The undead, un-beating heart of this hateful movement self-identifies as Christian. And yet how far away are its hateful actions from the love their Savior commands them to practice:
Love God. Love your neighbor. Love even your enemies!
Jesus said: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34–35)
By your hateful actions everyone now knows that YOU ARE NOT JESUS’ DISCIPLES.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. . . . They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them. . . . This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 14:15, 21 & 15:12)
So now we know that YOU DO NOT LOVE JESUS, that you have cut yourself off from the Father, and that the Truth has not been revealed in you.
You MAGA Non-lovers: Do you see one iota of love in the words, the actions, the demeanor of the Orange Fraud Felon Assaulting Liable-Liar? Do you see any hint of divine love manifest in your Project 2025 manifesto?
You white Christian nationalists: Do you really expect to meet your Maker with a Book of Life that isn’t oozing hate, that isn’t dripping with the blood of those whom you hate, with the blood of Paul Pelosi, for instance, or of the capitol police whom you assaulted on January 6th, or whose assault you answer with your hateful silence?
Can you feel the flames yet? Can you smell the sulphur?