Earlier this year I was in a production of Shakespeare’s “Pericles, Prince of Tyre.” I played the narrator, John Gower, a long-dead poet who had come to life to deliver the tale. Gower utters some words in his opening monologue that have stuck with me during these last few months. After describing the incestuous relationship that a king has subjugated upon his daughter, Gower says,
“But custom what they did begin
was with long use, accounted no sin.”
In other words, as abhorrent as that family situation was, the people in the kingdom just got used to it. Over time it sort of became shruggable.
• • •
Long ago when we were all younger, way back in twenty-and-sixteen, the nation’s most infamous former Playboy Channel interviewer-of-Playmates-turned-presidential-candidate was defeated in the Iowa Caucus by Ted Cruz.
This was before the erroneous sore-loser attacks of grasping at the straws of hacked voting machines, or the replacement theory fearmongering accusations of illegal migrants crossing the borders just to sneak into voting precincts. And since this fight was within the ranks of the GOP, there were no accusations aimed towards the pejoratively purposely-ill-grammared “Democrat” party.
Back before Twitter was called, “X-formally-Twitter,” our caucus loser tweeted,
“Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he illegally stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong any why he got more votes than anticipated. Bad!” [The typos are his.]
And later, the failed self-eponymously named university owner announced that he wanted a re-do.
“Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.”
The following day, he did a radio interview and announced that he was going to sue, etc.
Part of his lying strategy is to pile on; gaslighting grows through repetition. After that same Iowa caucus, campaign officials representing the six-time bankrupted failed casino owner blathered to the media that Marco Rubio’s people voted multiple times and brought in staffers from out of state to vote... and Bernie Sanders supporters crossed over from Nebraska to vote... and bladda-blugh-blah-blah-blat.
Talk about your same old playbook.
None of the accusations in 2016 were backed by any evidence. Because there was no evidence. Because it wasn’t true.
And it’s been going on for a while now. We’re becoming numb. I mentioned his lying to someone close to me who is a fan of 45. And they said, “Oh, I know, I know, yes, he lies. But I like his policies.”
Custom what he did begin
is with long use, accounted no sin.”
His lying has always been brazen. But some of the stuff he makes up is head-scratchingly halfwitted. Remember on July 4, 2019, when his teleprompter went awry?
He said,
“The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware, and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our army manned the air [Huh?]. It rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports...”
Rather than humbly admit that he had lost track of the feed, or simply stop at “Yorktown,” he rambled on, hoping that we were all stupid enough not to notice that George Washington’s army took the airports.
But now... a rumor in Springfield, Ohio has been repeated in the most vile fashion.
At the presidential debate, the candidate in question said,
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
Springfield, Ohio resident Erika Lee is the person who posted the ridiculous supposition of her neighbor on Facebook. Social media has the power to turn our dishonest backyard-fence-gossip into something published for all the world to see. And once it is out there, well, it’s hard to get the genie back into the toothpaste tube.
Ms. Lee apologized and said, “It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen...it was like a game of telephone.”
But J.D. Vance got a hold of it and saw an opportunity –– even after his staff debunked it. And now the Haitian community of Springfield has become political fodder, complete with bomb threats that have crippled the entire city.
Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine said, “This discussion about Haitians eating dogs, it’s just not helpful. And again, these people are here legally. They’re here legally, and they want to work, and they are, in fact, working. And when you talk to the employers, what the employers tell you is, you know, we don’t know what we would do without them... These are good people.”
From his pulpit, The Rev. Carl Ruby of The Central Christian Church of Springfield said, “Pray and think what it is to be a Haitian parent sending their child this week to school.”
I would add: think and pray what it is like to be one of those Haitian children.
All because Anna Kilgore lost her cat, Miss Sassy. Ms. Kilgore did indeed file a police report accusing theft from somebody in the Haitian community. Later, she found Miss Sassy in the basement.
But the damage is done.
Can you imagine the racist bully and his toady admitting wrong and offering an apology?
Nope, I can’t either.
And the dishonest cruelty has only increased. This community of families has become human collateral damage. On Monday, September 24, at a rally in Indiana, PA, the candidate said, “You have to get them the hell out.” This led his followers to chant, “Send them back!”
• • •
A note to my MAGA Christian Brothers and Sisters.
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that these Haitian people do not belong in Springfield, Ohio. (I don’t agree with that, but again, for the sake of argument…)
The Ten Commandments are clear and easy to understand: Don’t kill. Don’t steal. Don’t lie.
But Jesus of Nazareth, a refugee when he was an infant [Matthew 2:13] brought us The New Covenant and radically asks us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Doing that requires empathy. Empathy is imagining what it is like to be in our neighbor’s shoes. Jesus helps to put our imagination into play by using allegory and telling us stories (we call them Parables). He talks about sheep and goats and says things like,
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” -- Matthew, chapter 25, verse 40.
Jesus puts it on us to figure out who the “least of these” are.
Who could be more “least of these” than struggling people from a “shithole country” who you don’t believe belong here?
Now go ahead and read verse 41.
Andy Offutt Irwin is a traveling storyteller and singer/songwriter. He can be reached at andy@andyirwin.com.
