Televangelist Jim Bakker warned last week that public schools are teaching anti-American views to students as part of a nefarious plot to bring down the U.S., which he said explained Bernie Sanders’ popularity among young voters. Bakker said that Sanders’ support from young people proves that the U.S. is transforming into Nazi Germany…. “One of the most popular politicians right now is a socialist,” Bakker said. “And who is his biggest following? The young people of America, from the colleges. Maybe you understand a little bit what it felt like to live when Hitler was reigning and the church had to sit by and keep watching it and watching until millions, tens of millions — they had to build factories to kill people. All it takes is a couple bombs and all of America will be dead within a year, less than a year, just months.”…. “I can’t tolerate this much longer,” he added. “I can’t tolerate it.”
As a general rule of thumb, if you feel your argument is strengthened by invoking Adolf Hitler, you’re already totally gefickt. The “everyone who disagrees with me is Hitler” meme is as old and tired as it is careworn and absurd. Invoke socialism- when you likely couldn’t define it upon pain of death- and your credibility, which likely began around zero, will drop precipitously into negative numbers.
If you believe that Bernie Sanders (or Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or….) to be our generation’s Hitler, it might just be time for your Thorazine.
Never having been one to acknowledge Jim Bakker’s ability to think critically, I find his fear-mongering and general ridiculousness to be in fine form. Though he without question can’t speak with any authority on socialism, national socialism, or democratic socialism, Bakker has no problem discoursing at some considerable length about things he clearly knows nothing about.
Bakker’s concern for America’s welfare extends only as far as he can separate fools from their money. He’s just another snake oil salesman using Christianity and Conservatism as a means of disentangling fools from their wealth. He may speak the words of a man of God, but his only true belief is in himself and the sanctity of his bank account.
America has always provided a safe haven to those with unconventional, even objectionable beliefs. The 1st Amendment protects even those who pervert the majority religion and/or perfectly serviceable ideological stances for their own personal gain. It also protects those who, like me, would sooner be late for dinner than miss an opportunity to expose Bakker as a charlatan devoid of integrity, honesty, or faith.
Karma being what it is, I suspect Bakker’s bill will come due- if not today or tomorrow, then soon. I suspect it will prove enjoyable to watch.
