How Much Do You Love the Truth?

Enough to recognize when "your side" is telling lies?

As you know by now, I am a Christian. I am commanded to love the truth and hate lies. Lies are of the devil. My Savior described the devil in this fashion while speaking to the hypocritical religious and political leaders of his day:

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44

I often fall short of the mark I’m called to hit, but I still press toward it as hard as I can. That’s why I’m asking you, “How much do you love the truth? Enough to recognize when ‘your side’ is telling lies?’”

By “sides” in this essay, I am referring to political battle lines. Full disclosure: I typically vote Republican, though in smaller races I have voted Libertarian or Constitution Party. I would also vote Democrat if the Democrat in question was at least genuinely pro-life. (There are a few of those left, believe it or not. My husband served with one of them in the South Carolina House of Representatives. Unfortunately, they’ve been systematically pushed out of the Democrat party, much like the Republican Party has begun pushing theirs out…incrementally. More on that later.)

In short, I am a staunch Conservative on the verge of political homelessness because “my side” is becoming less conservative by the day.

Today, I have no interest in delineating the whoppers being told by the other side. I am interested in calling out mine (Republican and/or Conservative) for two specific lies it persists in telling.

Lie No. 1: Kamala Harris and Jaleel Stallings

Jaleel Stallings was a man acquitted of wrongdoing after he shot at police during the “mostly peaceful George Floyd” riots in Minnesota. A far left organization to whom Kamala Harris donated in the past bailed him out of jail. Trump’s team was all over this in 2020 and resurrected this story again this summer when Kamala Harris turned into the “Plan B” Democrat presidential candidate. (I cannot claim this hilarious term and must credit Jeff Childers of Coffee and Covid which I read this morning.)

As with all good lies, everything in the above paragraph is actually true. The lie comes in the omission of basic facts. Reason Magazine (which is by no means a far-left rag, but on the contrary, dishes out plenty of rhetorical beatings of Trump, Biden, and Harris by turns) told the rest of the story. Click here to read the whole article by C.J. Ciaramella

Mr. Stallings did, in fact, shoot at police. However, Mr. Stallings was not a rioter. He was a military veteran defending himself from a spray of rubber bullets erupting from an unmarked passing van with the gun he legally owned and carried. It turns out that he was not only acquitted of all wrongdoing, but he also won a 1.5 million dollar lawsuit for his wrongful arrest, and a police officer who beat and kicked him after he had surrendered himself and was handcuffed, pled guilty to Stallings’ assault.

Here’s a description of the events of that night:

The officers had been cruising the streets firing less-than-lethal rounds from their 40 mm projectile launchers at groups of people who were out past curfew. "The first fuckers we see, we're just hammering 'em with 40s," the team's sergeant ordered, according to body camera footage shown at Stallings' trial. Before they reached Stallings they had also taken potshots at a family trying to protect their gas station from looters and pepper sprayed a Vice News reporter who was supposed to be exempt from the curfew.

Stallings claimed he saw the unmarked white cargo van pull up with its lights off and the door slide open. He heard a pop and then felt the sharp pain of a rubber bullet hitting him in the chest. He said he assumed it was a drive-by and thought he'd been grazed by a bullet. Stallings returned fire at the van, shooting three rounds that did not hit anyone. When he realized he was shooting at police, he tossed his gun and surrendered. Body camera footage shown at Stallings' trial showed officers kicking and punching Stallings as he tried to surrender, including after he was handcuffed.

There are innumerable ways and reasons to criticize Kamala Harris based on her record over the years. Such as this: Opposed Early Release of Non-violent Inmates . And this: Kamala Harris Spins Facts on Truancy Laws. And this: Opposed DNA Testing That Could Have Exonerated a Black Man on Death Row (Trump’s campaign has used this one. Smart). And this: Kamala Harris’ Record as a State’s Attorney General.

In short, she is universally awful on nearly every issue. There is no need to lie about her, and yet the Trump campaign persists in using this story. Why? Well, probably because it’s easy: it makes the base mad and very few people will check up on the facts.

But now you know. So, don’t repeat this lie. Love the truth.

Lie No. 2: “Don’t believe your lying eyes! Trump didn’t mean that when he said ‘reproductive rights’ you dummy.”

This one really burned me last week. I have been staunchly pro-life since the time I was old enough to have thoughts about anything of consequence. I have deepened my resolve in the last decade, and I now consider myself an abolitionist. I know what the term “reproductive rights” means when it’s used. I’ve heard it all my life from the pro-choice crowd. It’s a dog whistle term for primarily abortion, although stuff like contraception and IVF get lumped in.

So when Trump tweeted this…

And people responded to pro-life voters’ concerns with garbage like this…

…to say that I was irritated would be an understatement. The fact of the matter is that there are zero candidates for president who will uphold the rights of the unborn in 2024. Zero. We are correct to be alarmed at these kinds of statements from Trump and his running mate, and we will not be swayed by the gaslighting on display from our supposed “side.”

During the pandemic years, I often heard my side quote George Orwell’s haunting words from 1984:

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

And now my side seems unable to comprehend that they are essentially ordering me to do the same thing. Well, I won’t.

Lila Rose really summed up our situation accurately this last week with this tweet:

Given what Trump said about Arizona’s abortion ban, I really doubt that he’s even okay with leaving the abortion issue up to the states in reality like he claims. Trump and Vance are not pro-life.

If Trump loses to Harris because he lost the pro-life vote, it won’t be because they abandoned him. It’ll be because he abandoned them. End of story.

If you are repeating these dishonest talking points, please stop. Love the truth.

I can understand you voting for Trump despite his weak defense of the unborn. I really can. But don’t try to convince yourself or me that he’s any kind of pro-life champion.

I have threatened to vote for Trump recently in my piece, Well, Now I HAVE to Vote for Him. But in reality, the jury is still out for me. I may withhold my vote altogether and merely vote in local elections this November. Trump still has time to refrain from ticking me off any further. So, we’ll see.

But here is a commitment I can keep this election cycle: I will continue to hate lies and love the truth. And if there are any more whoppers my side decides to indulge in, I’ll devote another newsletter to exposing them.

I hope you’ll join me in loving the truth, whether the truth is on your side or not.

That’s all for now. Until next time, folks…

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