Louisiana Voice

“For weeks Democrat leaders have been fueling ludicrous hysteria that Donald Trump winning re-election would be the end of democracy in America. Clearly, we’ve seen far left lunatics act on violent rhetoric in the past. This incendiary rhetoric must stop.”

–Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, who, it should be remembered, was nearly killed by a lunatic gunman and was saved, ironically, by a black lesbian EMT. Yet, Scalise never condemned gun violence or altered his stance on gay rights.)

“Joe Biden sent the orders. The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, PA, should immediately file charges against Joseph R. Biden for inciting an assassination.”

–US Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia (the same one who loves to post controversial messages on X.)

“Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”                                                       

US Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Trump’s pick as his vice-presidential running mate.

“American Patriots are united behind President Trump. The left will not stop MAGA Nation.”

–US Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana), apparently of the opinion that patriots and “the left” are mutually exclusive. But then, Higgins is an idiot.

“I mean, when you turn on a late-night show and it’s no longer comedy, it’s a constant 10-minute barrage against a single person. Comparisons with Hitler. That kind of stuff. That needs to stop, too.”

–Scalise again (grab your airsick bags).

Scalise also said there needs to be a “dialing down” of personal attacks.

Oh, really? Let’s turn the clock back to Aug. 9, 2016:

“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment, people, maybe there IS, I don’t know.

–None other than candidate Donald J. Trump himself.

And here’s Trump again back on Feb. 1, 2016, when he told rally participants to “beat the hell out of” protesters, and said he’d like to “punch [a protester] in the face,”

Oh, and here’s good ol’ boy Clay Higgins again in 2017, discussing protestors:

“Hunt them, identity them, and kill them. Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all.”

Here he is again, in a letter to a judge asking for leniency for Jan. 6 rioter Ryan Nichols who was videotaped prior to the attack on the Capitol as saying, “It’s going to be violent and yes, if you are asking, ‘Is Ryan Nichols going to bring violence? Yes, Ryan Nichols is going to bring violence.’”

Higgins wrote to the judge, “I submit to you this letter in support of Ryan Taylor Nichols. He is a man of good character, faith, and core principles.”

Keep in mind, that Higgins loves to tout his experience as a former St. Landry Parish sheriff’s deputy.

And finally, this from Reuters:

“Before the shooting, Trump had not ruled out the possibility of political violence if he loses November’s election. ‘If we don’t win, you know, it depends,’ he said when asked by TIME magazine in April if he expected violence after the 2024 election. He’s also refused to unconditionally accept the results of the upcoming election and warned of a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses.

So, just who is actually guilty of dangerous political rhetoric here? For Scalise, Trump, Higgins, Collins, J.D. Vance or anyone else to have the cajones to invoke the word “violence” or harmful “rhetoric” at this juncture is sheer hypocrisy bordering on psychosis.

Now I’m going to stretch a theory to its breaking point. It’s no big secret that evangelicals form the core of Trump’s support. But let’s examine the practices of some of those evangelicals who call themselves fundamentalists. I warn you, what follows is quite distasteful, but factual.

There are hundreds of homes for troubled youth being run throughout this country by fundamentalists whose version of discipline can only be described as medieval, nothing short of sociopathic torture – and I suggest that these people are among the most ardent Trump supporters.

One of those homes was in Bienville Parish in north Louisiana until it was closed down but the stories coming out of it and other homes like it are sickeningly similar.

In the girls’ homes, the girls, ranging in age from 10 to 18, were/are given two squares of toilet paper for urination and four squares for bowel movements and for their periods. Bathroom tissue was never flushed but discarded in an unlined, unsanitary, malodorous tin can. Offenses that draw draconian punishment may be for not saying “yes, sir” or “yes, ma’am;” for not looking down or away in the presence of boys (in church, because that’s the only time they were ever in the presence of boys); for not memorizing Bible verses, for smiling or for not smiling enough.

Punishments include locking girls in a tiny room with no bathroom breaks (only a can to go in). Sometimes they were even handcuffed to their beds for days on end while taped sermons of the minister who ran the facility were played 24/7. Girls were forced to scrub the same pot over and over until their hands bled. Other punishments included scrubbing their bodies with lye soap until their skin was raw and bleeding; forcing girls to hold soap in their mouths, or forcing them to eat their own vomit if they threw up during exercise. When put on “silence,” sometimes for as long as a month, they were not allowed to speak to anyone other than supervisors and then only when spoken to first.

And of course, there was the corporal punishment administered with a wooden paddle with holes drilled in it to cut down on wind resistance. One girl reported receiving 147 “licks” to their buttocks, legs, backs and arms – administered at full strength by a supervisor. That’s one hundred forty-seven licks, folks. How could anyone be expected to endure such abuse? Some girls were permanently crippled by the beatings.

And the rapes. Let’s not overlook those. Another girl said she was told to go to the office for her punishment. Fully anticipating licks with the board, she was told to raise her dress. She did so and the supervisor, a man, told her to raise her slip. She complied, whereupon she said he pulled her panties down and raped her from behind.

Yet, these barbarians call themselves men and women of God. The “reverends” cart a few of the girls around to area churches to sing and give testimonials. The church members obediently respond by hitting the floor with their knees while reaching for their wallets and purses. Meanwhile, the girls are sexually abused at will by their chaperones.

These people, these so-called Christians represent an admittedly small but vocal and influential sampling of the evangelical mindset: they do not think for themselves; they just yell and shout their zealous devotion and send money – to the preacher or the prophet (more accurately spelled profit) without an independent thought of the consequences.

Sound familiar?

(Editor’s note: These conditions described are not fiction. There have even been recorded deaths of children in these homes or ranches. That’s why I am in the process of writing a book about the physical, mental and sexual abuse of children by administrators and members of the Protestant and Catholic clergy.)