Michael Brown wrote a not-so-self-aware July 13 WorldNetDaily column in the wake of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump:
As we all sit here stunned watching the footage of the attempted assassination of President Trump, it really is a time for reflection. Are we contributing to this atmosphere of hatred and violence? What kind of emotions do we stir up with the words we speak and the memes we post? What are we fomenting? To what end?
With that in mind, I posted this on X at 6:48 p.m. Eastern Saturday: “For anyone sick enough to be happy that someone tried to kill former President Trump, SHAME ON YOU. May God help you recover your humanity.”
I truly pray it is not too late.
At this moment, as I write, it is all so fresh, The sights and sounds of the moment are beyond surreal. Yet this really happened – all of it.
Someone apparently had such animosity towards Trump that he attempted to murder him. The former president literally came within an inch of losing his life, only to stand up courageously and defiantly, fist raised, in what has already become an iconic moment in American history.
And there is the news of two dead, the shooter and an innocent victim in the crowd, along with two innocent victims who were critically injured. What madness.
As I write these words, political leaders from the left and right are expressing their solidarity with Trump and their absolute repudiation of political violence. But will we also hear from those who literally wished violence against Trump? Will they express regret for their poisonous words?
I’m thinking of Hollywood celebrities who openly expressed their personal death wishes against him. Or news commentators who likened Trump to Hitler.
[…]As someone on the front lines of the culture wars for more than 20 years, I understand the gravity of the issues that divide us. In many ways, they are literally issues of life and death (need I say more than the word “abortion”?). I do not minimize the depth of the political divide in our country today, nor is there an easy path forward towards national unity. Not by a country mile.
But all of us are responsible for the words we speak, for the posts we share, for the memes we create, for the environments we shape. And all of us would do well to look in the mirror and ask ourselves some honest questions: Am I fostering godly conviction or breeding vile hatred? Am I helping to produce courage and fortitude or do my words lead to hostility and disdain?
Put another way, since everything reproduces after its kind, based on God’s immutable laws established in creation, what are we reproducing? If the emotions and attitudes we stir up were multiplied time and again, would the end result be good or bad – very bad?
Brown, however, does not object to bad results for those who disagree with him or aren’t as right-wing as he is. He cheered right-wing attempts to destroy Bud Light for not hating transgender people like he does, as well as anyone else who feels the same, and he portrays hating LGBTQ people as a virtue to be admired rather than the hatred it is. And as much as he might complain about Trump-Hitler comparisons, he has never complained that the publisher of his columns has a long history of likening Barack Obama to Hitler and other Nazis, and that it currently likens President Biden to Hitler.
Still, Brown wants you to believe his hate is justified and never inflammatory:
There is a world of difference between a righteous indignation that moves good people to stand up for what is right and an unrighteous anger that leads to attempted assassinations of political leaders.
The former attitude is moved by justice and truly cares for the hurting and oppressed. It reflects the heart of God. The latter attitude is fueled by animosity and rage. It does no good and only causes pain. It reflects the nature of the devil.
Let us then, be disseminators of light not darkness, agents of God rather than servants of Satan, calling for courage and conviction around righteous causes but with civility towards our political and ideological adversaries. Otherwise, all of us lose.
We can be uncompromising in our stands without acting like animals. Let us all step higher!
Stepping higher, unfortunately, is not something Brown is known for. He’s also not known for being a realist about Trump. He spent his July 15 column laughably arguing that the assassination attempt could turn Trump into a unifier:
In answer to a question posed by Jake Tapper on CNN on Oct. 25, 2015, as to whether his presidency would result in an era of bipartisanship, then-candidate Donald Trump answered, “I absolutely think so I will be a great unifier for our country.”
Could it be that, fresh off his seemingly miraculous escape from death this past Saturday, Trump could become that man? Is it possible?
In that same interview with Tapper, Trump said, “The level of hatred between Republicans and Democrats was unbelievable. The level of – I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m going to unify. This country is totally divided. Barack Obama has divided this country unbelievably. And it’s all, it’s all hatred. What can I tell you? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Unfortunately, for a myriad of reasons, the level of hatred of which Trump spoke has only intensified, both during and after his presidency.
Brown didn’t hold Trump responsible for his significant role in ratcheting up that hatred, only mentioning in passing that Trump made a “2015 promise of being a great unifier,” then touted the Trump camp’s claims that he as “completely” rewrote his speech for the Republican National Convention, presumably to demonstrate a more unifying tone. (That didn’t happen.) Instead, Brown and his wife fervently hoped that Trump would change his spots, despite all evidence to the contrary:
In response to the report from the Examiner about Trump’s speech, my wife Nancy texted me saying, “Yes I saw that. Hopefully the new speech will be a humdinger in a different way and also hoping he doesn’t backslide!”
She followed up with, “GOD … get a hold of this man!!!!!”
I wrote back, “You know how hard it is for me to learn certain lessons? Well, multiply that a million times for Trump. As you say, maybe THIS will finally change him.”
She replied, “May God change him for good!! Meaning a DEEP, complete change into another man!! God is able!”
Yes, all things are possible with Him!
Perhaps Donald Trump could be one of the greatest leaders in our nation’s history, remembered with awe and respect by Democrats and Republicans alike. May it be so!
Let us pray like never before for God’s best for him and for our nation. God is able!
It could be that “God’s best” for Trump and our nation is for Trump to lose the election. Brown doesn’t consider that fact.