In the runup to the presidential election, WorldNetDaily columnist Scott Lively praised Donald Trump as the ruling “patriarch” America purportedly needs while viciously smeaering Kamala Harris as the “Whore of Babylon.” In his final column before the election, on Nov. 4, Lively lamented that even Trump might not bring about the Christian patriarchy he so fervently desires:
The MAGA movement is America’s populist uprising against egregious power-grabbing and power-abusing by tyrannical elites who hate the Bible and the Messiah, whom both Christians and Jews prophetically await.
It may not be possible, even under a Trump presidency, to restore all that has been stolen from us. But if the prophecy of a soon-coming Millennial Kingdom under direct rule by Christ from Jerusalem is true, we of the God-fearing remnant can still recreate the harmony amongst ourselves that reflects all of the best we once were – and perhaps even attain bit of the better harmony we’re promised in the age to come. We can do that amongst ourselves even if hell is about to be unleashed in all its fury because the Devil knows his time is short.
If, however, we have a few years’ reprieve under Trump, the MAGA movement can speed and maximize the restoration of our greatness by getting us back to first principles in citizen self-rule and constitutionalism – so long as we remember John Adams’ warning that those blessings are the gift of God for those who submit only to Him: “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Our history proves his case.
In his Nov. 11 column, Lively rehashed his earlier conspiracy that Bill Clinton and Barack Obama cut some kind of deal with Trump, through the media into the mix:
The reporters didn’t suddenly stop being true-believer leftists, but upper management had obviously given orders to play it straight and let the public accept Trump’s victory as the will of the people. That was the biggest shock of all, and would never have happened if the media moguls were in still in scorched-earth warfare mode against Trump as they had been continuously since Hillary’s unexpected defeat in 2016. They also, apparently, had been told to stand down.
To be clear, when I say that Trump probably cut a deal with his enemies I’m not suggesting he cynically sold out to them in exchange for power – as they would have done in his place. No, I’m saying he forced them to the bargaining table in the manner of a besieging warlord offering terms of surrender. He beat them at their own game, on their home turf by sheer force of will and, apparently, divinely ordained manifest destiny. With each step forward, against every weapon they could deploy against him, Trump exhibited courage and resolve not seen in America leaders since the Revolutionary War – or at least since Teddy Roosevelt.
As the battle raged most fiercely, he survived two assassination attempts while exhibiting such true manly bravery as to earn the praise of Russian President Putin, and then selflessly pressed in even harder toward the goal of restoring America to greatness. That was simply too much for his enemies to overcome. The deep-state dam of media-created fear-based reluctance to embrace Trump as a leader finally broke and virtually overnight a flood of both peasants and princes enlisted in massive numbers in the MAGA army – like the plot twist of a wartime action movie or a scene from the Bible (or both at once).
In his Nov. 18 column, Lively insisted that he and WND are being persecuted:
WND’s motto is “A Free Press for a Free People,” but I am virtually certain that our government today, in cooperation with radical leftist groups like the SPLC, is using its power to limit WND’s reach. This affects me personally. To whatever extent government officials or agents are defining my speech in this venue or any other as “disinformation,” “misinformation,” or “hate” to justify suppressing it, they are violating the plain meaning of the First Amendment. Indeed, grassroots political opinion like mine was THE speech at issue in the days of the founders – not news reporting by corporations – meaning I (and all citizen editorialists) should have greater standing in this matter than all the multinationals combined. I’m pretty sure Thomas Paine would agree with me.
We’re not government agents, but we are pretty much the only ones who bother to keep track of what WND does these days. Lively doesn’t seem to understand that WND, not “our government,” has limited its reach by so beclowning itself by publishing lies and conspiracy theories that no sane person considers it a reputable source of news. We are also pretty much the only ones who bother to keep track of what Lively says, and he seems to be mad that we called out Lively’s hate and misinformation for what it is. Interestingly, neither Lively nor WND have disputed anything we’ve written about them.
Lively then pushed the idea of punishing public broadcasting for not spouting pro-Trump propaganda:
Trump’s stunning victory has presented opportunities to the MAGA movement to repair the massive damage Marxists have done to this country over the past century – starting by breaking their propaganda machinery by which they mentally enslave the not-yet-red-pilled masses.
I suggest two simple lines of attack. First, impose an “equal time” mandate on all media entities that accept government money or assets, starting with the infuriatingly biased NPR/NPM. On any topic of public controversy, all perspectives, accurately represented by people of comparable stature and knowledge, must receive equal time. Compliance will be monitored by a large body of registered volunteers – say 300, chosen by annually by lottery – operating under the supervision of the both the FCC and Congress: the whole system operating as a Public Media Oversight Network to ensure fairness and accuracy.
Second, by congressional statute create a “false light” cause of action in defamation cases for deliberate misrepresentation by media companies, with lower standards of proof, in which the punishment is limited to prominently correcting the record and issuing a statement of apology to the defamed – with monetary damages available only against four-time repeat offenders. Grant private media companies who voluntarily participate in the Public Media Oversight Network an exemption from litigation.
The “Free Press” must never again be allowed to manipulate We the People by abusing their power over public information.
You know who else engages in deliberate misrepresentation in the media? WND. Does Lively think that WND should be punished for the deliberate misrepresentation in Lively’s columns? Somehow we suspect not.