In some combination of ignorance and cynicism, lefty circles are abuzz about the supposed “Christian Nationalist” threat to the republic, and now the hysteria has joined with the drive to delegitimize the Supreme Court, or at least the justices least inclined to rubber-stamp the left’s agenda.
On Monday, activist Lauren Windsor posted audio recordings of conversations with Justice Sam Alito, his wife and Chief Justice John Roberts, which she secretly taped while posing as a religious conservative at an event last week.
Her “big get” is a chat where she baits Alito by saying that “people in this country who believe in God” need “to return our country to a place of Godliness,” and Alito (wait for it) politely agrees with her.
Gasp!
A religious man agreeing that Godliness is a worthy value?
Cue the woke pearl-clutching.
From the tape, it’s pretty obvious that the justice is just trying to gently disengage from an obsessive; he never breathes a word about the government enforcing religious ideals, let alone of letting his faith sway his jurisprudence.
But that didn’t stop The New York Times from running not just a report on Windsor’s “findings” but also a column headlined “Alito no longer tries to hide his theocratic worldview,” though he uttered not a “theocratic” word in the exchange and has spoken openly of his faith for decades now.
Nor from running a followup “news analysis” teeing off the Alito non-story to discuss the supposed rise of a “broader Christian movement” that Times readers should apparently be very worried about.
Politico, Rolling Stone and other left-leaning outlets also ran with the activist’s hysterical interpretation of her exchange with the justice, all advancing the idea that Alito’s objectivity is compromised.
And never mind that other parts of the recordings Windsor released have Alito’s wife Martha-Ann taking full credit for the flag-flying that was last month’s completely bogus blitz on her hubby’s impartiality.
Look: America is a more secular nation than ever, with vastly less public “God talk” than in the past; Lauren Windsor might have a heart attack if she reviewed the speeches of Abraham Lincoln.
She posed as a right-wing crank to bait the justices, but in fact she’s an unhinged lefty, seeking confirmation of secret agendas that don’t exist.
All the recordings really tell us about Alito is that he tries to be courteous when chatting with strangers.
When it comes to Windsor and the larger media echo chamber, they expose a subculture eager to engage in dishonest and shady tactics in an ongoing attempt to smear right-leaning justices, and the Supreme Court itself, as biased and illegitimate.
They’re the threat to our democracy, but too oblivious to see it.