"HEY, GIVE ME A BREAK! EVEN THE 'STROS ARE ONLY .500!" TRUMP BADLY FLUNKS A GAUGING OF THE 10 COMMANDMENTS

RRUN-RRUN GRAPHIC

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Louisiana Republicans have passed a law that requires that the biblical Ten Commandments be posted inside all school classrooms to imprint their value on impressionable young minds to lead them to a moral upbringing and adulthood. 

Former president (an convicted felon) Donald J. Trump chirped in that he loves the Ten Commandments.

Okay, then. How does Tump measure up?

Let’s start with the 1st commandment, which, if paraphrased, amounts to “One, and only one, God.” So if you glorify and sacralize a person, as many in the GOP do, you are not obeying the first commandment. The offense is worse if the person you worship is yourself. 0 for 1.

The 2nd commandment forbids idol worship. See commandment one above. 0 for 2.

In the 3rd commandment, the Lord forbids taking his Name in vain. Trump uses the term “goddamn” regularly, including in front of Christian audiences. But they forgive him. 0 for 3.

Let’s see, the 4th commandment requires that we remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Trump and the MAGAites fail this test, but this one is complicated by a couple thousand years of differing interpretations among Christians and Jews, so let’s call this an incomplete.

Likewise, we see no evidence that Trump has violated the 5th commandment. He passed one.

The 6th gets into tougher territory. Trump has never actually shot anyone on Fifth Avenue, but he has displayed a depraved indifference to murderous violence. Campaigning in 2016, he suggested that the United States government should kill the wives and children of terrorists. 

He asked the Department Homeland Security to shoot migrants in the legs as they crossed the border and suggested the same about protestors after George Floyd’s death. He knowingly misled millions of Americans about the danger of the coronavirus because he thought it might tank the economy and hurt his re-election chances. And he failed to call off his goons when they were chanting, “Hang Mike Pence.” It’s not murder, but it’s awfully close.

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” ’Nuff said on the 7th..

The 8th commandment says, “Thou shalt not steal.” Where to begin? With all of the small businessmen and contractors Trump stiffed on his casino projects? With the plaintiffs in the Trump University scam? With the misappropriation of charitable funds? With the $355 millions in civil fraud? Or with the boxes of classified documents he secreted away in Mar-a-Lago?

Number 9: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” There has never been a more prodigious nor a more pernicious liar in American public life.

The 10th commandment forbids coveting that which belongs to others. Trump has raised avarice to an art form, convincing millions that his covetousness is actually a virtue, and scorning those who weren’t born to millionaire parents as “losers.” 

He covets all the baubles of this world (and treats wives as such). But worse, from our perspective as citizens of a free country, is a consistent theme in his life: He truly covets the power of dictators. Trump longs for the coerced sycophancy enjoyed by Putin and Kim. He envies Xi Jinping’s capacity to become president for life. Trump doesn’t just covet things. He covets raw power.

Trump flunks six, (maybe seven and a half) of the ten commandments.

The governor and members of the Louisiana legislature should make up their minds. Do they want kids to become moral citizens? Or do they want them to be like the man to whom MAGA genuflects?