Tax The God Damn Churches

Remember, "Righteous Gemstones" is a documentary, not a comedy.

One depressing thing about living in Ohio is the Republicans are sprinting headfirst into fascism while Democrats can’t run a statewide candidate that believes in Medicare for All because they’ll be called a communist en route to a 15 point loss.

Churches are a major conduit of that Republican primary voters’ militarization. Josh Mandel, the biggest sewer creature in a crowded freak show worthy of a circus, has hidden his Jewishness while exclusively campaigning in churches for the Evangelical vote.

Here are some of the lies his benefactors are allowing him to spew in public, at a Senate forum in at a church in Westerville:

Josh Mandel @JoshMandelOhio

Shut down government schools and put schools in churches and synagogues.

Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski

At OH GOP Senate debate tonight, Josh Mandel says, “there’s no such thing as separation of church and state.” “We should be instilling faith in the classroom, in the work place, and everywhere in society.”

Perhaps you might think this is just one egregious example from one candidate. No. Even “moderate” State Senator Matt Dolan used his time to incite racial panic among his god-fearing audience by railing against the fake Critical Race Theory crisis.

Here are some highlights from Mandel’s event last night at a church in Mason:

Taylor Popielarz @TaylorPopielarz

“I believe this election was stolen from Donald J. Trump!” @JoshMandelOhio says, despite Trump’s own Justice Department, Republican judges he appointed, and GOP election officials saying it was not. The crowd erupted in a standing ovation. #OHSen

Taylor Popielarz @TaylorPopielarz

Before leading a closing prayer, Pastor Lawrence Bishop told a story about getting ready to brand some of his livestock. He then finished by joking, “Let’s go Brandon,” which is a phrase Republicans have been using in place of the phrase, “F**k Joe Biden.” Crowd laughed loud.

Taylor Popielarz @TaylorPopielarz

Now speaking: Former State Rep. John Adams, who’s running against GOP Sec. of State @FrankLaRose. “Everybody knows that after the last election last year, we got robbed. And the Republican Party did little, if anything, to fight back.” (LaRose calls him a conspiracy theorist)

You know, I’m starting to think there are some drawbacks to America’s refusal to tax grifters who claim a denomination in one of the oldest religions in the world, bamboozle primarily older people into thinking the path to Heaven runs through them. It’s a great tax scheme if you can convince yourself that God isn’t real and there is no eternal judgment on your soul waiting on the other side of your death.

There’s usually a liability risk to lying your ass off to your customers like this. But not in evangelical churches in Ohio. The rubes think that their idiot leaders are the only things keeping the gay liberal vegans on the margins of society.

It’s hard to see a scenario where this ends well. Democrats are already relegated to the big cities, where they give lap dances to real estate developers who fund their tinpot political machines. Sherrod Brown will probably lose to JD Vance in 2024. The three Democratic Ohio Supreme Court Justices will be booted out of office in their next race when they’re labeled with the shameful (D) next to their names. Will make it easy to enforce an even more extremist agenda than the one that’s strangled our state for the last 30 years.

You have a leading Senate candidate—who will most likely be our Senator next time this year—openly saying things like church and state doesn’t exist, Trump won the election, and government schools should be shutdown. That’s the kind of serpent these kinds of churches are welcoming with thunderous applause. Only God knows how extreme they get in their private life, too/

Yes, Mandel is a laughingstock, but given his radicalization of the primary and its voters. He couldn’t have done it, though, without the Evangelical churches willing to launder his hate in the name of White Jesus.

THOSE WMDs. How Spanish-language radio radicalized a generation of abuelos…. Check out this cool Chinese military jeep I found on a used car lot… Guns—even props—are not toys… Stop shopping: America needs you to buy less junk… The sorrow and shame of the accidental killer…