One of this week’s unexpected political stories came by way of Louisiana, where Republican policymakers agreed to force every public school classroom in the state to display the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980, in a nearly identical case, that state-sponsored religious displays in public schools are impermissible, but GOP officials in the Pelican State apparently expect to get away with it anyway.
It wasn’t long before other Republican politicians, eager to score a few cheap points, started celebrating the news out of Louisiana. Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, for example, appeared on Steve Bannon’s podcast and said, “This is something we need all throughout our nation … because we need morals back in our nation, back in our schools.”
Given the controversies surrounding the right-wing congresswoman’s personal life, there was a disconnect between the messenger and the message.
But Boebert wasn’t alone. At 1:22 a.m., Donald Trump used his social media platform to endorse Louisiana’s new law on state-sponsored religious displays. (The missive was originally published in all capital letters, but I’m republishing it with standard capitalization to make it easier to read.)
“I love the Ten Commandments in public schools, private schools, and many other places, for that matter. Read it — how can we, as a nation, go wrong??? This may be, in fact, the first major step in the revival of religion, which is desperately needed, in our country. Bring back TTC!!! Maga2024”
Evidently, “TTC” is the former president’s attempt to give the Decalogue a new nickname.
At this point, we could explain why, in this country, we don’t turn to politicians to lead religious revivals. We could also note how on-brand it is to see Trump express brazen indifference toward constitutional law, religious liberty and existing Supreme Court precedent. We could also marvel at the sight of a man who knows effectively nothing about religion — his clumsy role as a Bible salesman notwithstanding — directing the public to read a religious text.
We could even take some time to answer the presumptive Republican nominee’s rhetorical question. “[H]ow can we, as a nation, go wrong?” by ignoring the First Amendment? There are plenty of countries that have blurred the church-state line out of existence, and as a rule, their people inevitably suffer the consequences. But as important as these angles are, there’s another dimension to this that’s every bit as important: Trump is touting the Ten Commandments, despite the fact that he’s broken most of them. No graven images? Check. Honoring the Sabbath? Check. No adultery? Check. No stealing? Check. No bearing false witness? Big ol’ check. No coveting a neighbor’s wife? Check. Perhaps, before the GOP candidate endorses government forcing religion on people, Trump — the criminal who was recently found to have falsified records to pay off a porn star he allegedly cheated on his third wife with — could try following the Ten Commandments for a change?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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