Cancel culture, hypocrisy and political violence endanger American democracy
The month, American politics has laid bare a truth too big to ignore: our modern politics is consumed by a hypocrisy so deep it threatens the very fabric of our democracy.
On Sept. 10, that hypocrisy collided with tragedy. Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old CEO and cofounder of Turning Point USA and an ardent defender of the Second Amendment, was shot and killed while speaking — of all things — about gun rights at a Utah Valley University campus event.
The brutal irony of his death is that he declared in 2023 at a TPUSA event: “I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights."
A man who insisted gun deaths were an acceptable “cost” of liberty became its latest victim. And it must make us all pause — whether right or left, conservative or liberal.
The shooting death of Charlie Kirk is a sobering reminder that this crisis of hypocrisy in politics does not respect ideology or party lines—it endangers us all. The rhetoric and tribalism consuming our politics threaten the very domestic tranquility and well-being of America.
This moment should force us to confront a question too long ignored: What kind of freedom do we truly want? Do we want a democracy where rights are wielded as weapons, stripped of responsibility — or one where liberty is preserved by balancing individual choice with the safety and dignity of all?
Power corrupts absolutely
Consider Jeffrey Epstein. Newly released files and photographs confirm what many long suspected - that Donald Trump, along with a gallery of elites, was far closer to Epstein than he admitted.
Images purportedly with Trump’s signature in a book celebrating Epstein’s birthday have surfaced.
Yet only four Republicans in Congress — Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and three GOP women, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Lauren Boebert of Colorado— joined all 212 Democrats in signing a petition to release the full files. The other 215 Republicans refused.
This is what hypocrisy looks like.
Next, let’s take “cancel culture.”
MAGA leaders rail against “cancel culture,” claiming conservatives are silenced, but they are the first to cancel professors, journalists, athletes and corporations that dare to speak truth about racism, sexism or the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. They hold up the Bible as their shield, yet at the Museum of the Bible on Sept. 8, the President of the United States winked and joked about domestic violence. Let that sink in.
Meanwhile, Trump shouts about the “Biden crime family.” But his own son, Eric, has made millions in cryptocurrency ventures, leveraging the Trump name in ways that look suspiciously swampy. So much for draining it.
Freedom in name only
What makes America exceptional is not that we always live up to our ideals — we don’t.
It is that the ideals themselves endure: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of assembly, freedom from government overreach. These are not partisan values. They are the essence of what it means to be American.
And yet, as we approach the nation’s 250th birthday next July 4, we find ourselves in an ironic moment. In 1776, our founders rose against King George III, rejecting his tariffs, imperial overreach and refusal to recognize the colonies’ right to govern themselves. They saw him as a mad king.
Today, two and a half centuries later, we have a chief executive who increasingly acts the same way — punishing dissent, expanding power and placing himself above the law.
Then came the Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday. In a stunning blow to civil rights, the Court sanctioned ICE agents to stop and question people simply for speaking Spanish or appearing Latino. America’s highest court has given license to racial profiling. It is Jim Crow by another name.
The price of hypocrisy
Freedom has become the rallying cry of the American right. But increasingly, what is being sold as “freedom” is a cover for authoritarian control and double standards.
Consider Trump’s ongoing and unconstitutional use of the National Guard. Recently, he moved to deploy them into American cities without proper authority. The idea that a president can simply order armed troops into states — over the objections of governors and mayors — strips away the very liberties Trump claims to defend.
Or look at the vaccine debate. In states like Florida, “freedom” was redefined to mean rejecting masks and vaccines during a deadly pandemic.
Leaders insisted it was about “personal choice,” ignoring that such choices endangered others. The result: overwhelmed hospitals, preventable deaths and a state that became a cautionary tale. True freedom has never meant absolute license to do whatever you please. It has always been balanced by responsibility. To dismiss community safety in the name of “personal choice” is not freedom — it is selfishness dressed up as liberty.
A call for moral clarity
The hypocrisy is especially galling among so-called Christian conservatives. The Jesus I know did not wink at abuse, ignore predators, or sanction racism. Scripture is clear: “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.” Yet the self-proclaimed “party of values” looks away from Epstein, laughs at domestic violence, cheers racial profiling, and cries victim when called to account. This is not faith. It is idolatry.
The right loves to weaponize “cancel culture.” They claim conservatives can’t speak freely on campuses, in Hollywood or in boardrooms.
But it is Republicans who are erasing history books, muzzling teachers, blacklisting corporations that support diversity, censoring drag shows and punishing athletes for kneeling in peaceful protest. It is not “cancel culture” when victims speak up or when the truth comes to light. It is accountability. And accountability is the very thing the right fears most.
Whether it is Epstein, ICE, cancel culture, or domestic violence, the pattern is the same: protect the powerful, punish the powerless, and cry persecution when called out.
America cannot survive on double standards
This is not about partisanship. It is about principle. The abuse of girls and young women, the profiling of Latinos, the silencing of dissent, the mocking of domestic violence — these are not left vs. right issues. They are moral issues. And the right is failing the test.
The rhetoric is deadly. The hypocrisy is dangerous. And the consequences are devastating. We are eroding the very foundations of trust, faith, and freedom.
America cannot survive on lies and double standards. We cannot preach morality while shielding predators. We cannot quote Scripture while laughing at abuse. We cannot demand freedom while sanctioning profiling.
The time has come for Americans — Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike — to call this what it is: hypocrisy masquerading as morality. The victims of Epstein deserve truth. Latino families deserve dignity. Women deserve respect. Citizens deserve leaders who practice what they preach.
Until then, the hypocrisy will continue to spread. And history will remember not just the crimes of predators, but the cowardice of those who chose silence when their voices were needed most.
Sophia A. Nelson is an award-winning nonfiction author of four books, including “E Pluribus One: Reclaiming our Founders’ Vision for a United America.” She is an award-winning journalist for her work in Essence magazine. She is a renowned global women’s conference speaker and corporate DEI trainer. She is a regular contributor to the AJC.
