Mike Cernovich & the Angel

I saw an image of alt-right activist troll Mike Cernovich in front of a medieval painting of an angel and I thought how interesting it is that you can make it your life’s vocation to be a cruel, deceptive, hateful person and yet the resonant power of a religious symbol can confuse that perception of you. I also used to think this when Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany wore her small, elegant metallic crucifix as she lied prolifically to cover for the ambitious sociopath president. Speaking in front of the American flag achieves a similar effect and is perhaps the most common form of this deception/confusion/distraction technique that we see in the US, as the flag is bathed in a sacred, religious reverence in American culture.