Discrimination wars: What happens when powerful Republicans feel discrimination they hate

It is clear that radical right Christian nationalists want to discriminate against people and groups they hate and want to oppress. But here is the flip side of how powerful radical right Christian nationalists see it when discrimination goes against their chosen people and ideologies, even when it is false.

The context here is this: Sen Tom Cotton, a potential radical right Republican Christian nationalist criticizes Kroger for firing two Christian employees for refusing to wear rainbow gay pride flag logos. In essence Cotton tells Kroger to go pound sand because Republican s will not help Kroger with a massive merger that Democrats oppose.

Think about it. This is how the discrimination wars are going to play out. If powerful Republican politicians and elites see discrimination they dislike, they are going to punish people and interests the believe are responsible and deserving of regulations by Democrats. Whether the merger is in the public interest or not is beside the point for congressional Republicans. The only thing that counts is if a company toes the rigidly ideological and extremist Republican Party line.

For context, Kroger denies that the logo had nothing to do with gay rights or support for gays. It was just a bit of advertising it wanted employees to wear to help boost good will and sales. There was nothing religious or pro-gay about it. Marketing research suggested the heart logo, which was not a rainbow. Only Sky writes:

Kroger to pay $180K for firing Christians who wouldn’t wear heart symbol

The two Christian employees falsely claimed the heart symbol promoted the LGBTQ community. (It didn’t.)

It was just a multi-colored heart symbolizing their corporate values.

The facts don’t matter, though, because the Christians in question, Trudy Rickerd and Brenda Lawson, claim (wrongly) that they were being told to support LGBTQ rights (which they were not).

This is not the gay pride logo

This is Kroger's marketing ploy

This is the usual gay pride logo

See the difference?

Sometimes this is a variant gay pride logo

See the difference?

This is how irrational and enraged congressional Republican are. They believe lies and then punish the innocent for their false beliefs. The question here is not what Kroger did to two employees, it is whether its proposed merger would be anti-competitive and illegal under anti-trust law. The two things are different, but that makes zero difference to foaming at the mouth, radical right Christian nationalist Republicans with power. They want power and wealth. They will not hesitate one second to kill democracy, inconvenient truth and anything else that gets in their delusional enraged way.

One question that pops right up is why did Kroger pay $180K? Probably because public relations and profit trump inconvenient facts, true truth and sound reasoning. That's probably why. 

Again for the hundredth or thousandth time here, the business of business is profit, not what is right or wrong, good or bad, moral or immoral, or democratic or tyrannical. And the business of radical right Republican Christian nationalists is accumulating power and wealth, not governing in the public interest or in defense of democracy, truth, the rule of law, the environment, or civil liberties.

A NASA gay pride logo

See the difference?

The Satanic Temple's gay pride logo

See the difference?

A slew of gay pride logos

See the difference in every single one?

None are Kroger's marketing ploy

I've said it before dozens of times and say it again, inconvenient facts, truth and sound reasoning are irrelevant to radical right, Christian nationalist and/or brass knuckles Republican elites. Their eyes are on the prize. The Prize? More power and wealth for themselves. Much more. And, at our expense.