So Many Melons

     I saw something troubling, though not entirely surprising, on the news earlier this month. Sean Hannity was interviewing Dan Bongino, the soon-to-be-ex-Deputy Director of the FBI. Bongino used to be a podcaster who specialized in conspiracy theories. He was rabidly insistent, for example, that the Biden administration release the files of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. What were the Democrats hiding? How high did the illegality and corruption go?

     Another issue on which Bongino used to be quite vociferous had to do with the pipe bombs found outside the Republican and Democratic National Committee offices on January 6, 2021, the day of the attack on the US Capitol. Bongino, along with numerous other right-wing media figures, floated the possibility that the bombs were part of a “deep state” conspiracy to discredit Trump’s supporters. He said that it was “either a connected anti-Trump insider or an inside job,” in the words of Hannity. He and others had even suggested that the FBI was in on the plot, and the failure of President Biden’s Justice Department to make any arrests in the case was part of a massive cover-up.

     Since joining President Trump’s administration earlier this year, however, Bongino has backpedaled on a lot of that rhetoric. The suspect arrested recently appears not to have any connection with the so-called deep state, and all the chatter on that subject, at least as far as Bongino is concerned, has quietly gone away.

     When Hannity brought up some of his past comments in the interview, Bongino made a remarkable admission. He said, “Listen, I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions. That’s clear. And one day, I’ll be back in that space. But that’s not what I’m paid for now. I’m paid to be your deputy director, and we base investigations on facts.”

     To his credit, Bongino, in his role as FBI deputy director, is committed to facts. But the elasticity with which he approaches facts and truth depending on who is paying him is astounding. Or it would be if we weren’t so used to it by now. Administration personnel from both parties regularly land in media gigs after their time in government is over, and it can justifiably be said that they are getting paid for their opinions. But Bongino’s moment of candor marks the first time I have heard anyone so baldly state that such opinions can be bought and sold like so many melons at a farmer’s market and that they need not have even a passing acquaintance with the truth.

     Jesus once cautioned his listeners to avoid oath-taking. He said, “Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes,’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one” (Matt 5:37). If your Yes or No can be purchased by the highest bidder, you have lost any trace of integrity. How can anyone trust anything you say?

     Not knowing whom we can trust is one of the worst features of contemporary American life. Right-wing conspiracy theorists, left-wing nut jobs, apolitical trolls, social media content posted by robots—we live in a time when simple, unadulterated truth is devilishly hard to come by. That’s why we who claim to follow Jesus need to set an example of honest speech. Don’t forward that email, don’t like that Facebook post, don’t pass along that rumor if you can’t validate its truthfulness. (Actually, it would be better not to pass along rumors even if you know they are true. The Bible has some unfavorable words to say about gossip, too.) Let your word be “Yes, Yes,” or “No, No,” and leave no space for the encroachment of the evil one.