You may or may not know Billy Preston’s 1974 hit, “Nothin’ from Nothin’ Leaves Nothin’.” But never mind, the refrain is as much mathematical truth as it is moral wisdom.
As I considered the world this past weekend, the moral version of this phrase occurred to me: Wicked upon wicked leaves wicked. When wicked men attempt to execute “justice” upon other wicked men, the result shall only be more wickedness, never justice or righteousness.
The Iranian government was led by a wicked man.
Michael Friday
The Israeli government is led by a wicked man.
The Russian government is led by a wicked man.
The Venezuelan government until recently was led by a wicked man.
The American government is led by a wicked man enabled by callously wicked people in his cabinet and some unprincipled Supreme Court jurists.
Yes, there are other corrupt international governments, but these I named are unique in scale and scope. Russia seeks to destroy Ukraine. No one else covets and seizes territories on that scale. Iran chants “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” Nobody else. Only America has pursued regime change in 20 nations in the past two centuries — twice now in Iran — by violence and war. Only America has armed and defended Israel in its genocidal war in Gaza. Only America has stoutly defended Russia in its murderous assault against Ukraine.
Wicked upon wicked leaves wicked.
Venezuela should not even be on this list but for its ocean of oil reserves — an irresistible lure to a greedy and unprincipled man to the north willing to seize what belongs to others.
“Only America has armed and defended Israel in its genocidal war in Gaza.”
Nicolás Maduro’s territorial claims over Guyana, his repression of citizens, reported extrajudicial killings and electoral theft are hardly unique. Such sins are replicated across the Global South and the Global North — America included, unless one has not heard of ICE raids, brazen gerrymandering or laws meticulously crafted to make voting harder and, in some cases, disappear.
The modus operandi of the wicked never changes:
- They lie to gain power
- They commit crimes to keep power
- They rewrite the rules to ensure they never lose power
Their sinister choreography is almost comic. Russia, allied with Iran and Venezuela, kills Ukrainians without mercy. Yet Russia was among the first, last Saturday morning, to urge Israel and America to cease hostilities in Iran. Physician, heal thyself.
Wicked upon wicked leaves wicked.
Russia — ally of Iran and Venezuela — mercilessly kills Ukrainians. Yet Russia was among the first to urge Israel and America to cease hostilities in Iran last weekend. Physician, heal thyself!
Wicked upon wicked leaves wicked.
Here in America, the wickedness continues:
- ICE raids that brutalize and kill
- Twisted electoral laws that will lead to slow death
- Health care erosion that already is causing death
- Tax “reform” tilted toward oligarchs and leaving the sick and poor to die
Worst of all is an encroaching religious nationalism that would make the ayatollahs jealous that their extremism was not sufficiently extreme.
Not long ago, then-FBI Director Chris Wray identified white and religious nationalism as America’s biggest security threat. Today the FBI, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security have become instruments of intimidation, with ICE agents as poster boys. Some say ICE is the new Proud Boys — that Proud Boys have simply put on badges and federalized their guns with license to kill.
In the past year, ICE operations have killed dozens of people. That’s far fewer than Iran’s grotesque thousands reported murdered during protests. But a life is a life. And what ICE does in America differs only in scale, not in spirit, from what Khamenei’s regime has done in Tehran.
Wicked upon wicked leaves wicked.
“What if the American people decided to do at home what he prescribes for Iranians?”
The American president sought to steal an election in 2020. Days ago, he asserted that he deserves a third term, in total disregard to the law. He now urges Iranians to overtake their government!
What if the American people decided to do at home what he prescribes for Iranians? Hopefully things never get to the point where Americans do that, except by peaceable and legally approved means; for wicked upon wicked leaves wicked.
America was, we are told, “negotiating” a “deal” with Iran until the very moment American bombs fell. Was that diplomacy or deceit?
Diplomacy presumes and requires trust. To negotiate while preparing to strike raises the question of perfidy. Perfidy is not strategy; it is trickery. Legal luminaries can now explore whether Iran was lured to the negotiating table while murder was being planned behind its back. Strategy or subterfuge? The lawyers can answer that; but the moral instinct requires no law degree.
Let’s not forget: America already had a deal with Iran. It was shredded in a previous term so its destroyer could play savior. The playbook is evil: Create a problem, then claim to solve it. Then, if that script eventually leads to military hostilities that costs scores of human lives, the evil is compounded. If — as some suspect — this war conveniently deflects attention from the Epstein Files and the “Epstein Class,” the evil metastasizes. The irony is thick: Bombs killing 150 Iranian schoolgirls to deflect attention from the bomber accused of raping American schoolgirls.
Wicked upon wicked leaves wicked.
If the American president is justified in bombing people in boats in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Paria without due process, without congressional clearance and against international law; and if the American president is justified in barging into a sovereign country and abducting its president, however illegitimate, without United Nations assent or partnership; and if the American president can order the assassination of the leader of another sovereign nation, however evil; what is there to prevent the American president to be subjected to the same fate by whomever could so succeed in doing it?
Wicked upon wicked leaves wicked.
Reportedly, this commander-in-chief repeatedly evaded military service. Neither he nor his family members ever wore the uniform or did public service. He’s dismissed fallen soldiers as “losers” and “suckers.” His casual suggestion that we may lose some servicemen and women in this new war is therefore obscene.
As his bombs rained on Iran, he invoked God’s protection and victory. But God is not American or Iranian, Christian or Muslim. The “god” of American supremacy, religious nationalism, exceptionalism and reductionism is a provincial deity reduced to fit a flag, drenched in white supremacy, red blood and blue privilege. It is not the God true believers profess as impartial to race and nation, who acts with justice, goodness and love in generous measure to all.
It is for the reader to decide whether the American president’s god differs in any meaningful way from the god invoked by Khamenei, by Netanyahu, by Putin or other wicked world leaders who are religious utilitarians. Good people fashion God in their own image; even then, their creation is woefully inadequate. Wicked men do the same; and they program their created god to triangulate wickedness with them.
The Iranian regime invoked their god for repression. It is not the God orthodox Muslims worship. Nor should Americans be fooled into thinking it’s the God of Jesus Christ whom the White House and cabinet members invoke when they claim their patently wicked acts are done in his name. They lie.
Once wicked men summon their wicked gods to execute “justice” upon other wicked men, only more wickedness should be anticipated.
Wicked upon wicked leaves wicked.
Michael Friday serves as executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of Greater Indianapolis and is author of the book, And Lead Us Not Into Dysfunction: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, of Church institutions and Their Leaders. He has served Baptists in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and the USA. The views expressed here are his own and not those of any other institution he serves.