This week, America received more proof that we have a two-tiered justice system.
Michael Cassidy, a Navy veteran and former congressional candidate, has been charged with a hate crime after beheading a Satanic statue in the Iowa state Capitol by the Satanic Temple of Iowa.
Announced publicly on Tuesday, the decision from the Polk County prosecutor’s office was quickly met with backlash.
“What has become of America?” queried Elon Musk on X, after many pointed out the apparent ideological targeting of Cassidy.
Since the charges were first announced on Dec. 15, support for Cassidy has exploded.
“Michael Cassidy is now elevated to sainthood for doing the right thing. Who on earth authorized the erecting of this crap?,” argued one X user on Feb. 2. “To do so is to endorse the wickedness of Satan and to celebrate the moral decline in America.”
A campaign to help fund Cassidy’s legal defense has raised over $120,000.
“All donations in excess of what is directly related to my defense shall be donated to a Christian legal fund,” Cassidy announced, before thanking all who donated.
Over the last few years, attacking or vandalizing statues has become a popular tactic for leftist protesters and politicians, both of whom have made it a personal crusade to remove as many as possible.
Many conservatives have been quick to point out the blatant hypocrisy between Cassidy’s case and that of the protesters.
“Violent activists tore down dozens of statues including Columbus, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. None were held accountable or charged with a hate crime,” Libs of TikTok, a popular social media account, wrote on X. “Michael Cassidy knocks over a Satan statue made out of household items and gets charged with a hate crime. Welcome to America’s 2-tier-justice system.”
In place of the statues they’ve torn down, liberals have raised so-called modern art. Many have pointed out the apparent Satanic influences of these replacements.
In June, for example, New York City placed a golden statue of a horned woman on top of the state courthouse.
“This is a statue of a demon. Not only that, it’s OBVIOUSLY a demon, horns and all,” said Christopher Bedford of Common Sense Society on X.
This is a statue of a demon. Not only that, it’s OBVIOUSLY a demon, horns and all. It’s like something terrifying from an archeological dig of a civilization that practiced human sacrifice. It is designed to unsettle & spread ugliness. It’s on top of a New York City court house. https://t.co/npeLPgUjZ4
— Christopher Bedford (@CBedfordDC) January 25, 2023
The artist who designed the statue claimed that there is an “urgent and necessary cultural reckoning underway as New York reconsiders traditional representations of power in public spaces and recasts civic structures to better reflect 21st-century social mores.”
The “cultural reckoning” didn’t end in New York City.
After the statue of the pagan idol Baphomet, which Cassidy called in an interview an “icon to Satan,” was erected in the Iowa Capitol in December as a holiday display, Cassidy decided to make the trip from where he lived in Mississippi to destroy it.
“I felt called to come to Iowa,” Cassidy said. “I knew that it couldn’t stand, and so I took it down…. I wasn’t littering; [I was just] taking down that evil.”
The man who beheaded the Satanic statue in the Iowa State Capitol, @Mike_Cassidy_MS, explains why he destroyed the idol. pic.twitter.com/UK6RtnSqiT
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 28, 2023
Cassidy removed the head of the statue and threw it in the trash, before turning himself into the Capitol police.
He was released, but he received a citation for “fourth-degree criminal mischief,” according to the Deseret News. That has since been upgraded to “felony third-degree criminal mischief.”
The Polk County Attorney’s Office told the Des Moines Register that it charged Cassidy with a hate crime because the “evidence shows the defendant made statements to law enforcement and the public indicating he destroyed the property because of the victim’s religion.”
Cassidy argued that the statue is not protected as free speech under the Constitution.
“The people who wrote our Constitution would be shocked to think of defending Satan,” he told the Christian Post.
