By Michael Leppert
The Indiana Citizen
February 12, 2025
I have been thinking about Winston Churchill since Donald Trump announced his planned seizure of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center last Friday.
In 1938, Churchill said, “The Prime Minister (Neville Chamberlain) …has reminded us of the old saying that it is by art man gets nearest to the angels and farthest from the animals.”
On the floor of the Indiana Senate last Thursday, Minority Leader Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, made a point of order just before the vote on Senate Bill 289. The bill would create a series of prohibitions and requirements regarding diversity, equity and inclusion programs in Indiana. It’s a conglomeration of poorly developed ideas that chaotically attempt to send a message to Hoosiers that the undefined “woke” ideology is being put down in the state for good. It’s a bad-idea bill that is written poorly enough that even four Republicans voted against it.
I am certain I will write about the awfulness of this bill in future columns. Today, I will just label it as a collection of pretzel-like twists of racist gestures designed to comfort a constituency who has demonized DEI programs before bothering to learn what they are. Stay tuned for more on the substance of it.
In the midst of the three-hour Senate debate on SB 289, Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith posted this to his campaign Facebook page: “Indiana just TORPEDOED Woke Indoctrination!” The post goes on about how the rebellion of equal rights has been put down, and how “the left is LOSING IT.” It’s the kind of post to more likely come from a MAGA-cult member standing in line to get into a Lee Greenwood concert. Except it wasn’t. It came from the President of the Indiana Senate, in reference to legislation that was being debated on the Senate floor at that very moment.
And it was written in past tense, as if the vote and the outcome had already occurred. It was at least two hours early.
In Indiana, the lieutenant governor is the nonvoting, presiding officer of the Senate. He or she manages the process and is assisted by a parliamentarian to assure the process is followed in accordance with the state’s constitution and the rules of the Senate. From 1989 through 2004, a Democrat presided over the Republican controlled body. Awkward, right?
Nope. Not at all. Both of those former governors, Frank O’Bannon and Joe Kernan, in their roles as lieutenant governor, did their jobs with a commitment to statesmanship and respect for the body. It is not what either man will be remembered for, primarily because it didn’t take great restraint or character to simply do the damn job as our citizenry has come to expect. And by the way, every Republican LG, dating back to at least 1980, has done the same.
Today, that is apparently too much to ask of Micah Beckwith. He would rather use the position to garner attention for himself, even if it means prejudging outcomes while he presides.
In making her point of order, Sen. Yoder said, “It is clear that how we started today’s session is very different than how we will end it.” I encourage Hoosiers to watch the debate to see how correct she is on that point. She added, “There is a sacred division between what we do in this body and in this chamber and the politics of what happens on our campaign sites.”
There always had been before Beckwith, at least. The Christian nationalist doesn’t respect the job he has. He is uncommitted to the historic demands of it. And while some may think this small procedural matter is unimportant, it is an indicator of a lack of respect for the entirety of the job.
He doesn’t respect the voting of the Senate. Exactly what part of the job does he respect, if not that?
The day after Beckwith’s debacle, Donald Trump made his Kennedy Center announcement. Why? Trump later commented, like Beckwith, in a social media post: “I’m going to be chairman of it, and we’re going to make sure that it’s good and it’s not going to be woke.”
It’s an important step by Trump, inarguably one of the most artless presidents in American history, to seize control of the arts.
In 1940, it was suggested to Churchill that he protect precious paintings from the German invasion by shipping them to Canada. “No. Bury them in caves and cellars. None must go. We are going to beat them.”
In the chaos of this political moment, the Beckwith and Trump incidents can be easily overlooked. Don’t overlook them. Both represent the depth of their disdain for what Indiana and America have always been.
Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.
