A Word for Bobby Jindal: Don’t Repay Evil With Evil

Yesterday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the presidential race had entered “the silly season;” then he held a press conference that proved it.

Jindal tore into front runner Donald Trump, calling him “absurd,” “a non-serious carnival act,” “a narcissist,” “an egomaniac,” “insecure,” “weak” and an “egomaniacal madman who has no principles.”

News flash: Politicians have egos.

Not finished yet, Jindal said that Trump, with his famous coif, “looks like he’s got a squirrel sitting on his head.”

The last comment came after Trump criticized Carly Fiorina’s appearance.

Gov. Jindal’s broadside came shortly after Dr. Ben Carson questioned Donald Trump’s faith in public, saying the biggest thing that differentiates him from Trump is that ” I don’t in any way deny my faith in God.”

This is not to apologize for or defend The Donald. If nothing else, Mr. Trump has proven that he can defend himself—viciously.

But all three personal remarks are over-the-top and unseemly.

The latest broadsides are the more puzzling, since they were unprovoked. Trump, an equal opportunity offender, had never said a word about Jindal. (Neither had much of anyone else.) Nor to my knowledge had he insulted Carson.

Carson, at least, is within six points of Trump in Iowa, according to a new Quinnipiac poll, so maybe he thought it was time to shoot for first.

But Jindal, who was Assistant Secretary of HHS in George W. Bush’s administration, is near the bottom of the overcrowded field, ranking at about 1 percent support. He must have thought lighting into Trump was a good way to spur his campaign—or secure a place in someone else’s administration.

Another serious, well-accomplished governor of a neighboring Southern state, Rick Perry, tried the same strategy. By all appearances, he’s about to be forced out of the race.

All of this proves the Bible is true.

The apostle Peter wrote that Christians should not render “evil for evil, or railing for railing” (1 Peter 3:9).

Likewise, the apostle Paul wrote, “Repay no one evil for evil. Commend what is honest in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Rom. 12:17-18).

Not responding to substantive attacks on policy is bad politics. (Ask President Michael Dukakis.) But personal attacks, especially personal attacks on someone else’s character that offer no substantiation, hurt—and the person they usually hurt the most is the one who makes them. In 1962, Edward McCormack Jr. berated a young, still relatively fit Teddy Kennedy, saying, “If your name were Edward Moore,” his candidacy “would be a joke.” He looked and sounded mean. And he lost the Democratic primary in a big way.

By attacking Trump, Jindal and Carson did something seemingly impossible: They’ve appeared meaner than Donald Trump.

Dr. Carson, to his credit, called off the war on Thursday night, telling The O’Reilly Factor—somewhat dubiously—that he didn’t really mean to question Trump’s faith and, more importantly, he would no longer engage in a battle royal with the building magnate.

The rest of the field should prove the depths of their Christian faith and do likewise.