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The Left never misses an opportunity to demonize decent Christians and to fear-monger about them as A Threat to Democracy™ and a white, oppressive, cultural hegemony that must be overthrown for social justice to be achieved.

Most recent case in point: Clara Jeffery, editor-in-chief of the far-Left Mother Jones magazine, took to X (formerly Twitter) late last week to gripe about an unnamed flight attendant on Alaska Air wishing the passengers a “blessed” night at the end of a recent flight to San Francisco, which is the home base of Mother Jones.

In a tweet she has since deleted, Jeffery wrote, “Creeping Christian nationalism alert: @AlaskaAir flight attendant just wished us a ‘blessed’ night as we landed in SFO (!) to groans. Other adjectives that would have sufficed: great, awesome, fabulous, amazing, fantastic…”

She added, “As my rowmate said, ‘this ain’t Montgomery, sweetie.’”

The snarky tweet garnered millions of views within hours and invited a swarm of social media mockery and chiding from X users on both sides of the political fence, who rightly found Jeffery’s post mean-spirited and ungrateful.

“How sad and impoverished is your life that you’re offended by someone blessing you? Get a grip,” Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen responded.

The Dispatch editor-in-chief Jonah Goldberg weighed in, writing, “This is a bizarre and pretty indefensible overreaction, [in my opinion].”

Even Kamala Harris campaign fundraiser Armand Domalewski rebuked Jeffery, writing, “Respectfully, I’m a pretty left-leaning guy and I wish folks a blessed day fairly often. It’s just a nice thing to say.”

This comment prompted a response from fellow Democrat Jeffery, who replied, “Eh. It’s a matter of respect for the audience before you. Respecting their space and norms and wishes. Dominant cultures always feel they have a right to enforce their norms and intents. And…way off @AlaskaAir’s brand.”

To his credit, Domalewski disputed her point, adding, “As a practicing Catholic, I don’t feel like being publicly Christian is really the dominant culture here in SF lol.” Jeffery did not respond to this incisive point.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald was not as polite as Domalewski, tweeting about Jeffery’s post, “From start to finish, this tweet is art. Put it in the encyclopedia under ‘affluent white coastal American liberalism’ and no other text will be required.”

Actor Clifton Duncan posted to Jeffery, “I’m an atheist and your tweet is ridiculously paranoid and idiotic Have a blessed day”

Both Canadian conservative activist Billboard Chris and attorney Laura Powell of Californians for Good Governance shared entire threads of Jeffery using “bless” over and over again in social media posts with the same intent as the flight attendant. Powell wrote,

The Editor-in-Chief of Mother Jones uses “god bless” and “blessed” so frequently I can’t post all the screenshots and yet calls it “creeping Christian nationalism” when a flight attendant does the same. Is she holding the people who serve her to a different standard? Or perhaps she was offended that the flight attendant seemed sincere?

Washington Examiner contributor Kimberly Ross also denounced Jeffery’s post, stating,

This is not ‘creeping Christian nationalism.’ This is someone showing kindness to others. It’s not offensive. It’s not a demand for religious conversion. The issue here is you processed it as a problem that requires a public complaint while tagging the airline. Time to grow up.

But Jeffery’s complaint wasn’t made out of mere pettiness or personal offense. Nor was it done to protect Alaska Air’s “brand,” as Jeffery suggested in her response to Harris fundraiser Domalewski. It was made with the political intent to target an innocent, well-meaning Christian as part of the atheist, Marxist Left’s ongoing demonization of Christianity as an Enemy of the People™. That is why Jeffery tagged Alaska Air in her tweet – to pressure the airline publicly to punish the flight attendant and to send a message that no expressions even perceived to be Christian should be allowed in the workplace.

Regarding Jeffery’s comment that “Dominant cultures always feel they have a right to enforce their norms and intents”: it is absurd to claim that a flight attendant wishing passengers a “blessed” evening is in any way an act of enforcement or dominance. In fact, Domalewski was only partially correct to tell Jeffery that he doesn’t feel that “being publicly Christian is really the dominant culture here in SF”; in the post-Christian West, being publicly Christian is no longer the dominant culture in America as a whole. But it serves Jeffery’s purpose to paint the nation as being under the boot heel of a Christian theocracy.

Speaking of which, she used the label “Christian nationalism” to link the flight attendant’s horrific transgression to a movement which the Left is making a coordinated effort to demonize as a Hitlerian boogeyman. As I have written before, “Christian nationalism” is the new Progressive dog-whistle for “scary American patriots.” It signals to Progressives that Americans who love God and country – which used to be the norm before our descent into a post-Christian, post-patriotism culture – are a subversive danger to the Democrat one-party State. Christianity, after all, imposes a moral code that chafes Progressive libertines, and nationalism, with its emphasis on state sovereignty and secure borders, frustrates their globalist ambitions.

The Left’s aim is to whip up a hyperventilating panic over the specter of a fundamentalist theocracy. This is why the Left hurls such smears as “American Taliban” at believing Christians. They want to spread the dehumanizing message that America under white male Christian MAGA mullahs will descend into a Handmaid’s Tale dystopia in which homosexuals are hanged and women seeking abortions are imprisoned. The Left’s goal is to enforce their vision of the separation of church and state as one in which Christian patriots and their values are excluded from the halls of government power entirely.

It’s also worth noting that Jeffery’s approving claim that a “rowmate” on the flight said “This ain’t Montgomery, sweetie” reveals an open bigotry against the flyover Americans whom the coastal elites like Jeffery despise.

No matter what your faith (or lack thereof), it is impossible to imagine being offended by a kind wish that you be blessed as you go on your way. Clara Jeffery’s reaction only makes sense if you realize that the Mother Jones editor saw the opportunity to weaponize that blessing against a political and cultural enemy.

Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior