Desperate, demented, and despicable.  Those are about the best words to encapsulate yet another hoax hate crime that received national attention in the days immediately following the election of Donald Trump.

According to news reports at the time – and there were plenty – George "Nathan" Stang arrived at church early on Sunday morning, just five days after Trump had been elected president.  There, to his horror, were anti-gay, pro-Trump slurs spray-painted all over St. David's Episcopal Church in Bean Blossom, Indiana. 

Social media were soon drowning in the graffiti images of "Heil Trump," "F--- Church," and a swastika, all painted along the side of the gray brick church building.  Commentators and reporters of the Democrat/Media Complex, still reeling from an electoral defeat they didn't see coming, were quick to pounce on this as an example of the tidal wave of homophobic, xenophobic hate that was now "Trump's America."

The same Democrat/Media Complex that doesn't think it appropriate to speculate as to potential motives for terror attacks perpetrated by someone slamming a vehicle into pedestrians while shouting "Allahu akbar" had no problem buying Nathan Stang's heart-wrenching story of Trump-inspired hate speech.  The openly gay church organist Stang was the perfect victimized hero for driving their conservative bigotry narrative.  USA Today's own headline screamed, "Churches vandalized with Trump-inspired slurs." 

And then, just days ago, Nathan Stang was arrested for criminal mischief after admitting he did the whole thing himself.  He spray-painted his own church that morning to frame people he doesn't like.

Yes, in yet another false flag hoax, pro-LGBT, anti-Trump liberals resort to despicable efforts to impugn the character and demean the moral integrity of anyone who disagrees with them.

As the Washington Post feverishly reported at the time of the incident, the church's minister, Kelsey Hutto, was thrilled to play the role of martyr, melodramatically boasting:

There were conversations about trying to cover everything up, but in the end, we decided that we're proud.  We're proud of being targeted for the reason that we were targeted for, at least in which we think we were targeted for, which is being inclusive.

As it turns out, St. David's own organist targeted them because he hates people who voted for Trump and wanted to smear them.  That's not a reflection on Trump supporters.  It's a reflection on Stang, and it's a reflection on the moral lessons either not being taught or not being heeded in the supposedly loving and tolerant St. David's church.  For all the talk about inclusion, this sorry episode depicts in pretty vivid colors that churches like St. David's are not inclusive to those who think differently at all – the exact opposite, in fact.

Keep in mind that the fake Nazi graffiti in Bean Blossom was just one of many examples of supposed pro-Trump hate that was actually committed by anti-Trump people.  Unsurprisingly, left-wing hate groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center that absurdly pretend to be the authority on this issue refuse to correct the record or acknowledge the deception.

For his part, Stang seems apologetic:

I'm very sad to have created more hate in a world that already has too much hate[.] ... The congregation doesn't deserve it, the emotional turmoil I put them through.

That's true, but people who morally disagree with Stang and his church on homosexuality or on the decision to vote for Donald Trump didn't deserve it, either.  They didn't receive any apology. 

While I hope Stang is sincerely apologetic about his conduct, there are serious doubts as to whether this lesson has been learned: not everyone who disagrees with the left's agenda on immigration or sexuality is a Nazi.  Attempting to defame people as such by creating hoax hate crimes doesn't end up helping your cause or America's cause.

It embarrasses and undermines them.  All of us have to do and to expect far better.

Peter Heck is a speaker, author, and teacher.  Follow him @peterheck, email peter@peterheck.com or visit www.peterheck.com.