But it is nice to see it in print, the driving force behind all of Trump’s Project 2025 stuff is… the far-right evangelical Christians! On this Sunday morning I'm writing about we are one step closer to a Christian Nation!
Christian nationalists insist that the US was founded as a Christian conservative nation (as 21st century far-right White Christians understand those terms) and should be ruled by contemporary White Christian conservative values.
Deccan Herald
By Francis Wilkinson Bloomberg
February 4, 2025
President Donald Trump, we are told, is endorsed by God.
“Father, when Donald Trump’s enemies thought he was down and out, You, and You alone, saved his life and raised him up with strength and power by Your mighty hand, ”said the Reverend Franklin Graham during his invocation at Trump’s inauguration last week. “Mr. President,” Graham addressed Trump, “the last four years, there are times, I’m sure, you thought, it was pretty dark. But look what God has done.”
Graham’s MAGA God might be unrecognisable to tens of millions of Americans, but anew poll released today by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute shows that two thirds (67 per cent) of Christian nationalists either completely or mostly agree that God ordained Trump to be the winner of the 2024 election.
In a survey of more than 22,000 adults, PRRI found that Christian nationalism is deeply embedded in the GOP, with a majority of Republicans qualifying as either Christian nationalist adherents (20 per cent) or sympathisers (33 per cent). That means they agreed with statements provided by PRRI such as, “being Christian is an important part of being truly American,” “God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all are as of American society,” and “if the US moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.” The more Christian nationalists reside in a state, the greater the share of Trump voters.
Christian nationalists insist that the US was founded as a Christian conservative nation (as 21st century far-right White Christians understand those terms) and should be ruled by contemporary White Christian conservative values.
This just goes to show you how off the deep end these far-right evangelicals are, they think Trump walks on water. Now this is the scary part…
They are also among Trump’s most fanatical supporters. Christian nationalists were prominent among the violent mob that attacked the US Capitol on Jan. 6, mounting crosses along with a gallows. Proud Boys stopped and prayed before their assault, asking God to restore their “value systems” and seeking heavenly sanction for their impending attack on the seat of democracy. Some Christian nationalists think a bit of vigilantism may be necessary to secure godliness; nearly 4 in 10 agree that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may need to resort to violence in order to save our country.”
In return for such passion, Trump has delivered political goods. He pardoned all of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, including those who assaulted police. He installed a former Fox News host with Christian nationalist tattoos as the leader of the Department of Defense. Trump nominated Russell Vought, who said Republicans should focus less on religious liberty and more on “Christian nationalism,” as the head of the powerful White House Office of Management and Budget.
Not only did Trump appoint loyal followers but they are also “Christian Nationalist” fanatics who believe they are warriors to god!
“We want to bring religion back—stronger, bigger, better than ever before.”
Rolling Stone
By Julianne McShane
February 6, 2025
We always knew that Trump’s return to the White House would bring Christian nationalism to the highest levels of government.
There’s Russell Vought, an avowed Christian nationalist and an author of Project 2025, who is Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget—which leads the implementation of the president’s policies, regulations, and funding decisions across the federal government, as my colleague Isabela Dias has written. And there was the pair of Christian podcasters who, at a rally the night before Trump’s inauguration, thanked God for “choosing President Donald Trump as a vessel for your nation,” as my colleague David Corn covered.
The signs, in other words, have been there for a while.
But at the National Prayer Breakfast—a decades-old, purportedly interfaith annual event—in DC on Thursday, President Trump laid out the steps he will take, now that he’s in office, to make those dreams of Christian nationalist power a reality. “We want to bring religion back—stronger, bigger, better than ever before,” he said. These measures will allegedly include:
- Creating a so-called Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty, which he so eloquently claimed will “be a very big deal”;
- Signing an executive order ordering newly-confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” inside the federal government and “prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society”;
- And creating a new Faith Office in the White House, which will be led by the televangelist and Trump acolyte Rev. Paula White—who, as my colleagues Stephanie Mencimer and Kiera Butler have written, is often associated with an evangelical Christian movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, whose leaders claim that God speaks directly to them and “that Christians are called to wage a spiritual battle for control of the United States.”
Hey? Remember Musk's Nazis salute? Does that fit in with the White Christian Nationalist's theme at the inauguration? Are you scared yet?
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, writes,
February 6, 2025
[…]
Task force will misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry, discrimination’
“Americans United believes that all people, including Christians, should be able to live as themselves and believe as they choose so long as they don’t harm others. But rather than protecting religious beliefs, this task force will misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry, discrimination, and the subversion of our civil rights laws. We’ve seen Christian Nationalists do this already, turning the sacred concept of religious freedom on its head and into a license to harm others.
“If Trump really cared about religious freedom and ending religious persecution, he’d be addressing antisemitism in his inner circle, anti-Muslim bigotry, hate crimes against people of color and other religious minorities, but instead, he’s abolishing federal programs and protections that address those wrongs. This task force is not a response to Christian persecution; it’s an attempt to make America into an ultra-conservative Christian Nationalist nation.
“This is part of the Christian Nationalist crusade to remake our country. Not on our watch. Americans United and our hundreds of thousands of supporters across the country will not stop fighting for church-state separation until this nation lives up to its promise of freedom without favor and equality without exception.”
Now does it make sense, Trump attacks on us, the trans community? He is doing it for his Christian Nationalist base!
Their hate of us, is Trump’s hate of us.
*****
My prediction is that you will see them trying to pass more anti-abortion laws, more anti-trans laws, more anti-marriage equality laws, anti-divorce laws, ban birth control pills, and ban the mailings of abortion medications.