"In today’s America, the right wing seems to be echoing its antebellum predecessors. It is attacking women’s rights; diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; immigration; LGBTQ+ rights and so on. At the same time, it continues to push an economic system that has moved as much as $50 trillion from the bottom 90% to the top 10% since 1981 while exploding the annual budget deficit and the national debt."
"Just as it was in the 1850s, the right-wing emphasis on religion and opposition to a modern multicultural America today is deeply entwined with preserving an economic power structure that has benefited a small minority. That emphasis is growing stronger in the face of the administration’s effort to restore a level economic playing field."
Brad Onishi and Dan Miller look at the Society for American Renewal, “an exclusive, men-only fraternal order which aims to replace the US government with an authoritarian “aligned regime." IIt includes Harvard grads, millionaire industrialists, the president of the Claremont Institute, financiers, and other upper-crust right-wing men (and they are all men).
"One of the key architects of Donald Trump’s plans for a second administration has been quite public about the driving force animating that radical agenda: a 'cold civil war' to be won by those willing to use 'biblical principles' to 'instruct government' to do what the MAGA right wants."
Robert P. Jones thinks that, much as many of us would like to stop listening to Trump's violence-laden rants, it's dangerous to stop doing so. Jones points to what Trump told white evangelical broadcasters a few weeks back, which did not get sufficient media coverage:
"In his rambling 75-minute speech, Trump delivered his most thorough articulation of his vision of white Christian nationalism to date."
"Since America has begun to dip a toe into the dangerous waters of white Christian Nationalism, I see people differently now. The surge of propaganda over the last several years has been highly effective with people I have cared about. And that really breaks my heart. ...
Today, our morals, values, and integrity as a people are on full view."
"Public support for same-sex marriage and nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans has fallen, even as the overall share remains high, according to new findings by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute.
Broad majorities of Americans, regardless of political party or faith, continue to support LGBTQ+ rights and protections, the analysis found."
"But after years of rising public support, the decline is notable, said Melissa Deckman, CEO of the PRRI. ...
The analysis also identified a strong correlation between those who adhere to Christian nationalism – a once-fringe belief that the US was founded as a Christian nation and its laws should reflect Christian values – and opposition to policies protecting LGBTQ+ rights."
"Approximately 100 right-wing organizations have signed onto Project 2025, an expansive plan for controlling (and in some cases dismantling) federal agencies in the event that Trump or another Republican wins the presidential election this year."
"Many of these organizations are led by Christian fundamentalist political operatives, suggesting that they may use the plan to force all Americans to submit to their extreme religious beliefs.
The Bucks County Beacon has just found explosive new evidence that seems to validate this concern."
Kristin Du Mez offers a valuable rundown of important commentary on the "thickening webs" of the Christian right as it pushes for Trump to return to the White House. As she says, if we're not paying attention, we need to start doing so, because Trump II will not be a replay of Trump I precisely because of what Christian Nationalists intend for the nation and for all of us.
Matthew Sheffield, who was raised in a fundamentalist Mormon family and was once a right-wing Republican activist, explains why it's futile to try to reason with Trump's white Christian nationalist base, whose aim is to dominate and force us to dance to its theocratic tune, not to reason or to accept pluralistic democracy:
"Once the internet became completely pervasive within society, low-information religious fundamentalists finally became aware that their side had totally and completely lost all scientific and historical arguments."
"Having failed to convince people of their beliefs, they have decided to mandate them. In so doing, they are embracing their core epistemology, that knowledge comes from authority rather than from the scientific method. The Bible says it’s true, so therefore it is. I feel a warm fuzzy feeling when I watch my favorite pastor, so therefore what he says is true."
Will Carless offers an in-depth look at white Christian nationalism, at how it drives support for Trump, and at how Trump has overtly embraced it as he seeks to return to the White House.
Carless speaks of "Christian nationalism," but it's WHITE Christian nationalism. As he notes, Andrew Whitehead, an expert in this field, says that the Christian nationalist vision of America includes only Christian, straight, white, cisgender people.
"The Christian Nationalists’ God is petty, insecure, cruel, authoritarian. Their God, like their favored presidential candidate, demands above all else obedience and loyalty. Their God sees only a few as 'elect': Mike Johnson and his ilk, straight men, blastocysts and frozen embryos. All the others He casts out. Their God is not inclusive; their Paradise, a fascist state."
"As soon as Senator Katie Britt started speaking, I knew exactly who she is. She is so many of the pastor's wives and Sunday School teachers I knew growing up in an Evangelical church. Be sweet. Obey."
~ Jess Piper
And the reason this matters — should matter to all of us — is that these white evangelical women not only want this for themselves: they want to impose it on all the rest of women.
"Christian nationalist Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, is married to a woman who also uses the voice. I first heard her speak in a Fox News interview. I had the same reaction I had to Senator Britt. I turned the video up and listened…and got a cold shiver."
"The breathless speech, the incongruent facial movements and smiles. The cadence of condescension. I am better than you, and here are the ways. I have children. They are perfect. I have a marriage. It is perfect. I am pretty and well-educated. I am a Christian—I am god fearing and I prove it by holding hands with my family and praying for the rest of you. I am better than you."
Josh Kovensky reports on a secret society open only to straight males who are trinitarian Christians and unhyphenated Americans, and who can answer a set of questions about Trump, the Republican party, and Christian nationalism in the right way.
The goal of this secret society, called the Society for American Civic Renewal, is to provoke a "national divorce" and install a Christian government.
#Federal prosecutors unsealed a grand jury #indictment Tues accusing a FL man of a #HateCrime for repeatedly threatening to kill members of an American Muslim org….
The indictment charges Michael Shapiro, 72, of West Palm Beach, w/3 counts of transmitting #threats & said the #crimes were motivated by #hate because he targeted victims due to the religion & national origin of people who work or are helped by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. If convicted, he faces up to 10 yrs in #prison on each count.
The number of open #FBI investigations has more than quadrupled since 2013.
…“Today’s charges should serve as a warning that those who threaten #violence, especially when they intend to instill fear on an entire community, will be identified, investigated, & aggressively prosecuted,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in a statement.
#Trump Says Little on #Gaza, & Nothing About What He’d Do Differently
In the ~5 months since #Hamas invaded #Israel on #Oct7, igniting the most divisive #ForeignPolicy crisis of #Biden’s presidency, Trump has said noticeably little about the subj.
#Trump’s hands-off approach to the bloody #MiddleEast conflict reflects the profound #AntiInterventionist [#isolationist] shift he has brought about in the #Republican Party over the past 8 yrs & has been colored by his feelings about #Netanyahu, whom he may never forgive for congratulating President #Biden for his 2020 victory.