2 days Ago By Amanda Marcotte
-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email Money, God and lies: These are the three pillars of the movement that led to Donald Trump's disturbing victory in November. A well-funded propaganda machine that exploits people's cultural fears and spiritual yearnings, turning them away from their economic self-interests and toward an authoritarian movement to end democracy. Katherine Stewart spent months traveling and researching the various people — from far-right priests to atheist billionaires — who have come together to bamboozle millions of Americans into backing a political movement that wants to take away their rights and safety .
In her new book " Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy ," Stewart offers a grounds-eye view of the machine that led so many Americans to vote against themselves and their democracy. She spoke with Salon about her experiences and how it is that disinformation has gotten its hooks into so many Americans. This interview has been edited for length and clarity .
You describe the modern right as motivated by "reactionary nihilism." Can you tell me what you mean by this phrase, and, and how it plays out? It's a description of those whose fundamental aim is really to destroy things, rather than create things. By reactionary, I mean that, rather than advance or progress toward a better society, this movement emphasizes a "return" to an imaginary better past.
A past that includes elements of regressive social order, like gender hierarchy. It's a suppression of certain forms of speech, attacks on religious freedom of those who don't conform and racism. Put together, these words describe this anti-democratic reaction.
It's those who believe that the democratic political system is so bad that it needs to be smashed and destroyed. At the same time, they're exalting a completely fictitious and unrealistic fantasy of a "golden age." It's retreating into a fantasy that's projected onto the past.
Right now, so much focus has shifted from the Christian right to the MAGA techbros like Elon Musk. But they're both in the mix. How does it all fit together? The new right and Christian nationalists are a power couple of American authoritarianism.
Both want to smash the institutions that safeguard our democracy. They've said it in different ways. The smashing of the "administrative state" is more of a new right concept.
The Christian nationalist movement is more focused on rejecting pluralism and equality. But both are committed to this anti-democratic project. On the Christian right, they would say our democratic system is not godly.
On the new right, they would say it simply doesn't work, that it's outlived its purpose. They want to smash it up and create something new, and that's an autocracy. Related "What the Lord established": Elon Musk is camouflaging a Christian nationalist takeover The Christian nationalist side has been an authoritarian movement for quite some time.
They refer to Donald Trump like a biblical ruler. They compare him King Cyrus or King David, an imperfect ruler God chose to enact his will. Here's the thing about kings: they're not part of a democracy.
They're the law onto themselves. Christian nationalists have persuaded themselves they're facing a demonic other, defined as anyone who doesn't believe as they do. They also believe God's hand is on Trump's shoulder.
If anybody opposes him, they're going against God. Trump became the perfect leader for an authoritarian movement. He doesn't respect the rules.
He's a law unto himself. He's promising to smash heads, and that's fine with them as long as as they think it's the heads of their supposedly demonic enemy. It continues to be fascinating how they embrace Trump, who could not be a less Christ-like figure.
But you write that Christian nationalists justify themselves by arguing that "Jesus may have great plans for us, but the reality is that this is a cruel place in which only the cruel survive." Honestly, that sounds like they reject the Jesus of the Bible entirely. How do they square that circle? In December, I went to America Fest, which is an annual gathering put on by Turning Point USA, which had 20,000 people at the Phoenix Convention Center.
This is the hardcore of the MAGA movement. One of their pastoral leaders is a guy named Lucas Miles. He's described the social gospel as heretical.
We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism He argues that Christianity started to go off the rails in the 17th century. He is elevating pro-slavery theologians like Robert Lewis Dabney and James Henley Thornwell. It was a time when many Christian pastors defended slavery as God's established order.
He said his mission is to eradicate "woke Jesus" from the American pulpit, and he said he's working with a network of 3500 pastors. Many, if not most, American Christians see the social gospel as the gospel. Some of the most powerful and impactful voices in opposition to Christian nationalism are pastors and faith leaders.
But this movement views their Christianity as heresy. The other innovation of the 17th century was the invention of modern democracy. This is true.
You that a major step Christian nationalists have taken to advance their goals is to convince their voters "to transfer the perceived source of political legitimacy from democratic processes to the so-called higher authorities." Can you elaborate? They believe the US is not founded on principles, but on a specific religious and cultural heritage. They argue America is on the brink of an apocalypse, owing to the rise of equality and what they call "wokeness.
" They argue democracy, as a system, isn't sufficient to meet the "challenges" of feminism and equality. They believe the democratic rules no longer apply, because we're facing this absolute apocalypse of equality. They want an authoritarian leader who puts himself above the law, who's gonna seize the reins of power, and scrap the rule of law in favor of the iron fist.
Why are they so convinced that we're in an apocalyptic moment? This is what authoritarian leaders do. Christian nationalism is not just an ideology. It's also not just a political movement.
It's a mindset, which includes 4 features. First is "us versus them" or "pure versus the impure," or those who properly "belong" in the country, and those who do not. Second, there's a sense of persecution.
They claim white conservative Christians are being persecuted more than any other group in society. Third is the sense that we're facing an apocalypse. They share this view with the new right.
It's always, "If we don't win this election, we're gonna go under the control of the Illuminati and the devil's gonna be controlling us for hundreds of years." So it's any means necessary to "save" us from this terrible fate. "Whether they don't care or don't know, it's because they've been colossally misinformed.
That's how they rationalize their choices at the ballot box." Those three ideas clear the way for the acceptance of an authoritarian leader, someone who doesn't respect the rules, who will punish their enemies, and who will suspend the rule of law. If you look at what's happening in our politics today, you can see it playing out before our eyes.
In the first weeks of the Trump presidency, we're seeing a version of Project 2025. They've been telling us for a long time they're gonna smash the institutions that safeguard our democracy. That's what they're doing.
Most media attention on the Christian nationalist movement focuses on the white evangelicals, but there are also Opus Dei and the Catholic fa-right. They play a critical role in the Christian nationalist movement. Can you tell me more about them, and why you think they're overlooked? American Catholics are as politically diverse and divided as any other group.
As Ralph Reed said, they're the jump ball of American politics. Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics? Subscribe to her newsletter Standing Room Only . Within the Catholic hierarchy, there's a group that isn't exactly progressive, but they lean more progressive on environmental issues and perhaps labor issues and issues of poverty.
At the same time, there's a group of ultra-wealthy Catholic laities. They fund outside organizations to influence the direction of Catholic theology, dragging it to the right, infusing it with hypercapitalism. They push for a Catholicism that doesn't take care of the poor, but takes away regulations for polluting businesses and reduces taxes for the rich, while cutting benefits for the poor.
They also fund right-wing media operations, such as Eternal Word Television Network, which is a lot like Fox News. You turn this on, you're gonna see the culture war issues used to get people upset. Frankly, most don't have much relevance in the everyday lives of most people, but they serve as a massive distraction from the right-wing economic agenda of the funders.
Many of the big names in the MAGA movement are far-right Catholics — people like Bill Barr or Sam Alito — but their Catholic spin on Christian nationalism flies under the radar. Christian nationalism is often characterized as a white evangelical movement, but it would be nowhere without ultraconservative Catholics. But that's why I focus on the funders and the intellectuals of the movement.
The rank and file are very different and have different concerns. But the funders are not any one type. Some are Catholic, some evangelicals, some Jewish.
Others are frankly quite atheistic. Religiously they're all over the place, but they agree on one thing: the need to crush liberals and destroy what they call the administrative state. Most funders are more driven by economic policy than by culture war issues.
The culture war issues are what get the rank and file on board. The Christian nationalist movement is as organized around the profit motive as politics. They are sincere authoritarians, but the leaders also come across like con men shaking down their followers for cash.
How do you see this sort of relationship between both sincere ideology and this attitude that their followers are wallets to be picked? The Reawaken America tour is a traveling, pro-Trump conspiracy-fest. They set up in mega-churches around the country. Each one draws thousands of participants.
It's organized by Mike Flynn, who's a close ally of Trump, and Clay Clark. Usually one of the Trump kids shows up to speak. And that they always have these very political preachers.
It's rooted in the independent charismatic movement . They're hawking all these goods and telling people to buy precious metals. The attendees aren't poor, but they're certainly not wealthy.
They're working or middle class, but the kind of people the information economy left behind. But it's not just about fleecing them, but exploiting them for political gain. They do that by promoting fear.
They tell them evil woke demons are going to come after you in your house. They're gonna change your kids' gender against their will in their public schools. They're gonna control every cent you own.
The fear makes people susceptible to manipulation. How do you get half of American voters to support a guy who is a convicted criminal, who exploited all of these people that he's gone into business with? Well, you do it by convincing them that he is being persecuted, that the election of 2020 was stolen, that God's hand is on his shoulder, and if anyone else is elected, then that goes against God's will. Many of these supporters don't recognize that American democracy might be destroyed.
Some don't care. They think it's more important to put a strong man in power to demolish the supposedly dangerous radical left. But whether they don't care or don't know, it's because they've been colossally misinformed.
That's how they rationalize their choices at the ballot box. And I would have to say this is not just about Trump. Authoritarianism loves a misinformed public.
The anti-democratic movement has funded this massive propaganda campaign that has led us to where we are today. Read more conversations about Christianity with Katherine Stewart Mike Johnson's "biblical” economics: Using Christian nationalism to "enhance plutocratic wealth" "Project 2025 shows us that the old Right has left the building": GOP's surrender to Trump complete Trump's Christian right worships power more than they worship God By Amanda Marcotte Amanda Marcotte is a senior politics writer at Salon and the author of " Troll Nation: How The Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set On Rat-F*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself ." Follow her on Bluesky @AmandaMarcotte and sign up for her biweekly politics newsletter, Standing Room Only .
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