Trump has turned the world upside down and is dismantling our democracy while 40% of the population cheers him on. I estimate that 15% is made up of white supremacist, hate groups, militias and average folks who watch Fox News and listen to Rush Limbaugh, while the other 25% are Christian nationalists. The anti-feminism patriarchy and nationalism appeals to extremists (white supremacists, hate groups and militias). And simple Christianity appeals to the average folks (simple as opposed to the underlying unseen radical Christianity of Christian nationalism). So this explains Trump’s base; Christian nationalists, extremists and unwitting average folks.
I had heard of the religious right, but I had never heard of Christian nationalists until I read The Power Worshippers: Inside the Rise of Christian Nationalism by Katherine Stewart. The connection between Trump and the Christian nationalists explains his actions that I find undemocratic, unAmerican and destructive. Trump was a blank slate with no political ideology. His only driving force was “what’s in it for me?” Steve Bannon was aware of the rising cultural nationalism and religious nationalism in the U.S. and around the world and counseled Trump during the campaign to adopt this ideology. Trump’s authoritarianism was built in.
Christian nationalists believe in a literal, strict interpretation of the Bible and only in their version of Christianity and want our government to be based in their narrow Biblical Worldview. They believe in a revisionist history (full of falsehoods) that claims the United States was founded as a Christian nation (that happened to be white) without the ideal of separation of church and state. They believe in a church/state fusion. They are anti-democratic (pro-autocratic), anti-environmentalism/science/psychology, anti-pluralistic, anti-multicultural, anti-immigrant, anti-Union/worker’s rights, anti-government regulation, anti-public school/public assistance, anti-feminism/equal rights/abortion/marriage equality/LGBTQ rights, and anti-Enlightenment thinking. They are patriarchal believing women should submit to their husbands and not work outside the home and homeschool the children.
This movement is funded by American oligarchs, plutocrats and billionaires (including Betsy DeVos, the Mercer’s, the Koch brothers and many other greedy powerful people and foundations) who prefer autocracy to democracy. In an autocracy, the will of the people is not represented and it allows the super wealthy to act with total freedom at the expense of everyone else, without regulation or taxation. The absolutism of the Bible worldview causes the followers to shut down their critical thinking skills and to allow or cheer on the tearing down of the government that protects them from the greedy, power grabbing, ultra-conservative one-percenters. They don’t want to pay workers livable wages and they don’t want to provide public assistance either. They want a master/servant hierarchy. They are more motivated by money and power than Christian principles.
The Christian national movement is organized and mobilized indoctrinating children across the nation through after hours Bible studies held within the public school buildings and training pastors to convince their congregations to vote for far-right candidates who support their Biblical worldview. In turn, religiously conservative judges are appointed who will uphold this Biblical worldview in the courts so that, for instance, a county clerk can refuse to give a same sex couple a legally granted right to a marriage license, a baker can refuse to bake a wedding cake for a same sex couple and a pharmacist can refuse to fill a doctor’s prescription for a drug that will clear a partially miscarried fetus from a woman’s uterus even though she could die from sepsis if the medicine is not given, all under the idea that THEIR religious sensibilities would be violated.
The Christian nationalists movement is global with organizers working around the world to indoctrinate others. This is where the Russia connection comes in and it has little to do with a possible Trump Tower in Moscow. The Soviet Union was an atheist nation, but with the fall of communism Christianity and the Russia Orthodox Church returned. So Russia is now a white, Christian, patriarchal, autocratic nation fitting perfectly with American Christian nationalism.
This Christian nationalist absolutism has shut down bipartisan discussion and compromise in our congress. Our country was founded as a liberal democracy with government for the people by the people, not just one person or some people or one version of one religion!
Christian Nationalists want all “…to conform to a strict interpretation of the Christian faith” to have a country with “…a single religious identity.” It is “a political movement that seeks to transform the defining institutions of democracy in America… re-founding the United Stares to ‘biblical law.’” They think they are “fighting for salvation against forces of darkness.” This fear allows them to ignore all actual facts and truths. And this movement is now determining the future of the Republican Party! Attorney General William Barr seems to have been brainwashed by this dangerous thinking. There can be no other explanation for his undemocratic behavior.
I thought we just had an awful President. Now I find out he’s just an useful idiot, a puppet, for Christian nationalism bent on destroying our democracy and our freedoms. It is ironic that Trump supporters think they are great patriots protecting liberty, when in fact they are giving away their freedoms. An autocrat could take away their right to assemble, their right to bear arms, their right to free speech, among other rights. When the Christian nationalists take control, they may require short hair, shaved faces, suits and ties, and ban tattoos and memberships in any non-church groups. You don’t know what rights you’re giving away.
Trump, American billionaires, far-right Republicans, radical Christians, authoritarianism, autocrats and Russia are all connected to the decline of liberal democracy and the power of the NATO alliance which results in a windfall for the oligarchs of the world and a tragic loss for everyone else. Protect our freedoms as the founders intended by supporting separation of church and state, and fighting anti-intellectualism. Vote!!! Be informed. It has taken me three years to uncover the hidden forces of Trumpism. Just voting him out does not protects us, we must remain vigilant.
reilly m gray 