President Donald Trump on June 20, 2020 (Wikimedia Commons)
Alex Henderson
February 18, 2025
ALTERNET
Journalist/author Katherine Stewart has a long history of in-depth reporting on the Religious Right — and not in a favorable way.
2012's "The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children" and 2022's "The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism," both characterized the Religious Right movement as antithetical to religious freedom in the United States. And in her new book, "Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy," Stewart emphasizes that Christian nationalists and billionaire oligarchs have formed a deeply authoritarian alliance.
Stewart discussed that alliance during an interview with Salon's Amanda Marcotte, published in Q&A form on February 18.
READ MORE:'Time to think of Plan B': Musk ripped after forcing out Social Security chief
When Marcotte asked Stewart how "MAGA tech bros like Elon Musk" and the Christian Right "fit together," the journalist/author responded, "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."
Stewart continued, "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."
In 2025, the term "New Right" has a very different meaning than it did during Ronald Reagan's presidency.
Back in the early 1980s, "New Right" was used to describe the conservative movement being championed by President Reagan and his allies. But these days, the term "New Right" is used to describe President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement — which, in many respects, is a major departure from traditional old-school Reagan/Barry Goldwater/John McCain conservatism. And many Never Trumpers who were considered "The New Right" back in the 1980s are now scathing critics of Trump and MAGA.
When Stewart speaks of the New Right, she is referring to MAGA — not the conservatives of 40 or 45 years ago.
Stewart told Marcotte, "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 (to) 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."
Amanda Marcotte's interview with Katherine Stewart for Salon is available at this link.
'Not just blood that they’re after': Expert says Christian Nationalists 'want a show'
Photo by David Todd McCarty on Unsplash
Journalist/author Katherine Stewart has a long history of in-depth reporting on the Religious Right — and not in a favorable way.
2012's "The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children" and 2022's "The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism," both characterized the Religious Right movement as antithetical to religious freedom in the United States. And in her new book, "Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy," Stewart emphasizes that Christian nationalists and billionaire oligarchs have formed a deeply authoritarian alliance.
Stewart discussed that alliance during an interview with Salon's Amanda Marcotte, published in Q&A form on February 18.
READ MORE:'Time to think of Plan B': Musk ripped after forcing out Social Security chief
When Marcotte asked Stewart how "MAGA tech bros like Elon Musk" and the Christian Right "fit together," the journalist/author responded, "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."
Stewart continued, "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."
In 2025, the term "New Right" has a very different meaning than it did during Ronald Reagan's presidency.
Back in the early 1980s, "New Right" was used to describe the conservative movement being championed by President Reagan and his allies. But these days, the term "New Right" is used to describe President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement — which, in many respects, is a major departure from traditional old-school Reagan/Barry Goldwater/John McCain conservatism. And many Never Trumpers who were considered "The New Right" back in the 1980s are now scathing critics of Trump and MAGA.
When Stewart speaks of the New Right, she is referring to MAGA — not the conservatives of 40 or 45 years ago.
Stewart told Marcotte, "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 (to) 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."
Amanda Marcotte's interview with Katherine Stewart for Salon is available at this link.
'Not just blood that they’re after': Expert says Christian Nationalists 'want a show'
Photo by David Todd McCarty on Unsplash
February 20, 2025
ALTERNET
President Donald Trump was able to be elected president a second time partly by mobilizing his base of Christian nationalists. This anti-Democratic group has an “us vs. them” mentality, believing that America is on the verge of an apocalypse and that they are being persecuted. In her new book, "Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy," journalist Katherine Stewart investigates this voter base. Salon published an interview with her Tuesday.
This subculture, Stewart argues, believes America should move past democracy. “They believe the U.S. is not founded on principles, but on a specific religious and cultural heritage,” she said. “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 going to seize the reins of power and scrap the rule of law in favor of the iron fist.”
One of the three major tenants of this mindset is the belief that the country is nearing an apocalypse.
“This is what authoritarian leaders do,” she explained. “Christian nationalism is not just an ideology. It's also not just a political movement. It's a mindset… 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.”
“Those three ideas,” she continued, “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 going to smash the institutions that safeguard our democracy. That's what they're doing.”
But the members of this group have been “colossally misinformed.”
“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,” she said.
Here is an excerpt from the book, published by Rolling Stone:
“Power has not softened the base of this movement. It’s not just blood that they’re after; they want a show. This is the thing that Trump surely understands best. Policy simply doesn’t matter. You can kill off grandma through vaccine denial, take away health insurance, bust unions, drive up inflation, and reward your billionaire friends with policies that benefit their bloated bottom lines. None of that matters as long as you give the people the pleasure of a good performance, where they can project their frustrations and resentments on the targets they have been trained to hate.”
President Donald Trump was able to be elected president a second time partly by mobilizing his base of Christian nationalists. This anti-Democratic group has an “us vs. them” mentality, believing that America is on the verge of an apocalypse and that they are being persecuted. In her new book, "Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy," journalist Katherine Stewart investigates this voter base. Salon published an interview with her Tuesday.
This subculture, Stewart argues, believes America should move past democracy. “They believe the U.S. is not founded on principles, but on a specific religious and cultural heritage,” she said. “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 going to seize the reins of power and scrap the rule of law in favor of the iron fist.”
One of the three major tenants of this mindset is the belief that the country is nearing an apocalypse.
“This is what authoritarian leaders do,” she explained. “Christian nationalism is not just an ideology. It's also not just a political movement. It's a mindset… 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.”
“Those three ideas,” she continued, “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 going to smash the institutions that safeguard our democracy. That's what they're doing.”
But the members of this group have been “colossally misinformed.”
“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,” she said.
Here is an excerpt from the book, published by Rolling Stone:
“Power has not softened the base of this movement. It’s not just blood that they’re after; they want a show. This is the thing that Trump surely understands best. Policy simply doesn’t matter. You can kill off grandma through vaccine denial, take away health insurance, bust unions, drive up inflation, and reward your billionaire friends with policies that benefit their bloated bottom lines. None of that matters as long as you give the people the pleasure of a good performance, where they can project their frustrations and resentments on the targets they have been trained to hate.”
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