In which I identify the five pillars of Trumpism and discuss the first pillar: Christian nationalism.
In my last post, Party of One, I argue that the Republican Party is no longer the bastion of conservative principles and policies.
Former Arkansas Governor and unsuccessful presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson worries that "as long as leaders continue to wilt under Trump's pressure, we're going to be moving in the direction of a Trump party and not the Republican Party." For Donald Trump Jr., the party's transformation is a positive development. "People have to understand that America First, the MAGA movement is the new Republican Party. That is conservatism today," he declared.
Phil Heimlich, who I wrote about in Party of One, ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Ohio's second district as the only non-MAGA candidate in the crowded Republican primary. In a guest column last fall on Cleveland.com, Heimlich, a traditional conservative who is "a law-and-order guy," believes "in balanced budgets and a tough foreign policy," marvels that he is derided as a RINO (Republican in Name Only). "I don't get it," he wrote. Former Republican National Committee (RNC) leader Michael Steele similarly lamented being labeled a RINO when he's been "in the party for over 50 years." While both have sterling conservative credentials, Heimlich and Steele failed the one true litmus test of today's GOP: loyalty to Trump.
On March 8, the MAGA takeover of the Republican Party became complete when Trump installed his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee alongside loyalist and fellow election denier Michael Whatley. The RNC also hired right-wing journalist, Trump lawyer, and big lie promoter Christina Bobb as, of all things, senior counsel for election integrity. Prospective hires are now asked whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen, an apparent requirement for employment.
Within the last several weeks, two of the more reasonable Republican members of Congress, Ken Buck (CO) and Mike Gallagher (WI), have thrown their hands up in frustration over the party's current state. Both have not only declined to run for reelection but opted to leave Congress before serving out their current terms. Buck voted to certify the 2020 election results and regularly called out election denialism. Gallagher had gone on record as saying GOP "attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Congress represent a 'dangerous idea' that would 'destroy the idea of American government.'" Meanwhile, fewer than half of House Republicans attended their retreat in mid-March, one memorably telling an Axios reporter that "I'd rather sit down with Hannibal Lecter and eat my own liver."
The Five Pillars
So, what does a Trump or a MAGA party stand for beyond unconditional loyalty to Trump? A dive into the former president's speeches, writing and commentary by other Trump loyalists, and "Project 2025," a detailed transition plan for the next Trump administration, provides ample documentation.
Let me be clear. I do not believe that all - or even most - Republicans embrace these tenets. But here, in my view, are the five pillars of today's Trump or MAGA Party:
Christian nationalism, often racially charged
Authoritarianism populism
Isolationism
Rejection of facts and reality
Grift
I tackle the first theme, Christian nationalism, below and will explore the others over the next several posts.
Pillar One: Christian Nationalism
The Chosen
In the words of a former adherent, Christian nationalists believe (mistakenly) "that the founders intended for Christianity to be our national religion; it was our responsibility as Christians to compel everyone to live by the truths of the Bible." In other words, for CNs, there should be no separation between the Christian church and state. There is often - although not always - racial element to these beliefs.
White Christian nationalists (WCNs) believe that Christian ideals are under threat "from non-whites, non-Christians, and immigrants." PRRI pollster and author Robert P. Jones has noted, "the more racist attitudes a person holds, the more likely he or she is to identify as a white Christian." Writes Michael Luo in the New Yorker, “history, theology, and culture all contribute to the racist attitudes embedded in the white church.”
Chrstian Nationalism is rooted in traditional patriarchal family structures and yearns, sociologist Andrew Whitehead writes, to return to "a mythic society where there are traditional hierarchical relationships — between black and white people, and men and women." Holding Christian nationalist beliefs is a strong predictor of embracing traditional gender norms. While 33% of Americans agree that "in a truly Christian family, the husband is the head of the household, and his wife submits to his leadership," nearly seven in ten Christian nationalism adherents agree with that statement.
Neither the majority of Americans—nor most Christians—are Christian nationalists but it is also not a fringe ideology. A recent PRRI / Brookings Survey found that fully 3 in 10 Americans are Christian nationalism adherents or sympathizers, and this rises to 4 in 10 in red states.
Christian nationalists are also more likely to support violence. Andra Watkins, raised in a white Christian nationalist Church, recalls being taught that she "might one day have to fight and maybe die to defend my faith. While only 16% of Americans agree with the statement, "Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country," 40% of Christian nationalists embrace this sentiment.
Christian nationalists' siege mentality and spiritual leaders who "exhort the faithful in sermons and song to 'take this nation back'—even by force, if required" provide not only a permission structure but a mandate for violent action. If you watch just one clip to understand the warrior mentality of WCNs, make it this one of Oklahoma State Senator Dusty Deevers rallying Christian men to battle for God.
Conquest and Power
Christian nationalism has been on the rise even as Church membership has plummeted from almost 70% in 2000 to under 50% today. Only 30% of Americans say they attend religious services every week. And yet researchers have found "even more extreme right-wing political manifestations in those who don't go to church than….among people who do." In the absence of a church community, politics becomes religion.
And this brings us to the role of Christian nationalism in government. "'Christian nationalism … is not a religious movement. It's a political movement. It's all about power.'" says John Fea, a professor of history at Messiah College, a Christian university in Pennsylvania." There are many Christian nationalists already in elected leadership —certainly in Congress. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) openly identify as Christian nationalists. It is primarily Republican electeds who fall into the WCN category: A PRRI survey found that 55% of Republicans in Congress hold Christian nationalist views, vs. 25% of independents and 16% of Democrats. WCNs are also a major influence in state legislatures from Wyoming to Texas to Arizona.
The views of Christian Nationalists in legislatures have a direct impact on policy outcomes. The National Association of Christian Lawmakers was founded in 2019 by (now former) Arkansas State Legislator and pastor Jason Rapert. "He describes the NACL as a place for lawmakers to debate, construct and distribute model legislation from a 'biblical worldview.'" Members of NACL - who pledge to oppose gay marriage and abortion - introduce bills on these issues in state legislatures, which then serve as templates for other states.
Christian nationalists are present in the judiciary, too. In the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision establishing that embryos are people - and throwing the IVF industry into chaos - a concurring opinion from the Chief Justice leaned to a stunning extent on Christianity: "We believe," he wrote, "that each human, being from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God, created by Him to reflect His likeness."
Praying for Trump
And then there is the central relationship between Christian nationalism and Trump. The vast majority—85%—of frequent church-going white evangelicals voted for Trump in 2020, along with 57% of both white Catholics and Protestant non-evangelicals. Over half of those who hold favorable views of Trump fall into the Christian nationalist camp, vs. 15% of those who support President Biden.
Trump has returned the favor. His 2017 inauguration speech drew heavily from religious imagery and the Bible. Trump appointed three conservative Supreme Court justices, who were instrumental in overturning Roe v. Wade. By the end of Trump’s term, the "relationship [between him and] evangelical Christians was one of the most powerful alliances in American politics."
While not personally devout (and described by some aides as derisive of religious conservatives), the former president has continued to promise special protection to Christians while on the 2024 campaign trail. At a rally in Iowa last December, Trump promised that "upon [once again] taking office, I will create a new federal task force on fighting anti-Christian bias to be led by a fully reformed Department of Justice that's fair and equitable" and that will "investigate all forms of illegal discrimination." This week Trump promised to make November 5 (Election Day), “Christian Visibility Day.” Many white evangelicals view Trump as a leader chosen by God and the campaign's God Made Trump ad underscores the point.
Several secretive groups are organizing and mobilizing Christian nationalists. The Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR) is a men's only Christian organization that seeks prominent or wealthy members who are politically aligned and willing to maintain a strict code of secrecy. SACR's application asks prospective members about their thoughts on Trump's presidency and Christian nationalism. Explicitly patriarchal, SACR expects members to assert authority over their wives. The ultimate goal? SACR documents reveal the aim of installing members in an "aligned future regime."
Another organization, the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), aims to install adherents in government to carry out God's mission on earth. Its tactics are "conquest and power." Several of its pastors are close to Trump. One, Paula White, prayed in the White House and led a service in Florida immediately after the election, calling for God to intervene and secure Trump's presidency and speaking in tongues at several points.
Much more public-facing than SACR or NAR, the Federalist Society is a spectacularly successful organization of conservative lawyers that claims 90,000 members and chapters on many 200 law school campuses and 90 cities. The Federalist Society’s mission is in no way explicitly religious. Rather, it seeks to reform “the current legal order [and]…place a premium on individual liberty, traditional values, and the rule of law and “provide a forum for legal experts of opposing views.”
However the Federalist Society was long led by the deeply devout Leonard Leo, a member of the Opus Dei, the Catholic organization whose members commit to bringing their religious beliefs into daily life and their work. Leo has reshaped the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, and raised hundreds of millions of dollars to achieve this vision. Now, in command of a $1.6 billion trust he has turned his attention to infusing Christian values into politics and culture. “The secularists are fine with Catholics in the public square so long as we don't… practice our faith,” he said in 2022 accepting an award from the Catholic Information Center while proposing a “new evangelization.”
Insurrection
It is in the January 6 insurrection that we see the true - and incendiary- power of the connection between Trump and Christian nationalism. Another NAR pastor, Dutch Sheets, played "a leading role in building religious support for the January 6 insurrection, in coordination with Trump's White House" and organizing "Jericho" protest marches. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a key January 6 strategist, is also active in NAR. Former Pennsylvania State Senator and Gubernatorial Candidate Doug Mastriano, a white evangelical who was a key organizer of the Stop the Steal efforts in his state, participated in Jericho marches in December 2020 and sent six buses of fellow Christians to Washington to participate in the January 6 rally.
But what's quite striking about the attack on the Capitol is the many rank-and-file Trump supporters who "held Bibles aloft, prayed in the Senate, carried Christian flags, and openly confessed to their motivations on video." One witness for the January 6 Committee testified that "Christian Nationalism [was] the driving force and also the unifying force of [the] disparate players on that day." Insurrectionists waived flags proclaiming "An Appeal to Heaven" (an NAR slogan) or "Proud American Christian." They prayed to Jesus in the Senate Chamber.
The Project
At the heart of the strategy for a possible second Trump presidency is Project 2025, and the Presidential Transition Project document called The Mandate for Leadership is a detailed policy document representing one of four Project 2025 "Pillars."
The Project 2025 effort is spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, once a bastion of traditional conservatism - supply-side economics and hawkish foreign policy - now led by Kevin Roberts, whose stated goal is to "institutionalize Trumpism." In the forward to The Mandate for Leadership, Roberts speaks to the conservative consensus around securing "our God-given individual rights" and restoring "the family as the centerpiece of American life," two key themes of the Christian Nationalist movement.
Several former Trump administration officials central to the effort of shaping policy for a possible second Trump presidency are Christian nationalists. Advisor to Project 2025, Russell Vought; former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn (who Trump said he would bring into his next administration); and former Defense and State Department Official William Wolfe (closely allied with Vought) have all used the term "Christian nationalism" freely and with a positive connotation. Tweeted Wolfe: "Christians should reject a Christ-less' conservatism and demand the political movement we are most closely associated with make a return to Christ-centered foundations. Because it's either Christ or chaos, even on the 'Right.'“
Vought leads the Center for Renewing America, an organization with a mission to "renew a consensus of America as a nation under God." Politico reported on internal documents revealing that Christian Nationalism was CRA's priority during a second Trump administration (CRA denied the report; Politico stuck to its story). Vought is also rumored to be on the shortlist for White House chief of staff.
Christian Nationalism, therefore, will be even more central to a second Trump Presidency. Top White House officials will use the principles of Christian nationalism to shape the personnel and policy of the administration. For example, the Department of Health and Human Services will "maintain a biblically based, social science–reinforced definition of marriage and family" and the Department of Defense must "instruct senior military officers…to make certain that they understand their primary duty [is] ensuring the readiness of the armed forces, not pursuing a social engineering agenda."
Thomas Edsall’s column yesterday in the New York Times entitled Trump’s Backers Are Determined Not to Blow It This Time Around highlights the full court press by the “100 members of Project 2025, [which] include ….much of the Christian right.” We’ve been warned.
Take Action
Learn more about white Christian Nationalism - many incredible sources listed below and a few books here:
One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America | Kevin Kruse | 2015. Reveals how an unholy alliance of money, religion, and politics created a false origin story that continues to define and divide American politics to this day.
Remember that most Americans reject white Christian Nationalism
Remind those in your networks about the link between Trumpism and WCN
Follow and support organizations and people who speak out against WCN
Amanda Tyler, Lead Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty and founder of Christians Against Christian Nationalism
The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks hate groups, including Christian groups
Endnotes and sources:
Trump Fully Devours the Republican Establishment | New York Times | 2.16.2024
Trump Jr. says ‘MAGA movement is the new Republican Party’ | New York Post | 3.11.2024
All of the other candidates in the crowded Republican primary were at minimum enthusiastic Trump supporters and most were election deniers. Heimlich sadly garnered only 5% of the vote, coming in 6th in the primary, but it’s so important to highlight and support pro-democracy Republican politicians like him. David Pepper - whose Substack, Pepperspectives, is a must-read for me - has a great post about Heimlich - calling his race “a unique pro-democracy opportunity in rural southern Ohio.” It’s also worth reading the letter by Democrat Joe Wessels who dropped out of the race and endorsed Heimlich.
Michael Steele calls McDaniel’s RNC departure speech ‘messed up as hell’ | The Hill | 3.9.2024
Whatley and Lara Trump replaced Ronna McDaniel, who had done her best to please Trump. In 2017, she dropped the “Romney” from her name, presumably because the President wanted to punish his political rival and frequent critic, Senator Mitt Romney, McDaniel’s uncle. She willingly funded Trump’s priorities and backed Trump’s repudiation of the 2020 election. But ultimately, McDaniel took the fall for lacklaster fundraising and poor results in the 2020 and 2022 elections. And she incurred the former President’s wrath by her refusal to cancel the primary process and unilaterally declare Trump the nominee. As a Politico piece last month noted: “The laws of gravity in modern Republican politics affect all, including RNC committee chairs. Trump sours on basically everyone.” McDaniels recent hiring by NBC drew howls of protest from the network’s journalists and others in the news media. Yesterday, NBC and McDaniel parted ways.
Letters from an American | March 13, 2024 | Heather Cox Richardson. Italics are mine
NC staffers and new hires asked whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen | CNN | 3.27.2024
Buck: Congress is a "dysfunctional place" and he's "happy to move on"| Axios | 3.24.2024
House GOP will face one-vote majority as another Republican plans exit | Axios | 3.22.2-24;
Rep. Ken Buck won’t run for reelection, criticizing GOP’s election denialism | The Hill | 11.3.2024
GOP Congressman: Reversing 2020 Election Results Would ‘Destroy The Idea Of American Government’ | Wisconsin Public Radio | 1.4.2021. Neither Buck nor Gallagher voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 insurrection and Gallagher in particular has been less than steadfast over the last couple of years as this piece by Liam Gallagher points out in The Pathetic "Good Republican" (highly recommend following this Substack) Future Senate candidate Mike Gallagher delays his box office debut | WelcomeStack | 2.26.2024
Fewer than 100 House Republicans expected to attend GOP retreat | Axios | 3.12.2024
Project 2025 is more than a playbook for Trumpism, it’s the Christian Nationalist manifesto | Salon | 3.1.2024; Christian nationalism can be traced back hundreds of years: The Roots of Christian Nationalism Go Back Further Than You Think | Time | 8.31.2023.
Understanding White Christian Nationalism | Yale Institue for Social and Policy Studies | 10.4.2022. From An ‘imposter Christianity’ is threatening American democracy | CNN | 7.24.2022 : “The notion that the US was founded as a Christian nation is bad history and bad theology, says Philip Gorski, a sociologist at Yale University and co-author of The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy. ‘It’s a half-truth, a mythological version of American history,” Gorski says.’”
Support for Christian Nationalism in All 50 States: Findings from PRRI’s 2023 American Values Atlas | PRRI | 2.28.2024. American Christianity’s White-Supremacy Problem | New Yorker | 9.2.202
Sociologist Andrew Whitehead: How Christian nationalism drives American politics | Salon | 2.29.2020
White Sexual Politics: The Patriarchal Family in White Nationalism and the Religious Right | The University of Chicago Press Journals | Volume 28, No 1 | 4.2020 and A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture | PRRI | 2.8.2023. It’s more than a little chilling that 1 in 3 Americans think that a wife should submit to their husband’s authority
Project 2025 is more than a playbook for Trumpism, it’s the Christian Nationalist manifesto | Salon | 3.1.2024
Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture | PRRI | 2.8.2023
Christian Nationalism and Political Violence: Victimhood, Racial Identity, Conspiracy, and Support for the Capitol Attacks | Polit Behav. 2022; 44(2): 937–960 | 1.4.2022 and God, Guns, and Guts”: Christian Nationalism from a Psychoanalytic Perspective | Religions 2023, 14(3), 292 | 2.21.2023
Church Attendance Has Declined in Most U.S. Religious Groups | Gallup | 3.25.2024
What Really Happens When Americans Stop Going to Church | The Atlantic | 4.3.2023
A group of far-right Christian lawmakers aims to merge church and state | Arizona Mirror | 11.11.2023
Tracing the rise of Christian nationalism, from Trump to the Ala. Supreme Court | NPR - Fresh Air | 2.29.2024 and Speaker Mike Johnson calls separation of church and state ‘a misnomer’ | The Guardian | 11.15.2023; ““I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, declared” in 2022” from Why a Group of Christians Is Fighting the Growing Threat of Christian Nationalism | Time | 12.30.2022
Support for Christian Nationalism in All 50 States: Findings from PRRI’s 2023 American Values Atlas | PRRI | 2.28.2024
Why Is Texas the Epicenter of Christian Nationalism? | Texas Monthly | 3.6.2024; What Christian Nationalism Has Done to My State and My Faith Is a Sin
New York Times | 5.21.2023; A group of far-right Christian lawmakers aims to merge church and state | Arizona Mirror | 11.11.2023
A group of far-right Christian lawmakers aims to merge church and state | Arizona Mirror | 11.11.2023
The Alabama Supreme Court’s Ruling on Frozen Embryos | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health |
Support for Christian Nationalism in All 50 States: Findings from PRRI’s 2023 American Values Atlas | PRRI | 2.28.2024
Most White Americans who regularly attend worship services voted for Trump in 2020 | Pew Research Center | 8.20.2021
Donald Trump’s inaugural speech may be his most religious yet | Washington Post | 1.20.2017
Tracing the rise of Christian nationalism, from Trump to the Ala. Supreme Court | NPR - Fresh Air | 2.29.2024
The Lord says it is done: White House spiritual adviser Paula White prays for 'angels from Africa' to cement Trump's re-election | The Independent | 11.5.2020
Meet the New Apostolic Reformation, cutting edge of the Christian right | Salon | 2.2.2024
Tracing the rise of Christian nationalism, from Trump to the Ala. Supreme Court | NPR - Fresh Air | 2.29.2024
We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court Supermajority | ProPublica | 10.11.2023. The Federalist Society’s own website features posts including ‘Christian Nationalism’ Isn’t Cultural Coercion, It’s A Moral Imperative and Christian Nationalism Book Relies On Falsehoods To Paint Religious Conservatives As Bogeymen
A Pennsylvania Lawmaker and the Resurgence of Christian Nationalism | The New Yorker | 5.9.2021. One bus passenger posted on social media about “storming the Capitol.” Another was later arrested.
Christian Nationalism and the Capital Insurrection: Written Testimony of Andrew L. Seidel of the Freedom From Religion Foundation on the role Christian Nationalism played in the lead up to and during the attack of January 6th | Delivered to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, U.S. House of Representatives | 3.18.2022
How Christian nationalism paved the way for Jan. 6 | National Catholic Reporter | 6.13.2022
The other pillars as noted on the Project 2025 website are a LinkedIn-like personnel database that can match conservatives interested in serving in Trump administration to opportunities; an online “Academy” to train prospective administration employees in the workings of the government; and detailed transition playbooks.
Inside the Heritage Foundation’s Plans for ‘Institutionalizing Trumpism’ | New York Times | 1.21.2024
Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise | Project 20205 | January 2024
Trump allies prepare to infuse ‘Christian nationalism’ in second administration | Politico | 2.20.2024
Trump says he’ll bring back Michael Flynn if he wins in 2024: ‘He’s some man’ | The Hill | 5.14.2023
Trump-aligned think tank, denying policy plans, gives voice to Christian nationalist views | Christian News Service | 2.21.2024
Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise | Project 20205 | January 2024