TA new book on the movement behind President Donald Trump says there is a “real and very present” threat to the United States from a shadowy group of right-wing leaders whose aim is “the end of pluralistic democracy.” It warns that.
Katherine Stewart, a journalist specializing in the religious right, spent years investigating the funding and influence that has supported and encouraged tens of millions of Americans to worship the throne of Trump.
The result is “Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy,” in which Stewart explores the “anti-democratic movement.” This movement is an evil amalgam of Christian nationalists, billionaire oligarchs, and conservative ideologues who have seized control of the Republican Party in order to fundamentally change America.
“Money is a big part of this story, and huge concentrations of wealth mean that the political system is destabilized. Second, lies, or conscious disinformation, are a huge part of this movement. And third, God, because the most important ideological framework for most of this movement is Christian nationalism,” Stewart said.
In his book, Stewart details how Republicans have been held hostage by an anti-democracy movement that “started with Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency in 2015. They were gathering long before they stepped down the golden escalator to announce their candidacy.”
Stewart, whose previous two books, “The Good News Club” and “Power Worshippers,” focused on the influence of the Christian Right and religious nationalism in the United States, said that “Christian nationalist events” “Make America Great,” he spent years traveling to numerous right-wing conferences. I listened to the talks at the “Again” festival and the sober think tank and found many similarities. Eclectic groups may not seem to have much in common, but their purpose is the same. It is the end of American democracy as we know it. The method to achieve it is also the same.
“The overwhelming message we heard from speaker after speaker was, ‘We need to allow Trump to enact his own policies, and you need to support him.'” Stewart said.
Although the movement has an interesting collection of individuals and organizations, Stewart describes its members as Christian nationalists (who mistakenly believe that America was founded as a Christian nation and must be governed as a Christian nation). They are classified as ultra-wealthy. Trying to secure their own wealth at the expense of others.
“Much of the movement’s energy also comes from below, coming more or less precisely from the anger and resentment that characterizes the lives of those who perceive themselves to be behind.” Stewart is writing.
“The best label I can find for this phenomenon, and I don’t think it’s an entirely satisfactory label, is ‘reactionary nihilism.’ It is reactionary in the sense that it expresses itself as a determined opposition to what it perceives as catastrophic changes in the political order. It is nihilistic because its deepest assumption is that the real world is valueless, impenetrable to reason, and can only be governed by brutal acts of will. It represents the kind of unraveling of America’s political psyche, the madness that currently plagues one side of nearly every political debate. ”
Stewart told how American Christians rallied in response to a plan by Catholic bishops in 1986 that called on the faithful to support “economic justice for all.” The bishops’ sentiment was a “challenge to President Ronald Reagan’s trickle-down economic ideology,” Stewart writes, and it alarmed Christian capitalists.
Over the next few decades, ultra-wealthy Christian donors spent millions of dollars promoting a different vision of the gospel, a vision that Stewart describes as “the capitalist system of property, markets, and free enterprise. Promote,” he wrote.
Among the movement’s leaders are Domino’s Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan, banker Frank Hanna, and hedge fund manager Sean Fehrer, who tried to erect a 250-foot-tall cross in Michigan in 2002. , and there was Timothy Bush, who donated to Catholic universities. America announced in 2015 that it was “proud to contribute to CUA’s vision for educational programs that demonstrate how capitalism and society can change.” Catholics can work hand in hand. ” Together they and others have pledged fortunes to Republican candidates and causes and founded think tanks and organizations aimed at advancing pro-capitalist and anti-democratic causes, but Mr. Stewart According to , in some ways the Democratic Party has not yet been able to respond.
“I have always been impressed by how well-organized and strategic this movement is,” Stewart said, adding that the movement offers “young people and newcomers” “sustainable career paths and opportunities within the movement.” “Incentives for people to create and secure their futures in the future.” .
Stewart continued, “While there are pro-democracy think tanks and institutions, they tend to focus on policy and issues.Pro-democracy forces are similarly identifying and mentoring young talent. I can’t see it, but that’s not the case.” You can’t organize or collaborate the same way.
“They’re not working in tandem in the same way as the right, and they’re not thinking strategically about messaging and voter engagement and public support.”
Stewart documents some of the problematic ways in which organizations backed by these wealthy patrons have spent their energies, including how to encourage people to vote. She reports on Chad Connelly, founder of Faith Winds, which aims to turn pastors and church members into political activists.
“The Faith Winds website invites event participants to lead their church’s voter registration efforts with the help of the ‘Pastor Tool Kit,’ become poll watchers, participate in ‘Voter Integrity Engagement,’ and other activities. “We encourage you to support us,” Stewart wrote.
“Pastors will be given a QR code along with an online form that will give them access to a suite of tools and messaging materials, including voter guides, voter registration resources, and videos they can use to activate their congregations.”
A central issue for Connelly and Faith Winds is election integrity, which he has repeatedly explained in his television appearances. This is one of the central themes that unites the diverse groups in the anti-democratic movement. Stewart writes of the National Policy Network of libertarian think tanks and the Virginia Project, a combative get-out-the-vote Republican organization that aims to “eliminate the Democratic Party.” They may not share the Christian nationalist theology of “faith wins,” but they share the same focus.
“The point, of course, is to convey the terrifying but completely unfounded belief that a vast conspiracy is afoot to steal Republican votes,” Stewart wrote.
That may seem like a bleak picture and a bleak future for the United States. But Stewart insists the situation is not hopeless.
“You don’t have to crawl into bed and take it. They organized and strategized and came to power, and we need to organize and strategize and take it back,” she said.
Indeed, Stewart ends the book on an optimistic note, listing “six major findings reported in this book…that should be of interest to pro-democracy movements.”
“There’s no silver bullet. It takes time and effort. But I think if you have the will to do it, you can do it,” she said.
“There are currently no features in the American political system that would ensure that the MAGA movement would dominate indefinitely, and frankly, if we believe in democracy and its core principles, we are probably I am encouraged by the fact that I represent the majority and not the minority. I continue to believe in supporting a democratic political system over a political system.”
