Speaker 1: The Republican Party is now overtly a Christian nationalist party.
Now, the important word here is overtly because they've actually been a Christian nationalist
party for a long time.
Think back, you may recall during the lead up and during the invasion of Iraq in 2003,
then President George W Bush said that God came to him with tears in his eyes and said,
Sir, no, I did that part.
God came to him and said, You should do this.
You should invade.
Many times we hear policy supported or opposed by Republicans on the basis of what is in
the particular sacred text that their particular religion follows.
All of these are elements of how these Republicans would like to see the country run, and the
way they would like to see the country run is with a sort of mix of government and Christianity.
Now, it's not just government and religion generally.
It's not government and Islam, it's not government and Judaism, although they will kowtow to
that by saying our Judeo-Christian values.
Although remember that Jews are the most behind black folks liberal voting group in the United
States, sometimes as liberal as black folk.
So the idea of Judeo-Christian values is actually a cover.
It's a red herring, and they've been doing it for decades.
So the word overtly is the important word, because now they are brazen enough to just
say it.
And we've talked before about what do we mean by Christian nationalism?
Christian nationalism is the belief that the United States as a country is defined by Christianity,
that the government should actively keep the country Christian and keep Christianity at
the center of government.
Many Christian nationalists will actually say that it would no longer be America if
it were no longer a Christian nation, and that Christianity should have a privileged
position in the public square.
And it does, by the way, I mean, at a very superficial level.
One, religion gets federal holidays, and that's Christianity that that's the one out of hundreds
or thousands of religions.
That's the one.
And thus it does have a privileged place in American society already.
They used to have to be a little bit more subtle in their Christian nationalism, but
no more.
Here are some examples from just the last few weeks.
Here's Donald Trump over the weekend in Tampa, Florida, at the Turning Point USA event, talking
about Americans kneel to God.
We are Americans and we need to God.
Well, not everybody does, actually.
And some kneel to different gods or no God at all.
Speaker 2: We will not break, we will not yield.
We will never give in, we will never give up.
We will never, ever, ever back down.
As long as we are confident and united the tyrants we are fighting, do not stand a chance
because we are Americans.
And Americans kneel to God and God alone.
Speaker 1: We also looked at Marjorie Taylor.
GREENE Radical Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor GREENE saying, I'm a Christian nationalist.
That's not bad.
It's actually a good thing.
Now, if.
Speaker 3: The Republican Party becomes a party that actually does the safe dance, the
things we say we're about, then we are going to be a party for nationalism.
Isn't that right?
Speaker 1: Wow.
I mean, she's not wrong, right?
Like, it's true.
They talk about the importance of Christianity in civil government and she's saying we shouldn't
just talk about it, we should act on it.
And she's accurately assessing that if they acted on the things they said.
We're talking about a Christian nationalist country.
But then I think there's another element.
Speaker 3: We need to have and I'm a Christian.
How many Christians do we have here?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So you see, I also call myself a Christian nationalist.
Unidentified: And that's not a bad word.
That's actually a good thing, right?
And there's nothing wrong with.
Speaker 3: Leading with your in with your faith, because we should lead with our faith,
because if we're doing that, then we're doing the right thing.
It doesn't mean we're perfect.
It just means we're doing the right thing.
Speaker 1: Okay.
And then also Lauren Boebert.
I mean, it's all a very, very similar line.
Lauren Boebert at some backyard farmyard farm speech or, you know, who who knows where.
This was saying that it is actually important for churches to teach how to influence and
direct government.
And I believe.
Speaker 3: That great patriots all throughout this nation and Christians will begin to position
themselves in these days and these times.
Unidentified: That pastors would have a pulpit to speak from the pulpit of their.
Speaker 3: Churches to direct and inform the church on how to influence the direction of
government.
Speaker 1: And then, even more overtly, she's tired of this separation of church and state
junk.
And I know some of you have seen this clip a couple of times now, but it's important
to include it here because it is so overt.
Speaker 3: The reason we had so many over reaching regulations in our nation is because
the church complied.
The church is supposed to direct the government.
The government is not supposed to direct the church.
That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it.
And I'm tired of the separation of church and state junk that's not in the Constitution.
It was in a stinking letter.
And it means nothing like what they say it does.
Speaker 1: Now.
It actually is right there, and it is one of the top line elements of the structure
of the United States.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof.
It's right there and they love to play these games with.
Well, it's not really what the founders meant.
And they were all religious and they were Christian and so on and so forth.
This is one of the most dangerous movements currently going, and unfortunately it has
more oxygen than it has in a very long time.
They openly now are touting this ideology Christian revolt, revival, Christian nationalism,
using their religiosity to justify homophobia, to justify transphobia, to justify sometimes
racism, to justify demeaning or putting in positions, subservient positions, other religions,
which is certainly not what the Founding Fathers meant.
So this is another layer you've got.
To go back a little bit.
We have like the neocon spread democracy layer of right wing ism that's less present right
now, but it could come back at any time that was more under like the Bush administration.
You have the sort of wacky, reactionary Trumpist layer to this right wing movement, which is
still present and may come back full force depending on what happens in 2022 and in 2024.
But then you have the Christian nationalist element, which is just as dangerous, and it
is so fundamentally at odds with what the United States is supposed to be.
So what do we do?
Well, we've got to vote.
I mean, it's I know it's at this point, it feels almost like not enough.
And also, like, really, that's also the solution there.
Yeah.
I mean, if these people are in power, they can't do it.
It's that simple.
And of course, they're trying to use between gerrymandering and election manipulation,
I guess, is what we're calling it now.
They are trying to take control even when they don't win.
So just another reason why the 2022 midterms are arguably the most important that I can
remember