Christian Nationalism Is One of Trump's Most Powerful Weapons
The most serious attempt to overthrow the American constitutional system since the Civil War would not have been feasible without the influence of America’s Christian nationalist movement. One year later, the movement seems to have learned a lesson: If it tries harder next time, it may well succeed in making the promise of American democracy a relic of the past.
Christian nationalist symbolism was all over the events of Jan. 6, as observers have pointed out. But the movement’s contribution to the effort to overturn the 2020 election and install an unelected president goes much deeper than the activities of a few of its representatives on the day that marks the unsuccessful end (or at least a temporary setback) of an attempted coup.
A critical precondition for Donald Trump’s attempt to retain the presidency against the will of the people was the cultivation of a substantial population of voters prepared to believe his fraudulent claim that the election was stolen — a line of argument Mr. Trump began preparing well before the election, at the first presidential debate.
The role of social and right-wing media in priming the base for the claim that the election was fraudulent is by now well understood. The role of the faith-based messaging sphere is less well appreciated. Pastors, congregations and the religious media are among the most trusted sources of information for many voters. Christian nationalist leaders have established richly funded national organizations and initiatives to exploit this fact. The repeated message that they sought to deliver through these channels is that outside sources of information are simply not credible. The creation of an information bubble, impervious to correction, was the first prerequisite of Mr. Trump’s claim.
The coup attempt also would not have been possible without the unshakable sense of persecution that movement leaders have cultivated among the same base of voters. Christian nationalism today begins with the conviction that conservative Christians are the most oppressed group in American society. Among leaders of the movement, it is a matter of routine to hear talk that they are engaged in a “battle against tyranny,” and that the Bible may soon be outlawed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/opinion/jan-6-christian-nationalism.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqYhkSVUbBSbSRdkhrxqAwvrGxvliw3T-NimOVTdLyaETCpSB_EHEYat4Yp0zwzGfDpdnAYMYecZTnKVZLlA_DE6huIeFk5AIZC8-otvjBWlomsiXBr19rGK1ZyyzJe0jgePhtByLaTK7CPDa2WYzZ1ow-esTflGq2XULxKnEA7Q1joE4haF9c8g8ETQQZyCKvO3qCwF8P7iFahLf6AowXYJJSG2Z3I7cu_9bLlIkWR-RR2h_4G089NpfJNgVWa74JBYhc8f06q4DkT0jWS0KcJ2PNpqMu_-LGQ&smid=url-share
