In an address to Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump once again cast himself as a divine savior of the American people.“I was saved by God to make America great again,” he claimed as he recounted the failed assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
During his 100-minute speech, Trump made direct appeals to the Christian right, a major segment of his base: “This will be our greatest era. With God's help over the next four years, we are going to lead this nation even higher.”
He framed a series of policy proposals — many attacking civil rights for minorities and trans people — as part of God’s plan for the nation. He called on Congress “to pass a bill permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children,” proclaiming “our message to every child in America is that you are perfect, exactly the way God made you.”
In some ways, Trump is the kind of political leader the Christian right has been seeking for decades. He has fully championed the movement’s long-held policy priorities: overturning Roe v. Wade, pushing prayer in schools, and curbing LGBTQ+ rights. Now he is taking their movement even further, embedding right-wing Christian ideology into every facet of federal policy.
It’s a “broad coalition across Christian denominations,” says journalist Talia Lavin, “whose goal is an extremely socially restrictive agenda.” Lavin, author of "Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America," argues that today’s Christian right is more receptive to authoritarianism than previous generations. “They've reached a kind of acme or apotheosis of their power and influence, where that sort of attitude towards democracy has attained real relevance in the way we're governed.”
On this week’s episode of The Intercept Briefing, Lavin and Intercept reporter Jessica Washington examine the Christian right’s growing influence, its long-term strategy, and what, if anything, can be done to curb their vision for the country.
Washington warns that many liberals dismiss Trump’s alliance to the Christian right as fringe, missing its deep political impact. “While it's this convenient political organizing tool, it is also a deeply held belief,” she says — one that rejects the idea that Black people and queer people have a rightful place in American leadership. Trump, she adds, validates the belief that only white Christian males are the true inheritors of the nation’s legacy. “Trump is both a product of and an accelerant of this movement.”
Countering the rapid lurch toward Christian nationalism, Washington argues, requires solidarity. “We all have to band together and fight this together. And not allowing ourselves to be siloed into different issues. And recognizing that this is an attack on everyone who doesn't fit this very specific mold.”
Lavin calls for active resistance — a “joyous cacophony” — to the Christian right’s war on diversity, on the poor, and democracy: “We're gonna be gender rebels. We're not going to accept the gutting of social services. We're not going to accept a king.” Rather than doomscrolling, she encourages people to do “something, anything — feeding someone, attending a protest — whatever it is. All of that is how we win.”
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The Intercept Briefing 