Trump's American Christian Nation Party (ACNP)???"
"Either this nation will kill racism, or racism will kill this nation." (S. Jonas, Aug., 2018)
Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Liberty University. Could it be that this is where it all began? Oh yes, that's Falwell Jr. Perfect bed-fellows, don't you think?
(Image by Wikipedia (commons.wikimedia.org), Author: Shealah Craighead (1976–) ) Details Source DMCA
Here are excerpts from the lead on AlterNet, on July 12, 2021, entitled "Trump's Jesus fascists worry experts following reports on Christian GOP churches."
"Experts, journalists, and chroniclers of religious extremism are sounding alarm bells over a Washington Post expose' on 'a growing Christian movement that is nondenominational, openly political and has become an engine of former president Donald Trump's Republican Party.' As The Post explains:"
" 'It is a world in which demons are real, miracles are real, and the ultimate mission is not just transforming individual lives but also turning civilization itself into their version of God's Kingdom: one with two genders, no abortion, a free-market economy, Bible-based education, church-based social programs and laws such as the ones curtailing LGBTQ rights now moving through statehouses around the country.' "
"This is not just the world they want to create for themselves, as damaging and dangerous as that might be. This is a world they want to mandate for America. In short, one could say, an American theocracy. Or worse, something that looks a bit like a scene from Margaret Atwood's dystopian work, The Handmaid's Tale. . .."
"This is the world of Trump's spiritual adviser Paula White," The Post explains, "and many more lesser-known but influential religious leaders who prophesied that Trump would win the election and helped organize nationwide prayer rallies in the days before the Jan. 6 insurrection, speaking of an imminent 'heavenly strike' and 'a Christian populist uprising,' leading many who stormed the Capitol to believe they were taking back the country for God. . . ."
"The Post says this new Christian movement 'includes some of the largest congregations in the nation . . . Its most successful leaders are considered apostles and prophets, including some with followings in the hundreds of thousands, publishing empires, TV shows, vast prayer networks, podcasts, spiritual academies, and branding in the form of T-shirts, bumper stickers and even flags."
"And they have ordained Trump as 'God's chosen leader.' "
One might say that something like an "American Christian Nation Party" is in formation.
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In 1994-95, I wrote, and in 1996 under the pseudonym Jonathan Westminster I self-published (under the imprint Thomas Jefferson Press,) a book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022. (The fictional author's name was a play on the name "Jack London." For in 1908 he published a book called "The Iron Heel," which predicted the rise of a fascist state, 11 years before the first one appeared in Hungary in 1919.) The book was purportedly published in 2048, on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion the Second Civil War and the restoration of Constitutional Democracy in the United States. In 2013, the third version of the book (not a third edition, for very little re-writing/additional writing was done), under the title The 15% Solution: How the Republican Religious Right Took Control of the U.S. 1981-2022," was published by Trepper and Katz Impact Books: A Division of Punto Press, New York. This version is available on Amazon.
As the book projects (from the perspective of 1994-96), as the United States moves further and further to the Right in the period 1996-2001, led by a Republican Party that itself is moving further and further to the Right and further and further under the control of the Christian Right, and a Democratic Party run by the (real) Democratic Leadership Council that offers little effective resistance to that development, one Jefferson Davis Hague moves into the leadership of the Republicans. (His family name reflects not the capital of The Netherlands, but his indirect descent by from the old right-wing Democratic Boss of Jersey City, N.J., Frank Hague.)
The Republican Party is significantly aided in its takeover of national and state politics by a voter suppression strategy called "The 15% Solution," originally developed in 1989 by an organization called "The Christian collation." [Yes, folks, it was real, and is described in detail, with references, in the book.] By 2001 it had been applied over the whole of the nation and thus there was little resistance (at the ballot box) to the takeover at the national and state levels by what had become the "Republican-Christian Alliance." Hague was elected to his first term as President in 2004, and then, under the renamed "American Christian Nation Party," to a second term in 2008. Following the election of 2001, Inauguration Day was moved to December 25, and the event was held in the National Cathedral (which had been taken over from the Episcopalian Church by the Republican-Christian Alliance in that year). And so, on December 25, 2008, President Jefferson Davis Hague of the American Christian Nation Party gave his Second Inaugural Address.
In this address, Hague laid out, in great detail, the religious and religio-political basis of the ideology and programs of the American Christian Nation Party. Now we have no idea of whether Trump will actually move in the direction indicated in the reporting from The Post and AlterNet, summarized in The Post headline: "An American Kingdom: A new and rapidly growing Christian movement is openly political, wants a nation under God's authority, and is central to Donald Trump's GOP." To the extent that Trump actually believes in anything other than himself and dictatorship-to-come it might simply not be possible for him to get himself organized enough to engage in an actual religio-fascist takeover of the government. But with the right (and Right) kind of people around him, with a strong attachment to and alliance with the Christian Right, he just might be able to pull it off. And then, if he could actually be made to stick to the teleprompter, he might just deliver a speech like the one below, that Hague gave for his 2nd Inaugural (as, of course, projected from 1996). For it shows clearly what the politico-religious basis of the ideology and programs of an American Christian Nation Party, which, if the Post reporting is correct, some version may well be in formation, would look like.
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From The 15% Solution: How the Republican Religious Right Took Control of the U.S., 1981-2022, Section 2: The History, Chapter 10 - 2008: The Second Inaugural Address of President Jefferson Davis Hague (with footnotes and references from the [real] book).
My fellow Americans under God. I stand here before you on the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, anticipating in all humility the opportunity you have so graciously given me to continue to do His bidding as your President. And I can tell you that His bidding now is to continue to fight the good fight, for the Lord, and for you the American people under God.
In fighting this fight, to the best of my ability, blessed by both our Lord Jesus Christ and you, the American people under God, I am both pleased and privileged to be able to announce today the first step we of the Second Hague Administration have taken to do just that. We have converted our nation's leading political party, the Republican-Christian Alliance, the party of God-fearing people that has put you in complete control of the government here in Washington, into a brand" new entity.
This is an historic decision, comparable to the one that established the original Republican Party back in the mid-19th century. For all of us, Christian and pagan American alike, it will usher in a glorious new era of peace and harmony under the blessings of our Lord and his only son whose birthday we celebrate today, Jesus Christ.
Reflecting the spirit of our times, and the best of all American traditions, we have named our new party the American Christian Nation Party. For yes, in truth, declaring and carrying out Christian policies is the only way that we will be able to continue to fight the good fight to rescue our beloved country from the forces of sin, Godlessness, and liberalism that continue to drag her down.
For inspiration, in this never-ending struggle I have turned often to the great Keith Fournier, who sat at the right hand of our beloved Rev. Pat Robertson, as the Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice. As he said (1994):
"The challenge I have as a Christian is to bring people to Jesus Christ, to a personal decision to accept Him as Savior and Lord, to bring them to personal repentance and conversion. But for me that is only the beginning. That salvation must be sustained, nourished, and deepened. It must also lead to personal transformation and holiness through implantation into Christ's Body, the church. The church is not an option, an extra we can accept or reject. It is the ark, the ship of God, and her mission is to help rescue and restore the drowning. This has always been her primary mission. The church exists to evangelize and disciple toward personal and corporate transformation, a mission entrusted to her by her Head, Master and Lord, the evangel Himself, Jesus Christ." [3]
To our friends who are not Christians we say first, join us, for the Christian Way is the Godly Way. But for those Americans who choose to continue to exercise their right as an American to freely practice the religion of their choosing, a right we fiercely defend, we say ally with us, to carry out the work of the Lord. And let me make it very clear that no one has anything to fear from our new party or the new policies we will be carrying out, as long as he is a loyal American, devoted to God.
But let me also make it very clear that woe be to him who is Godless, or worships a false God, or does not accept the Holy Bible as the inerrant word of our Lord God and his only son Jesus Christ. For upon him will fall the wrath of God and our wrath too. Let that be known [4]. For as the great R.J. Rushdooney has said (Sloan):
"Every social order institutes its own program of separation or segregation. A particular faith and morality is given privileged status and all else is separated for progressive elimination. . . . Every faith is an exclusive way of life; none is more dangerous than that which maintains the illusion of tolerance."
Let me now turn to sharing with you the genesis of our brand new American Christian Nation Party. It sprang from the God-inspired minds of the forefathers of our movement [5]. And it is the thinking of some of them, both great and small, that I would like to share with you now.
To set the stage as it were, I will first turn to the writings of Thomas P. Monaghan, a Senior Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (1994):
"In human existence there is only one moral order. This is an order that, through the grace of God, has been revealed to all human beings. The Lord gives us reason and faith so that at all times and in all places we are called to the good, which is ultimately God Himself. We all, Christians, pagans, and others have this law engraved on our hearts, . . . The choice before us today is what it has always been: Christ or Caesar. Caesar can never give the human heart that for which it hungers. Christ can."
And how in our country, with our valued Constitution, do we reconcile Caesar and Christ? The Rev. Pat [Robertson] himself told us (ACLU, 1992):
"The Constitution of the United States is a marvelous document for self-government by Christian people [emphasis added]. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christian people and atheist people, they can use it to destroy the very foundation of our society."
And the Rev. Pat told us how Christian governmental control is to be achieved and maintained (Freedom Writer, 2/95):
"Christians founded this nation, they built this nation, and for three hundred years they governed this nation. We can govern again. That's why I founded the Christian Coalition. . . . The mission of the Christian Coalition is simple: to mobilize Christians one precinct at a time, until once again we are the head and not the tail, and at the top rather than the bottom of our political system." [6]
And finally, the Rev. Pat, in 1993 speaking at his Regent University law school, predicted that what we have now achieved would indeed be achieved by us (Clarkson): "One day, if we read the Bible correctly, we will rule and reign along with our sovereign, Jesus Christ."
But let me refer to other of our forefathers besides the good Reverend Pat. Being just plain forthright about it, the 1990s Republican Governor Kirk Fordice of Mississippi put it thusly (Berke, 1992): "The United States of America is a Christian nation. . . the less we emphasize the Christian religion the further we fall into the abyss of poor character and chaos. . . "
And our revered Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue, the prototype of those many organizations which now militantly protect and defend God's Way, said back in August, 1993 (Foxman): "Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."
And he said further (Porteous):
"You better believe that I want to build a Christian nation, because the only option is a pagan nation. . . . A Christian nation would be defined as 'We acknowledge God in our body politic, in our communities, that the God of the Bible is our God, and we acknowledge that His law is supreme.'" [Note here the reference to Dominionism, the religious ideology that holds that "God" stands above the Constitution, subscribed to by such Republican luminaries as Mike Pence and Mike Huckabee. Of course, it all depends upon who is saying what "God" is thinking.]
The great Rev. Jerry Falwell, writing in 1993 under the headline "America is a Christian Nation!":
"Our pledge of allegiance declares we are 'one nation under God.' Our currency states 'In God We Trust'. The Declaration of Independence says we have a God-given right to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'. [7]
"Yet today, we find our religious heritage under attack. Ungodly forces in society seem intent on removing God from every area of public life . . . . But despite what the Supreme Court and radical liberal activists may say, AMERICA IS A CHRISTIAN NATION!"
Mr. Robert Flood of that God-serving organization "Focus on the Family" said in 1992 (Freedom Watch): "The Constitution was designed to perpetuate a Christian order."
Mrs. Cheryl Gillaspie, a right-thinking Councilwoman from that font of Right-Thinking, Colorado Springs, CO [8], said in a November, 1994 speech to the local chapter of the Christian Coalition (Freedom Watch): "There is no validity to the doctrine of separation of Church and State . . . America was established as a Christian nation by believing Christians."
Mr. Robert Simonds, president of Citizens for Excellence in Education tells us (Freedom Watch):
"Government and true Christianity are inseparable! There can be no morality (right or wrong) without the Bible-man's only reliable book on right and wrong. Christians can properly apply Bible principles to government, because they are the ones who read the Bible."
And finally, my friends, in an early version of Focus on the Family's Community Impact Curriculum, we are told (Freedom Watch): "[T]his was really a Christian nation and, as far as its founders were concerned, to try separating Christianity from government is virtually impossible and would result in unthinkable damage to the nation and its people."
It is this thinking and these thinkers and their successors that have provided the foundation of our new Party. But I want to tell you that our Party has not been formed with Christian leadership alone. The ACNP provides nothing if it does not provide a "Big Tent" [9] to accommodate many differing views on how we can best move our nation forward.
Thus, I am pleased to announce that we have been joined by and welcome as integral parts of our new Party, among others The Order, the Ku Klux Klan, the Leadership Coalitions for America, the Skinheads Factions, the Militias, Jews for Christ and Tradition, the Aryan Nations, the Men of Liberty, the Posse Comitatus, the Armed Survivalists, and Christian Identity.
The Republican-Christian Alliance has been strong, and it has brought us a long way. But we have yet a long way to go, and it is the American Christian Nation Party that will get us there. In closing, my friends and fellow Christian Americans, let us join together in pledging allegiance to our new Christian flag [10]:
"I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior, for whose Kingdom it stands, one Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again [11], with life and liberty for all who believe."
Thank you, my friends, God bless the God-fearing, and good night.
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Author's Notes:
3. At the time Fournier wrote this passage, the "church" he was referring to was the Catholic Church, a fact omitted from the quoted passage. But by the time Hague was quoting the text, the dominant Christian Church in the old U.S., supported by most members of the old Religious Right, Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish, was that of the homogeneous, but definitely Far Right, New American Religion.
5. Hague was referring here not to the traditional "forefathers" from the time of the founding of the nation, but rather to prominent Transition Era figures representing Right-Wing Reaction, especially of the religious variety.
6. Some extensive sleuthing found Robertson originally making this statement on a 1990 Christian Coalition recruiting video called "America at the Crossroads." The nascent campaign Robertson was describing lead directly to the development of "The 15% Solution." The creation of the ACNP can be seen as the eventual, logical, outcome of the whole process.
7. Neither the Pledge nor the currency said precisely which or whose God was being referred to. The Declaration mentions God but once, in the context of Nature, but emphasizes "our Creator," a rather different concept, popular with the Deists who wrote and signed the document. But that didn't stop Falwell from making a leap of faith from "Creator" to "God" to a "Christian God" to a "Christian God with the characteristics I, Jerry Falwell, attribute to Him." And it was a "him," you can be sure.
8. Colorado Springs was a central focus of Right-Wing Reactionary activity in the old U.S. For example, it was the home of the organization that in 1992 put together the famous homophobic "Amendment 2" that became the prototype for much of the homophobic legislation that spread nationally over the following two decades (see the next chapter.) Colorado Springs was also home to the courageous early Constitutionalist organization, the "Citizens' Project."
10. The "Christian flag" at this time was the old U.S. flag with a Christian cross emblazoned on the field of red and white stripes. At a January, 1994 training conference for Religious Right activists called "Reclaiming America," looking at such a flag, a former Vice-President of the old U.S., J. Danforth Quayle, lead the crowd in reciting the Pledge with which Hague concluded his speech (Blumenthal).
12. "Off the shelf" is a term the arch Right-Wing Reactionary William Casey, President Ronald Reagan's first Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, used to describe an extra-legal right-wing foreign insurgency instigation and support group he had put together during his tenure at the CIA.
13. The swastika or Hakenkreuz ("crooked cross" in German) was the symbol of the German Nazi Party between 1933 and 1945.
14. The Hagueites commonly referred to that tiny, but very visible, vocal, and influential minority of the American Jewish community that supported Right-Wing Reaction as "Real Jews." Their leading organization by this time, "Jews for Christ and Tradition," was officially welcomed into the ACNP coalition by Hague in his speech. The traditionally Constitutionalist Jewish community, representing a majority of American Jews, was referred to as "the Renegade Jews."
15. The phrase "a wink and a nod" came from the practice President Reagan had used to give his approval for "unofficial" governmental activities of questionable legality without committing anything to paper, and oftentimes not saying anything directly at all to those on the operational level, even privately.
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References (not numbered):
ACLU: American Civil Liberties Union fundraising letter, quoting Rev. Pat Robertson, 1992.
Berke, R.L., "Religion Issue Stirs Noise in G.O.P. Governors' 'Tent," The New York Times, Nov. 18, 1992.
Berke, R.L., "Dole Works on Expansion Of a Conservative Resume," New York Times, April 12, 1995.
Blumenthal, S., "Christian Soldiers," The New Yorker, July 18, 1994, p. 31.
Bradsher, K., "Gap in Wealth In U.S. Called Widest in West," New York Times, April 17, 1995.
Butterfield, F., "New Prisons Cast Shadow Over Higher Education," New York Times, April 17, 1995.
Clarkson, F., "Neither a Juggernaut Nor a Joke," Freedom Writer, October/November, 1993.
Egan, T., "Many Seek Security in Private Communities," New York Times, Sept. 3, 1995, p. 1.
Falwell, J., "America is a Christian Nation!," Drawing Closer, Vol. 1, No. 7, 1993.
Foxman, A.H., Fund-raising letter, New York: Anti-Defamation League, Jan., 1994.
Freedom Watch, "Exploring the Myth and Reality of 'Christian America'," Vol. 4, No. 3, March, 1995.
Freedom Writer, "Reed Masks Coalition's True Agenda," Feb. 1995, p. 3.
HRC, House Republican Conference, Contract With America, Washington, DC: September 27, 1994 Fournier, K.A., A House United?, Colorado Springs, CO: Navpress, 1994, p. 33.
Fournier, K.A., A House United?, Colorado Springs, CO: Navpress, 1994, p. 33.
Judis, J.B., "The Jobless recovery," The New Republic, March 15, 1995, p. 20.
Kramer, M., "Will the Real Bob Dole Please Stand Up?" Time, November 30, 1995, p. 59.
Monaghan, T.P., "Nosophobia," Law and Justice (American Center for Law and Justice) Vol. 3, No. 1, 1994.
Niebuhr, G., "Gramm, on Stump, Invokes the Second Coming of Christ," New York Times, September 20, 1995.
Porteous, S., "OR founder calls for a 'Christian nation,' " Freedom Writer, Sept., 1995, p. 1.
Rich, F., "Bait and Switch, II," New York Times, April 6, 1995.
Sloan, J., "A hidden agenda?" Freedom Writer, April, 1995, p. 1.
Thurow, L. C., "Companies Merge; Families Break Up," New York Times, September 3, 1995.
Time, "Chronicles: An Olive Branch," April 17, 1995, p. 16.
Toward Tradition, "Should Jews Fear the 'Christian Right'?" (An advertisement), New York Times, August 2, 1994.
Wright, R., "Who's Really to Blame?" Time, November 6, 1995, p. 33.