There is no longer any way to mask what MAGA is all about: Christian Nationalism, White Supremacy and the “othering” of anyone who isn’t a White “Christian” male. The persistent attacks on the Constitution are efforts to overcome legal impediments to the goal of returning White “Christian” men to social dominance.
The evidence is everywhere.
The new Secretary of Defense, the unreconstructed (and thoroughly unqualified) Pete Hegseth, has ordered the military to suspend all observances and/or recognition of the following holidays: Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Black History Month, Juneteenth, Women’s Equality Day, National Hispanic Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Asian American Pacific Islander Awareness Month, and American Indian Heritage Month.
He has also indicated his desire to revert military installations to their former Confederate names.
Incoming MAGA officials have wasted no time before eliminating all DEI–diversity, equity and inclusion–programs. Trump’s fire hose of Executive Orders has been matched in red states like Indiana, where incoming Governor Braun undoubtedly delighted his Christian Nationalist running mate Micah Beckwith by ridding Indiana government of any DEI efforts to combat years of discriminatory practices.
Some DEI efforts have arguably gone too far toward what we used to call “political correctness,” and research has suggested that they have been relatively unsuccessful in erasing bias. But it is impossible to ignore the message intentionally sent by their wholesale erasure.
My Christian friends (including several in the clergy) tell me that “Christian Nationalism” is many things, but Christian isn’t one of them. Wikipedia agrees.
Christian nationalism has been linked to prejudice towards minority groups. Christian nationalism has been loosely defined as a belief that “celebrate[s] and privilege[s] the sacred history, liberty, and rightful rule of white conservatives”. Christian nationalism prioritizes an ethno-cultural, ethno-religious, and ethno-nationalist framing around fear of “the other”, those being immigrants, racial, and sexual minorities. Studies have associated Christian nationalism with xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, political tolerance of racists, opposition to interracial unions, support for gun rights, pronatalism, and restricting the civil rights of those who fail to conform to traditional ideals of whiteness, citizenship, and Protestantism. The Christian nationalist belief system includes elements of patriarchy, white supremacy, nativism, and heteronormativity. It has been associated with a “conquest narrative”, premillennial apocalypticism, and of frequent “rhetoric of blood, specifically, of blood sacrifice to an angry God”.
MAGA evidences all of those elements.
Trump’s intemperate rage against immigration has always been directed against Black and Brown immigrants–those from “shithole” countries. Despite his rhetoric about expelling “criminal” immigrants, the recent ICE raids have swept up undocumented people who had never committed any crime and people who are U.S. citizens.
MAGA’s war on women is in high gear. Christian Nationalists are determined to strip us of autonomy over our own bodies, and return us to a status subservient to–and ultimately dependent upon– males Having achieved their goal of overturning Roe v. Wade, they are now coming for birth control. In several states, Republican lawmakers are pushing to restrict access to birth control methods they claim are “really” abortifacients.
The escalating attacks on trans youth are part and parcel of MAGA homophobia. Given the broader culture’s about-face on LGBTQ rights generally, MAGA bigots have thus far focused on the tiny group of trans individuals who are less well understood.
And who can forget the rioters in Charlottesville– described as “fine people” by Donald Trump–who chanted “Jews will not replace us”? Or efforts to keep all Muslims out of the country?
Any and all efforts to move the American public beyond bigotry are met with claims that efforts to eradicate discrimination against any minority group really amounts to discrimination against White Christian men, and a retreat from “meritocracy.” Trump even blamed “DEI hires” for the recent plane crash–presumably, because “DEI hires” would be less competent than the pathetic assortment of unqualified clowns he has nominated.
Hegseth is an excellent example.
Lloyd Austin, Biden’s Secretary of Defense– a Black man– had a distinguished 41-year career in the U.S. Army, retiring as a four-star general. He held key positions, including Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, Commander of United States Forces – Iraq, and Commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM). He was awarded the Silver Star for valor. Following his retirement from the military in 2016, he served on the boards of several companies, including Raytheon Technologies, Nucor, and Tenet Healthcare.
Hegseth did serve briefly in the Army. He subsequently was fired from two nonprofit organizations for mismanagement, and became a Fox News host. Aside from those “accomplishments,” he faced credible accusations about extreme drunkenness and wife-beating. He also reportedly sports White Supremacist tattoos.
But hey! He’s a White “Christian” male, so obviously superior to the Black guy.
Welcome to MAGA world.
My employment with the Republican City of Indianapolis Government began in 1972 under Mayor Richard Lugar where anti-DEI was rampant. Political Patronage provided unqualified employment at all levels; my mother being a former Vice Precinct Committeewoman didn’t hurt my application and interview with my own Precinct Committeeman Mr. Otto before being hired. But my aim to actually work in any position available kept me in City Government through Mayor Bill Hudnut’s active DEI hiring system, including a few Democrats, till Goldsmith drove me out by destroying my health after 2 years, 3 months and 11 days.
I was an Independent voter till 2000; living in Florida and unfamiliar with their political and racial system was an education during my 7 years in the sun. The pseudo vote recount by George W’s little brother Governor Jeb Bush turned me totally against what I should have seen happening in Indianapolis; I simply should have dug deeper into ruling Republicans at State level as well as those known at City level. A fault that local and state voters here are guilty of and will eventually pay for in areas they do not expect to suffer the consequences of staunch Republicanism.
“…“Christian Nationalism” is many things, but Christian isn’t one of them. Wikipedia agrees.” I am a Wikipedia supporter with donations; I will avoid all AI posts from the wealthy MAGA party…not that my views mean much to anyone but me.
Yes Jo Ann, at the state level we need more balanced governance.
We learned a Christian hymn in church that starts with the words, “Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war.” As a child, I wondered about the meaning of those words.
Now I know. Religion is a concept that teaches that “me” is the center of the universe, not we.” Christians know the human-like superbeing royalty that owns the universe, and what they believe is who they are, not what they know.
Consider the trappings of the head of the church on earth for Catholic Christians.
Maga devalues knowledge in favor of mythology and, apparently here and now, the “Pope” of the Christian Nationalist church on earth in the formerly united states is MTV (Musk, Trump, Vance), and the Bible is Project 2025,
The American Revolution was about the people taking back their country from the British Royalty, which has always bothered those who consider themselves entitled to rule. Now, they are marching to war to take their universe on earth back from us, and MTV started its reverse revolution by repurposing the Supreme Court to be his college of cardinals.
When Project 2025 came out trump and republicans raced to deny any involvement and declared they knew little or nothing about it. Once Lord Orangewart “won” the election he began the work on implementing the Project and appointed or nominated various un=Christlike whack-a-doodle “Nat C’ s to various offices in his “administration”. I expect he, and others. will also ignore or deny Nat C influences until all his nominations are in place and its too late to do anything short of an actual insurrection to save the Constitution and rule of law.
Jeff,
Start planning for your role in the next insurrection, the one that is necessary. Trump has surrounded himself with total loyalists. I’m surprised that these wankers don’t grab a corner of the flag and pledge absolute fealty to the orange hairball. These wankers, of course, are less capable, less smart and less moral than he is … because he couldn’t stand to be shown up.
It’s really sick.
And Anna Paulina Luna has put forth a bill to have the Orange thing’s face carved into Mt. Rushmore.
Hegseth’s actions are an abomination! But, then, apparently, that’s who he is.
Words fail!
White men felt they were being discriminated in employment in favor of nonwhite candidates so their response is – no DEI. The fact is DEI is about more than race. It’s also about people with disabilities. LGBTQ, women. There are other aspects to the DEI concept – the community reinvestment act for example. The Americans with Disabilities Act. Education laws relative to “least restrictive environment.” You can remove the DEI positions and tell folks not to use DEI, but maybe – just maybe – folks with any sense will still be influenced by equity and inclusion. In TRump’s most recent press therapy session, he accused DEI as the basis for incompetent air controllers – the presumption underlying DEI is that equity and inclusion reduces excellence because “the other” must be stupid or ill prepared. That is what is insulting to me as a woman. Let me share this quote from a man who was a lawyer in the legal department of a big corporation: we hired a woman once and she didn’t work out. He said this to me as I – the only woman in a law firm advising the corporation -stood before him. That’s what I’m talking about. Let us be hopeful that you can take the DEI position out of business but that job applicants will still be considered with equity and inclusion if not without discrimination.
Yes,we need more like Lloyd Austin. We don’t have enough going through the revolving door of the public>private>public $ector$.
We need more folks in the government from the for-profit Healthcare and MIC industries.
We have had 45 different MEN as President. Of those 45 only one was not a white Christian. That’s 2 percent. We just might BE a White Christian Country. For posterity, I should note that there is some question about just how Christian Orange Jesus actually is, it’s what he claims.
If you read the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity prospectus, it’s all about increasing the wealth of the oligarchy by manipulating the masses. They understand propaganda better than anyone. They also influence over 150 college campuses, including the professors. They even operate and fund the State Policy Network in all the states, including Indiana. Mike Pence was a product of the Kochs.
Could you tell me where the takedown of this corruption is in the Fourth Estate?
Our entertainment media has wholly acquiesced to the Fuhrer, even dispensing “journalists” who are critical of his rule. Even MSNBC has kissed the ring. The goal is to make Trump appear more intelligent and more in control than he could ever be. This has to do with the oligarchs surrounding him, as much as Trump. I’ve read nothing about his meme coin in the press and his embrace of the Technocrats. Russia, Belarus, Venezuela, North Korea, et al., can make anonymous purchases of his meme coin, increasing the value only to Trump. It’s encrypted, so the media (not that they would challenge him) will never know. It’s the same game plan as his Truth Social social media platform, where investors from the Cayman Islands bought stock in Trump’s company. It loses millions but is worth billions.
I agree with Naomi Klein and Mehdi Hassan’s thesis that the “firehose of EOs” is a “shock and awe” strategy to flood the media and the masses with stories and destroy the traditional news cycle. This is why Trump is signing EOs late in the evening, when the media agencies are trying to compile what happened during the day.
Meanwhile, nobody is paying attention to Vance, Thiel, and the rest of the oligarchy running the show. The distractions are working, and they’re creating massive fear from the top down. Fear is a key to propaganda and religion.
One quick local note: Todd Young recently introduced a harmless-looking bill called the Tornado Act. I had to look closer because I am sure the NOAA and NWS have done an excellent job covering storms and giving people advanced warnings. The proposed bill orders the NOAA to initiate “studies” to improve their services with the help of “machine learning.” That is lingo for AI. AI software models can already predict the weather with exceptional accuracy. If I were a meteorologist or working at the NOAA or NWS, I’d sure be worried about my JOB.
i woke up to Newark,N.J. 1960,,,again… there are few words being heard,, from the demos, blacked (pun) out i guess. since i do no social media except here, the silence is null and a void of words from,the other side of the isle in DC. the big three right wing christian news is blaring from above and as sun pierces thru the clouds, it sure aint Easter.. magas maggots, getting some sunshine from above. as thier theology said,(and those who teach them)hate unto all,and hate anyone
you judge unfit..
The rightwing has worked very hard to equate DEI with incompetence. That’s categorically wrong. The truth of DEI initiatives is that when you are evaluating a group of similarly-qualified individuals, you keep an eye out for balance in your organisation. In my work experience, it’s always been beneficial to have an organisation that covers as large a selection of the real populace as possible. The diversity of backgrounds, opinions, views and insights often led to amazing, and sometimes unexpected, results.
Critically, for anyone harbouring bigotries when they enter the organisation, the exposure to comrades unlike them can often turn those bigotries around. And _this_ is what the rightwing can’t abide. This is especially true if the company makes actual efforts to explain DEI and how it impacts people and the company. (The right has already made sure that education of this sort is stopped in many institutions.) _This_ is the real reason they fight DEI. They don’t want their angry, fearful, bigoted supporters to learn differently. They need their people to continue to believe that anyone who is not a white, christian man probably got their position unfairly. They _need_ to retain the division, the bigotries, the anger, and ultimately, the fear.
This article presents a compelling analysis of the coming Gilded Age 2.0, particularly regarding Trumpolini’s rule. It’s important to clarify that the figures discussed are neither true populists nor genuine libertarians. They aren’t free-market believers, either. They are just greedy bastards:
https://littlesis.org/news/mapping-the-billionaire-winners-of-the-2024-election/
I will admit that I am a white Christian male who is biased in favor of DEI because I have two daughters and two grand-daughters.
That said, I had a nearly 50 year career in manufacturing and in architectural design with nearly 100 completed projects. Architects are trained to listen to clients to discover the true needs of a project and to meet those needs. Some of the most effective listeners that I ever had the pleasure to work with, both as Architects and as clients. Their natural instincts toward empathy seemed to me to be defining characteristics. They were focused on the project success and not on the immediate personal triumph or glory. True believers in the old saw that “there is no I in Team.” Now that I am old, I am seeing the same thing with Medical personnel. The women and minorities are more empathetic and results focused than the majority of the white males.
And I absolutely believe that the outstanding success of our country and economy is due to the extent that through DEI we have utilized a significantly higher percentage of our collective intelligence and skills.