The Christian Nationalism Behind the 'Appeal to Heaven' Flag

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

66% : Soft forms of Christian nationalism are more sentimental, more vaguely patriotic God and country, flag and the cross, "We just want a good Christian America."
57% : Now, there are soft forms of Christian nationalism and there are more hardened forms of Christian nationalism.
57% : Many readers might be familiar with Paula White due to her association with Donald Trump.
56% : It represents something else, says scholar Matthew D. Taylor: a hardened form of Christian nationalism.
56% : In 2015, Paula White begins to gather independent-charismatic celebrities to meet with Trump, and that's when Lance Wallnau is brought in and it's this claim that he makes as he meets with Trump: that he believes that God reveals to him that Donald Trump is a type of a Cyrus akin to what is described in Isaiah chapter 45.
55% : But these hardened forms of Christian nationalism and what I call Christian supremacy are very aggressive, very organized, and have a very clear agenda, and that's the world the Appeal to Heaven flag comes out of.
53% : And I think the popularity of those ideas has increased as Trump has consolidated his hold on American Evangelicalism -- that the ideas that were used to propagate and propagandize Christian Trumpism have become popular along with Christian Trumpism.
52% : I'm voting for Trump because of the Supreme Court.
52% : The NAR were the people saying, "We are voting for Trump because he is God's anointed.
52% : And if Trump wins, these people will populate his advisers or his circles of official and unofficial advisers, and they will be in the catbird seat to organize a policy agenda.
51% : Well, the unifying ideology of the Christian right is broadly called Christian nationalism.
50% : But the last three years have given me a deep acquaintance with just how much connectivity there is between these religious-right activist networks and the circles of power in the Republican Party and in conservative politics.
48% : So it's a world that if you don't have direct contact with, it feels very foreign, but it's a world with millions of people in it in the United States who are tracking these ideas, who are believing these prophecies, and who are following these charismatic celebrities -- and they have almost a level of religious and spiritual authority that goes far beyond your everyday pastor.
46% : Because Donald Trump is a type of a Cyrus.
44% : It is a symbol of an aggressive vision of Christian nationalism driven by spiritual warfare and prophecy and the intent to remake America in the image of a very conservative Christianity.
44% : And so how do you get to this situation today where there is this quasi-messianic attachment to Donald Trump?
44% : How much of a threat is this hardened strain of Christian nationalism, as you put it a bit earlier?
43% : It's a style of spirituality that thrives in this anti-institutional environment that we're living in because it's not built around institutions with bylaws and committees and long legacies.
26% : He has legions of Christian followers whose theology and whose attachment to these prophecies tell them that the only way Trump could lose is through a demonic conspiracy that is their job to overthrow.
24% : There were many Evangelical leaders who gave these wishy-washy "I'm voting for Trump as the lesser of two evils.
14% : What is Donald Trump willing to do to stay out of prison?
6% : I'm voting for Trump because Hillary Clinton is bad."

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