The MAGA Church

We put out a new ad that’s already getting more than the usual share of hate, mostly from people who are quick to tell you just how Christian and loving they are.

MAGA Church - Holy War is a window into the 2024 choice and the role the MAGA Church Militant will play.

Scholars of the transformation of the evangelical church into a militant arm of Trumpism don’t come better than Tim Alberta. His new book, The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory is a magisterial examination of American protestant transformation.

Alberta argues that the movement was ready for Trump, and he’s right. I think it was the anger, the cultural permission to hate, and the showmanship of Trump that unlocked the door…but the pastors’ hunger for political and temporal power is so extraordinary that it shocks people who haven’t watched the change happen.

Eric Hoffer's 1951 book "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements," remains the go-to study of the psychological and sociological dynamics behind mass movements and the just who becomes the true believers in these movements.

Hoffer’s study of mass movements maps over many of the elements of the American evangelical transformation; individuals who feel alienated, discontented, or dissatisfied with their current circumstances — real or imagined — are drawn to cohesive, charismatic movements and leaders.

Magical thinking, alternate realities, ahistorical nonsense, and a craving for an imaginary past makes American evangelicals even more susceptible to the appeals of a charismatic leader or a compelling cause, particularly when he’s got the showbiz quality of a preacher.

Some Trump supporters within the evangelical community may have been drawn to his message because they felt threatened by a changing world that made a mockery of their values and concerns; mostly, not.

Hoffer talks about the powerful sense of devotion and self-sacrifice exhibited by true believers. For some evangelicals who supported Trump, their devotion was marked by a willingness to overlook or excuse his execrable behavior and policies obviously inconsistent with traditional Christian values.

Trump's ability to connect with certain segments of the evangelical community through rallies, speeches, and promising them the Kingdom here and now was and is unrivaled.

Like all mass movements, the MAGA Church requires a high degree of conformity and discourage dissent or critical thinking. In the context of MAGA evangelicals, conforming to a pro-Trump narrative is easy; the from megachurch pastors on down, they just cut to the chase and call him their Savior.

The zealots in the video above aren’t unfamiliar, just un-American.