Straight White American Jesus

Steve Bannon is a familiar figure by now. One of the super villains from the Trump administration, he is still a force in right-wing politics in the USA and across the globe. He reportedly pushed Trump to overturn the election by any means possible. He is often referred to as a White nationalist whose misogyny and racism need no further explanation. But what if Bannon's worldview is more complex, more sinister, and more weird than you ever expected?

Brad speaks to Dr. Benjamin Teitelbaum about his new book, War for Eterinity: Inside Bannon's Far Right Circle of Global Power Brokers: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/war-for-eternity-benjamin-r-teitelbaum?variant=32123408941090

Inspired by a radical twentieth-century ideology called Traditionalism, Bannon and a small group of right-wing powerbrokers are planning new political mobilizations on a global scale—discussed and debated in secret meetings organized by Bannon in hotel suites and private apartments in DC, Europe and South America. Their goal? To upend the world order and reorganize geopolitics on the basis of archaic values rather than modern ideals of democracy, freedom, social progress, and human rights. Their strenuous efforts are already producing results, from the fortification of borders throughout the world and the targeting of immigrants, to the undermining of the European Union and United States governments, and the expansion of Russian influence.

Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

SWAJ Apparel is here! https://straight-white-american-jesus.creator-spring.com/listing/not-today-uncle-ron

To Donate:

Produced by Brad Onishi

Edited by Shannon Sassone

Music by Matt Puckett

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad and Dan begin by discussing the Jericho Marches connected to the "Freedom Convoy" protests in Ottawa. Drawing on work by the writer Chrissy Stroop and scholar Thomas Lecaque, they discuss how the Jericho story provides a narrative in which both American J6 and Canadian convoy protesters/rioters are able to use as a way to build group cohesion and justify their actions.

Chrissy Stroop on Christian nationalism and the Canada convoy: https://conversationalist.org/2022/02/17/freedom-convoys-extremism-poses-long-term-damage-to-canadian-civil-society/

Thomas Lecaque on the Jericho Marches: https://www.editorialboard.com/that-freedom-convoy-in-ottawa-its-partly-inspired-by-a-biblical-account-of-divine-massacre/

In the next segment Dan walks us through the new John Durham/Hillary Clinton/Spygate distraction making the rounds in the MAGA Universe.

In the final segment, Brad links Charlie Kirk's freakout about the Super Bowl halftime show to the long entanglement among Muscular Christianity, American imperialism, and toxic masculinity.

Jack Moore on the connections among all three: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/may/08/muscular-christianity-and-american-sports-undying-love-of-violence

Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

SWAJ Apparel is here! https://straight-white-american-jesus.creator-spring.com/listing/not-today-uncle-ron

To Donate:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the relation to class and identity? Does a focus on identity and identity politics overlook, trivialize, or eliminate the significance of class or economic inequality in contemporary politics and social conflict? This episode suggests that a focus on identity does not discount, and is not at odds with, a focus on class or economic inequality. On the contrary, Dan argues that class is a dimension of identity of vital relevance for understanding, and changing, political and social culture.

Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

SWAJ Apparel is here! https://straight-white-american-jesus.creator-spring.com/listing/not-today-uncle-ron

To Donate:

Produced by Brad Onishi and Dan Miller

Edited by Shannon Sassone

Music by Matt Puckett-"Yellow Leaves"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad speaks to filmmaker Kat Gellein Viken who is the co-creator of two recent documentaries on churches, conspiracy, and the war on democracy. In 2020's People You May Know, Gellein and her co-creator Charles Kriel connect the dots among the Council for National policy, American oligarchs, and nefarious data mining firms. The film follows a trail that eventually reveals how churches are collecting their parishioners' most sensitive data and how that data is being sent to political operatives in order to use it as a weapon to wage war on democracy. In 2022's Dis/informed the duo pull back the curtain on the 12 sources of disinformation that account for over 60% of the pandemics spread of disinformation. This time, the trail leads to online wellness spaces full of yoga moms into alternative medicine and natural remedies. The filmmakers reveal how yoga moms became allied with conspiracy theorists and far-right agitators as part of the anti-vax and QAnon movements.

People You May Know: https://www.amazon.com/People-You-Know-Charles-Kriel/dp/B08LHH7QJZ

Dis/informed (coming soon from PBS America): https://metrotonemedia.com/

Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

SWAJ Apparel is here! https://straight-white-american-jesus.creator-spring.com/listing/not-today-uncle-ron

To Donate:

Produced by Brad Onishi

Edited by Shannon Sassone

Music by Matt Puckett - "846"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad and Dan begin by discussing the RNC calling J6 "legitimate political discourse." While it may seem like a blip in a busy news cycle, Dan relates it to the pearl clutching Republicans did about civility and bi-partisanship early in the Biden presidency, while Brad argues that the history books will reveal it as evidence leading to the GOP's development into full-blown fascism. This segment ends with a comparison of this language with the once-upon-a-time concern about Hillary Clinton's emails.

In the second segment Brad takes a semi-deep dive into Putin's assault on Ukraine and how it traces all the way back to the Cold War. There are clues in Putin's worldview as to why so many American Christian nationalists are enamored with him--the binary thinking, the strongman masculinity, and the nostalgia for a lost world.

The final segment is a brief exploration of the trucker convoy protests in Canada and their wider implications for the political moment.

Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

SWAJ Apparel is here! https://straight-white-american-jesus.creator-spring.com/listing/not-today-uncle-ron

To Donate:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode revisits the idea that identity is about recognition and explores the significance of this. Because identity is not only about how I recognize myself, but also about how others recognize me, identity is never merely a matter of individual preference. Rather, identity is always shared and collective in nature. This is particularly true of identities with the “critical mass” to effect social or political change. This is one of the reasons why criticisms of identity politics on the grounds that it is merely individualistic and socially divisive are misguided.

Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

Produced by Brad Onishi and Dan Miller

Edited by Shannon Sassone

Music by Matt Puckett-Yellow Leaves

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if J6 and the Anti-CRT movements trace back to the same secretive organization? What if J6 was the result of years of planning and organizing? And what if there's a plan in place to make sure that a secretive network has the chance to pick our next president?

Anne Nelson is the author of Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right. She explains how J6 was the result of a year-long strategy implemented by the Council for National Policy. Once the CNP realized that Trump would most likely not win the popular vote or the electoral college, they set in motion a plan to skew doubt on the integrity of the election. They helped organize various events and rallies calling for the election to be overturned and supported the events on the ground on J6. Afterwards, they set in motion another set of plans to win back moderate voters by convincing them that their kids's schools were teaching CRT.

Anne Nelson's Washington Spectator article: https://washingtonspectator.org/school-boards-nelson/

Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

SWAJ Apparel is here! https://straight-white-american-jesus.creator-spring.com/listing/not-today-uncle-ron

To Donate:

Produced by: Brad Onishi

Edited by: Shannon Sassone

Music by: Matt Puckett-Here We Go Again

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad and Dan begin with a discussion about the new bill in Florida that would outlaw referencing gender and sexual identity. This new "Don't Say Gay Bill" is an attempt to create a patriarchal safe space in which all those who are not straight are considered outside threats to children. It shows how, despite all their ire toward the idea of safe spaces, Christian nationalists and conservatives attempt to create safe spaces as same spaces--a place where everyone is made to be, or assumed, to be the same so that no one is uncomfortable.

The next segment looks at militia movements in California taking over rural counties and what this says about the state of trust in democratic institutions and the radicalization of the right.

1. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/03/california-county-controlled-by-militia-group

Finally, Brad and Dan look at Lauren Boebert's tweet wherein she suggests that the Constitution doesn't evolve. What does this say about her worldview and how does it relate to biblical inerrancy and constitutional originalism?

Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

SWAJ Apparel is here! https://straight-white-american-jesus.creator-spring.com/listing/not-today-uncle-ron

To Donate:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Contemporary critics on both the right and the left essentially accuse those who politically mobilize around social identities of being fundamentally selfish in nature. The charge is that their politics reflects only personal interest, that they seek special treatment or privilege on the basis of an identity that isn’t shared with others, and that they fragment any shared political vision. But none of these criticisms hold up if we consider the actual social groups that figure prominently in current discussion of identity politics. Rather, we find that these groups originate in the experience of marginalization and social and political exclusion, radically changing the light in which we should view identity and identity politics.

Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

SWAJ Apparel is here! https://straight-white-american-jesus.creator-spring.com/listing/not-today-uncle-ron

To Donate:

Produced by Brad Onishi and Dan Miller

Edited by Shannon Sassone

Music by Matt Puckett

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices