Straight White American Jesus

Annika Brockschmidt talks with Simon Strick, a German cultural and media studies scholar, about his new book Faschisierung: Fluchtlinien des Digitalen (not yet translated into English). His argument is that the rise of the far right and the rise of digital media are not a coincidence. Both run on the same logic of reaction, outrage and attention, and each has shaped the other for roughly three decades.

Strick explains why he writes about "fascistization", a social process, rather than asking whether something "is fascism" by a historical checklist. He walks through how far-right internet material becomes mainstream politics:

They also discuss how mainstream media feed the cycle. Strick describes a division of labor in which the far right produces outrage and established outlets supply the attention. He uses the media's rise of Curtis Yarvin from unreadable blogger to "dark philosopher" as the example. The conversation ends as Annika puts one last question to him: is there an escape from fascistization?

Find Simon: Bluesky; guest professor in Vienna through December; several papers are open access, some in English. The book's publisher has a translation-rights page for any interested US publishers.

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Books mentioned:

📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: ⁠https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/⁠

📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: ⁠https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants⁠

Full tour dates: ⁠https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour⁠

🔗 ⁠axismundi.us⁠

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In this episode of Straight White American Jesus, Brad Onishi and Dan Miller break down Scott Colom's historic Senate win in Mississippi and the story that most outlets are missing. Colom will be the first Black senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction, and the first ever to be popularly elected, after defeating incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in one of the hardest states in the country to vote, where turnout surged roughly 35% over the last midterms. Then comes the history few are discussing: Hyde-Smith attended a segregation academy founded in 1970 to resist integration, and she later enrolled her own daughter at another one. Brad traces the thread back to Brown v. Board of Education, the 1969 Holmes County lawsuit over tax exemptions for whites-only private schools, and Randall Balmer's argument about the racial origins of the religious right, including Paul Weyrich's strategy of packaging moral politics in non-religious language. Brad and Dan also discuss what Democrats can learn from Colom's campaign, the Republican response to the midterms, and the challenge to Chuck Schumer from Senator Chris Van Hollen.
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Books mentioned:
📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/e...
📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/...
Full tour dates:

https://axismundinetwork.substack.com...

🔗 axismundi.us
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With Dan celebrating his birthday over the weekend, we bring you a timely episode of It's In the Code: ep 158: No Human Is Illegal, Pt.1.

In this first episode examining Allie Beth Stuckey’s chapter on immigration, Dan considers Stuckey’s question “what happened?” to bipartisan support for immigration reform. She suggests that liberals and progressives have become radical on the issue of immigration and drifted far from the American mainstream. But Dan argues that Stuckey, and those on the right like her, have misled Americans for decades about their real positions on immigration, masking a desire to maintain a White America. As this has come more clearly into view, more and more Americans have come to oppose their views. Check out this week’s episode to hear more!

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Last week, Democrats won a historic victory in the 2026 midterms, and over the weekend Donald Trump told Ross Douthat that his immigration policy was too tough, then named Stephen Miller White House chief of staff after Susie Wiles’ departure. Brad Onishi and Matthew D. Taylor break down what Miller’s promotion means for ICE and the prosecution of Trump’s enemies, why Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis may prove a turning point, and how MAGA voices like Matt Walsh, Jesse Watters, and James Fishback are already staking out lanes for 2028. They also cover Josh Hawley’s December 15 fasting and prayer event at the Capitol, Jake Lang’s planned January 3 march, and whether any of it resembles January 6. Brad draws a parallel to the 1974 midterms and the rise of the religious right, warning that a generational wipeout is not the end of the story. They close with Thomas Massie’s articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth, what his possible removal means for Trump’s Pentagon and for Doug Wilson’s brand of Christian reconstructionism, and an invitation to their November 20 live event in Denver.

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🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com

Books mentioned:

📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/

📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants

Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour

🔗 axismundi.us

www.quo.com/SWAJ -  Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months 

www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription!

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

Brad Onishi talks with three Texans about what happened in the state on Tuesday, when Democrats won the Senate seat, the governorship, down-ballot statewide races, and a majority on the State Board of Education. Robert Downen of Texas Monthly explains why the results are a generational setback for the national Christian nationalist movement, and why Texas has been its incubator for policy and legal strategy. Journalist Bekah Stolhandske McNeel looks at how progressive clergy and faith-forward candidates changed the conversation, and at what to watch as the religious right recasts itself as the aggrieved party. Mendi Tackett of See It, Name It, Fight It describes how first-time and young voters, worried about schools, cost of living, and ICE, flipped Tarrant County after years of Christian nationalist control of the county commissioners court. The panel also discusses why education is the most likely place for new leaders to begin, how overreaching legislation has fared in court, and why this blue wave is probationary. It ends with a case for connecting on shared values and for giving religious voters a different way to be faithful.

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The midterms are over, and the results were bigger than almost anyone expected. Brad Onishi and Dan Miller go through the wins, the firsts, and what the results mean for the religious right and the Republican Party.

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What does it mean to be a “Christian”? An overwhelmingly common answer for American Christians would be, “to accept Jesus as your personal lord and savior.” But what does that actually mean? Can they even tell you? How much more complicated is the idea than it first seems? And why does this matter? And what happens if you keep asking questions like this? Check out this week’s discussion with Dan to find out.

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Books mentioned:

📕 American Caesar: How

📗 Defying Tyrants:

Full tour dates: ⁠https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour⁠

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On Election Day, Brad Onishi and Matthew D. Taylor walk through what they’re watching on voting day and in the weeks after. The focus is religion, politics, and the echoes of January 6th, including how an electoral loss could be framed as illegitimate before results are even certified.

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Palantir’s AI is helping decide who gets targeted in Gaza, and the same technology is already in use by US police and ICE. This week, Brad Onishi talks with Jacob Sprang, a humanitarian worker who spent about 18 months in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. He also worked in Sudan and Ukraine, and he sat on the executive committee of the INGO Forum and the Humanitarian Country Team.

Chapters (approximate)

Guest

Jacob Sprang is a humanitarian worker. He is writing about his experiences on Substack. https://substack.com/@jakesprang

If you enjoy our work, please subscribe. 

Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief. 

⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/axis-daily-brief/id1896931494⁠

🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com

Books mentioned:

📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: ⁠https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/⁠

📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: ⁠https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants⁠

Full tour dates: ⁠https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour⁠

🔗 ⁠axismundi.us⁠

⁠www.quo.com/SWAJ⁠ -  Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months 

⁠www.groundnews.com/SWAJ⁠ 40% off the Vantage Subscription!

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

The midterms are Tuesday. Brad Onishi and Dan Miller give their read on what could happen, then cover the plans being set up for the weeks after.

In this episode:

1. The midterm outlook. Where Brad and Dan think things stand, why Trump’s switch to “tele-rallies” may signal worry inside the GOP, and why Brad says the only thing that matters now is getting people to vote.

2. The “non-citizens voted” campaign. Nearly 600 high-profile right-wing accounts, podcasts, and outlets have published more than 7,000 statements questioning the election’s integrity this year, with the focus now on non-citizen voting. Brad and Dan look at how big “alleged” numbers get headlines while the checked numbers, like a claim of about 190,000 in California that shrank to about 28, rarely get repeated. They also discuss why courts may respond faster this time.

3. The plan not to seat Democrats on January 3. Trump, Sen. Bernie Moreno, and Rep. Keith Self have each argued that certain Democrats, including Muslim and DSA-aligned candidates, shouldn’t be sworn in. Brad ties this to the Center for Renewing America and Russ Vought. Dan explains why a religious test for office conflicts with the Constitution. They also play Sen. Chris Murphy’s answer on CNN and discuss whether centrist Democrats could be pulled into the argument.

4. Hegseth’s spiritual advisor. A CNN report on Ryan Higgins, a senior spiritual advisor to Pete Hegseth, who called LGBTQ people a “satanic cult,” said there is no separation of church and state, and called abortion “demonic human sacrifice.” Dan and Brad connect it to Doug Wilson and to how Hegseth has brought religion into the Pentagon.

5. Netanyahu’s claims of election fraud. After a deadlocked election, Likud shared claims of fraud at Arab polling stations with no evidence offered, which Dan describes as exporting Trump’s election-denial playbook.

6. Trump’s fixation on men’s bodies. Dan goes through Trump’s recent comments on Husted, Rick Jackson, and argues that the underlying idea is that for MAGA traditional masculinity qualifies someone for office.

7. Reasons for hope. A Fox News interview clip, and Dan’s read on why the Trump campaign may be running out of energy.

If you enjoy our work, please subscribe. 

Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/axis-daily-brief/id1896931494

🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com

Books mentioned:

📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/

📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants

Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour

🔗 axismundi.us

www.quo.com/SWAJ -  Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months 

www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription!

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