The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy

by Philip S. Gorski

in March 2020, Trump said decisions on how to handle the pandemic couldn’t be left to medical experts: “If it were up to doctors, they may say, ‘Let’s shut down the entire world.’ You know, we can’t do that.” Right-wing pundits made similar statements on air or over social media. Fox News host Laura Ingraham said, “Doctors provide medical treatment and cures—they should not be the determinative voices in policy making.” Similarly, Charlie Kirk resented that, “The question we’re not allowed to ask . . . is should the number of people who get sick be the only variable we factor into our ethical calculation? It’s also impossible to dispute that the steps we are taking are destroying the American economy.” And overtly Christian nationalist pastor Lance Wallnau went even further to argue tanking the economy was the Democrats’ whole ballgame: “The virus will touch just a fraction of the population,” he explained, “The Left wants the economy distressed because the crisis improves their chances of taking office.” Other Trump supporters on the Christian right emphasized the threat to personal liberty posed by mask mandates and lockdown restrictions. Former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister Mike Huckabee, for example, said in mid-April 2020 that lockdown enforcement was threatening Americans’ “civil liberties” and effectively “shredding the Constitution.” So too, pastor John MacArthur, who drew national criticism for reopening his megachurch during the pandemic and discouraging...