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Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy
Bloomsbury presents Money, Lies, and God by Katherine Stewart, read by Patricia Rodriguez.
"An indispensable citizen’s guide to the anti-democratic MAGA Right in America."–Congressman Jamie Raskin
"Meticulously researched, elegantly written, and hard-hitting."–Kristin Kobes Du Mez
The acclaimed author of The Power Worshippers exposes the inner workings of the “engine of unreason” roiling American culture and politics.
Why have so many Americans turned against democracy? In this deeply reported book, Katherine Stewart takes us to conferences of conspiracy-mongers, backroom strategy gatherings, and services at extremist churches, and profiles the people who want to tear it all down. She introduces us to reactionary Catholic activists, atheist billionaires, pseudo-Platonist intellectuals, self-appointed apostles of Jesus, disciples of Ayn Rand, women-hating opponents of “the gynocracy,” pronatalists preoccupied with the dearth of white babies, Covid truthers, militia members masquerading as “concerned moms” and battalions of spirit warriors who appear to be inventing a new style of religion even as they set about attacking democracy at its foundations.
Along the way, she provides a compelling analysis of the authoritarian reaction in the United States. She demonstrates that the movement relies on several distinct constituencies, with very different and often conflicting agendas. Stewart’s reporting and comprehensive political analysis helps reframe the conversation about the moral collapse of conservatism in America and points the way forward toward a democratic future.
"An indispensable citizen’s guide to the anti-democratic MAGA Right in America."–Congressman Jamie Raskin
"Meticulously researched, elegantly written, and hard-hitting."–Kristin Kobes Du Mez
The acclaimed author of The Power Worshippers exposes the inner workings of the “engine of unreason” roiling American culture and politics.
Why have so many Americans turned against democracy? In this deeply reported book, Katherine Stewart takes us to conferences of conspiracy-mongers, backroom strategy gatherings, and services at extremist churches, and profiles the people who want to tear it all down. She introduces us to reactionary Catholic activists, atheist billionaires, pseudo-Platonist intellectuals, self-appointed apostles of Jesus, disciples of Ayn Rand, women-hating opponents of “the gynocracy,” pronatalists preoccupied with the dearth of white babies, Covid truthers, militia members masquerading as “concerned moms” and battalions of spirit warriors who appear to be inventing a new style of religion even as they set about attacking democracy at its foundations.
Along the way, she provides a compelling analysis of the authoritarian reaction in the United States. She demonstrates that the movement relies on several distinct constituencies, with very different and often conflicting agendas. Stewart’s reporting and comprehensive political analysis helps reframe the conversation about the moral collapse of conservatism in America and points the way forward toward a democratic future.
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First published February 18, 2025
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About the author
Katherine Stewart
4 books131 followersKatherine Stewart is an American journalist and author who often writes about issues related to the separation of church and state, the rise of religious nationalism, and global movements against liberal democracy.
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March 23, 2025
This is the book I've been wanting to read to help to make sense of the ultra-right attack on democracy in the US. Watching from the UK, it's been bewildering to understand the alliances that have brought together the 1% billionaires/trillionaires with assorted Christian fundamentalists, racists, unashamed fascists, book banners, misogynists, gender and so-called 'spiritual warriors', anti-abortionists, those decrying women's rights and LGBTQ+ rights, anti-vaxxers and climate crisis deniers - but Stewart draws compelling lines between these movements which have coalesced under an anti-democratic umbrella. This isn't, I should say, a book about Trump: published in February 2025 in the US, this seems to have been completed ahead of the 2024 election and, to that extent, is already out of date. But that matters not as Trump is as much figurehead as driver and the story started long before.
Stewart is a journalist and this is a cool-headed narrative that is built on her investigations ('as a reporter, I like to look first and theorize later'), often attending conferences, church meetings and extreme right events where she talks to the participants as well as listens to the headliners and preachers. Everything is documented, sourced and evidenced: the text is about 300 pages with 150 pages of notes and references following. It's not unpartisan - it can't be: Stewart is an educated liberal who believes in social equality and justice, but it is striking how she can speak to people with unspeakable views - sometimes jaw-droppingly unhinged (at an anti-abortion meeting in Birmingham, UK: 'during a break in the activities, the older lady to my left confides to me, "I read that Satanists are getting pregnant on purpose so they can have abortions" '); sometimes just breathtakingly vile (the young woman who believes that even a 10-year old rape victim should be forced to endure a full-term pregnancy)- without looking down on them.
There's so much I learned here as Stewart walks the ultra-right walk and then fills us in on the backgrounds to the movements and key players. She makes sense of my questions about why some Black and Latino voters were backing Trump despite his racist and xenophobic rhetoric (they're often part of the pentacostal Christian movement); she foregrounds the right's deep admiration for the authoritarian Putin and their desire for their very own American 'Caesar', and how they see Ukraine's resistance to invasion as a 'woke war'; most of all, she uncovers the deep, deep fear that is driving so many aspects of the right: fear of 'others', fear of loss of status and standing, fear of loss of 'manliness', fear of being left behind, fear of change, and the concomitant violence which is the only way they can repay their grievances and sense of victimisation - all of this terror encapsulated under the term meta-term, 'woke'.
What is important in Stewart's narrative, is the positioning of the 'foot soldiers' as being exploited by the dark money wielders funding the right: dismantling the 'administrative state' won't give normal people a better life; destroying public education institutions and libraries will make them even more vulnerable to crazy conspiracy theories and the sort of ideas that depend on listeners swallowing them whole without a trace of critical thinking; and the right-wing events are as much money-generating exercises for their organisers and creators designed to fleece their audiences as well as indoctrinate them.
One of my takeaways from all this is the vast and shadowy money machine behind this pressing assault on America's democratic systems that has been planned for decades, and the sheer volume of cash invested to galvanise, sustain and drive all the tentacles of the extreme right operation to collapse democratic rules-based orders:
Alongside all the social, religious and cultural issues, Stewart enacts that old adage and follows the money. Some of the right-wing evangelists do indeed believe passionately in their own hateful rhetoric but behind them are the group Stewart calls Funders and there is a hard reason for their putting their money behind this unleashing of anti-democratic chaos and feeding this politics of rage and grievance: 'their biggest idea - that destroying democracy is a means of creating wealth'. Whether through deregulating industries whose economic activities cause harm to the planet and communities, or creating monopoly profits, the 1%, this asserts, intend not just to shore up their position but augment it.
And herein lies so much that is tragic: the end result is the woman voting to have her rights to make decisions about her own body removed; the man who votes to abolish the labour and union rules that might have supported his employment rights; the everyday mom who is campaigning to have The Diary of Anne Frank banned from local schools and libraries because she's heard about its 'homosexual content' - the irony of that action clearly being lost on her. And one of the saddest stories, a woman who is no longer speaking to her only son because he has, in her mind, gone over to the satanists... by being gay.
There's so much material here that I can't do justice to it in a review. Stewart is outspoken on calling this movement fascism. But, we fear, she's speaking to the already converted.
Stewart is a journalist and this is a cool-headed narrative that is built on her investigations ('as a reporter, I like to look first and theorize later'), often attending conferences, church meetings and extreme right events where she talks to the participants as well as listens to the headliners and preachers. Everything is documented, sourced and evidenced: the text is about 300 pages with 150 pages of notes and references following. It's not unpartisan - it can't be: Stewart is an educated liberal who believes in social equality and justice, but it is striking how she can speak to people with unspeakable views - sometimes jaw-droppingly unhinged (at an anti-abortion meeting in Birmingham, UK: 'during a break in the activities, the older lady to my left confides to me, "I read that Satanists are getting pregnant on purpose so they can have abortions" '); sometimes just breathtakingly vile (the young woman who believes that even a 10-year old rape victim should be forced to endure a full-term pregnancy)- without looking down on them.
There's so much I learned here as Stewart walks the ultra-right walk and then fills us in on the backgrounds to the movements and key players. She makes sense of my questions about why some Black and Latino voters were backing Trump despite his racist and xenophobic rhetoric (they're often part of the pentacostal Christian movement); she foregrounds the right's deep admiration for the authoritarian Putin and their desire for their very own American 'Caesar', and how they see Ukraine's resistance to invasion as a 'woke war'; most of all, she uncovers the deep, deep fear that is driving so many aspects of the right: fear of 'others', fear of loss of status and standing, fear of loss of 'manliness', fear of being left behind, fear of change, and the concomitant violence which is the only way they can repay their grievances and sense of victimisation - all of this terror encapsulated under the term meta-term, 'woke'.
What is important in Stewart's narrative, is the positioning of the 'foot soldiers' as being exploited by the dark money wielders funding the right: dismantling the 'administrative state' won't give normal people a better life; destroying public education institutions and libraries will make them even more vulnerable to crazy conspiracy theories and the sort of ideas that depend on listeners swallowing them whole without a trace of critical thinking; and the right-wing events are as much money-generating exercises for their organisers and creators designed to fleece their audiences as well as indoctrinate them.
One of my takeaways from all this is the vast and shadowy money machine behind this pressing assault on America's democratic systems that has been planned for decades, and the sheer volume of cash invested to galvanise, sustain and drive all the tentacles of the extreme right operation to collapse democratic rules-based orders:
according to a 2020 report in OpenDemocracy, Christian-right groups in the United States spent at least $280 million on campaigns against the rights of women and LGBT people... a subsequent report released in 2023 showed that anonymous donors funneled $272 million through donor-advised funds... The European Parliamentary Forum has conducted its own studies. From 2009 to 2018, their analysis of the data turned up funding totaling $707.2 million. Of that... $81.3 million originated from the United States; $188.2 million originated from the Russian Federation; and $437.7 million came from EU sources.
Alongside all the social, religious and cultural issues, Stewart enacts that old adage and follows the money. Some of the right-wing evangelists do indeed believe passionately in their own hateful rhetoric but behind them are the group Stewart calls Funders and there is a hard reason for their putting their money behind this unleashing of anti-democratic chaos and feeding this politics of rage and grievance: 'their biggest idea - that destroying democracy is a means of creating wealth'. Whether through deregulating industries whose economic activities cause harm to the planet and communities, or creating monopoly profits, the 1%, this asserts, intend not just to shore up their position but augment it.
And herein lies so much that is tragic: the end result is the woman voting to have her rights to make decisions about her own body removed; the man who votes to abolish the labour and union rules that might have supported his employment rights; the everyday mom who is campaigning to have The Diary of Anne Frank banned from local schools and libraries because she's heard about its 'homosexual content' - the irony of that action clearly being lost on her. And one of the saddest stories, a woman who is no longer speaking to her only son because he has, in her mind, gone over to the satanists... by being gay.
There's so much material here that I can't do justice to it in a review. Stewart is outspoken on calling this movement fascism. But, we fear, she's speaking to the already converted.
February 23, 2025
This is a really terrifying book. It clarifies how the huge amount of funding from conservative billionaires (and decades of planning) has enabled a coalition of haters to gain power in the United States and elsewhere. They are united by their shared hatred, of basically anyone who is not a white, male, Christian, heterosexual (it’s best if you are also very rich). If you don’t fit that description, you are in for a world of woe. The author does offer some hope at the end of the book. I am unconvinced.
March 25, 2025
How Does This Happen?
”How does this happen?” This is a quote found on page 191 from a member of a documentary film team from Germany after seeing a “ReAwaken America” event in Las Vegas, August 2023. My answer is that it happened little by little, then all at once. That is, American democracy fell little by little, then all at once. America is now dedicated to the odious proposition of Christian fascist supremacy. This book is about the grim nihilistic destruction of a far from perfect, but improving secular, cosmopolitan, progressive, and open humanist democracy of decency and liberty and its replacement with a joyfully angry, bigoted, prudish, fanatical right-wing, and misogynistic Christian fascist alternative. An alternative based on willful ignorance, unrealizable fantasies, and a fictitious magical golden past that never existed. All authoritarianism is based on mythology. Even the pretense of reason and rationality in the affairs of government is now rejected as evil. For example, workplace safety regulation is equated to socialism and the use of contraception is considered baby killing. Religious beliefs are deployed to defend assault weapons and to end child labor protections. Another way to answer the question of “how does this happen?” is with a question: how much of this inveterate rage is rooted in American gender and sexual anxieties mobilized in support of authoritarianism as a coping therapy? Female freedom, sexual or otherwise, is cast as a threat to the family and thus to the society and state with religious authoritarian nationalism as the preferred response. Authoritarianism is the new authenticity.
Nobody Was Fooled
I disagree on a point echoed by many observes, viz., that wealth disparity and wage stagnation are the major causes of the flight to unreason and the anti-reality mindset. No doubt, there is some of this and the Katherine Stewart does not reduce the current anti-democratic surge to economics alone. But I contend that Trump’s election was a well-informed and affirmative choice, it was not based on despair and despondency or ignorance and misinformation; nobody was fooled. His election is the sign of a neurosis based on a desire for fascism, not just for those who voted for him but primarily to have it imposed on others. The people who voted for the fascism of Trump did so knowingly and primarily to have it imposed on others with themselves taking vicarious psychopathic pleasure in its cruel imposition. Their interest is to hurt other people and cause suffering. One of the means for doing do is to disguise bigotry and bullying as religious liberty. There are no economic excuses for the theocratic fascist neurotic psychopaths who brought Trump to power. I do not accept that the hate displayed by the religious right is the product of economic anxiety or fear, sometimes hate is just hate. The problem is with the American population that vomited up Trump to fulfill its cruel fantasies.
A Christian Prayer Event
Continuing from above, I know many very well-to-do and well-off middle class and upper middle-class people who fully support Donald Trump all that he stands for and represents. Their support has nothing to do with economic despair or financial anxiety. There is the example of the 01/06/21 terrorists, many of the participants were people of substantial economic means who could afford to travel and take time off work to joylessly participate in the attack. Much of the footage I saw from the 01/06/21 insurrection looked to me like a Christian prayer event, and this is where I think most of the causality can be found. This was proceeded by the “Jericho March” on the night of 01/05/21 to underscore the filthy religious nature of the entire enterprise – pray first, then take up arms and commit violence – the true Christian way. The author also documents the many pastors who encouraged their flocks to be good Christian warriors and attack the Capitol. One of the named Christian terrorist groups is the Black Robe Regiment and this name immediately remained me of the dirty black robe wearing parabalani, the volunteer militia of violent monks and Christian shock soldiers in the employ of Bishop Cyril who murdered Hypatia of Alexandria in 415. This is where we are today in Christian thinking, the fifth century. From what I can see, all Christian churches are potential terrorist cells. Religious mania and reawakening are independent of economic means and causes, or lack thereof. Religious believers are always susceptible to willful ignorance and magical thinking regardless of economic circumstances. There is also the obvious example of the super-rich who fund the anti-democratic movement based on their own reactionary right-wing religious beliefs. We have both the lower economic strata and the upper economic strata united in the same attack on democracy so how much of it can be attributed to economic disparity as the main cause? I think the lower and upper economic strata find common cause for based on religious belief and racial prejudice, i.e., culture wars. A central finding of the book is that the fascist movement is leadership driven and not a social phenomenon which suggests to me that this movement is not caused primarily by economic despair from the ground up.
The Trumpenproletiat
In the above discussion point, the lower classes are not aware of themselves as a separate class from the wealth class because they are unified by religious belief. The non-wealth class especially lacks class consciousness and is easily manipulated by the wealth class without understanding how they are being manipulated. The simple religious beliefs of the Trumpenproletiat are easily exploited by the wealth class. The Trumpenproletiat then become the anti-American antidemocratic unthinking foot soldiers of the Plutocrats who benefit from authoritarianism. With low educational attainment, the Christian Trumpenproletiat is easily and comically manipulated, targeted, and exploited with laughable conspiracy theories, religious mythology, and political lies. The unthinking lower strata of society are exploited by the wealth class and used as the foot soldiers of a new fascist theocracy of brutality and cruelty. For example, using the lumpen ignorant and violent mob of religious culture warriors to attack public education to make way for profit based private education with the emphasis on profit. The manipulated fools will soon find that those without membership in the wealth class have no right to have rights in the new nation of Trumpistan. Religious nationalism is now the primary tool of manipulation used to deploy the Trumpenproletiat against the open society.
The Social Gospel versus The Prosperity Gospel
The social gospel preaches economic justice for all, and the prosperity gospel preaches wealth as a sign of divine favor. As always, the Bible means whatever the interpreter of the Bible wants it to mean. The Bible is no help in that it supports both the social gospel and the prosperity gospel. However, helping the poor and less fortunate is now heresy for the wealth class now dominating and exploiting Christian belief. The wealth class Christians have the resources to make their point of view the orthodox theology with the principles of rapacious capitalism as holy writ. The rich are now the ‘elect’ of Christian wet dreams. With this, the only distinction left among Christians, e.g., Catholics and Protestants, is wealth, not their fabricated theology or fictitious beliefs. Every political issue is now a spiritual battle, but wealth is now a force multiplier in these belief battels. This of course translates into the Trump Gospel with God as the ultimate grift, the union of fantasy, faith, and financial gain. Money and God is a match made in Hell. The traditional American grift of separating suckers from their money has been replaced by separating suckers from what little brains they ever had.
Christianity as a Satanic Cult
It is often claimed that Christian nationalism is not Christian. I must disagree, the pathological sanctification it offers in support of authoritarianism, oppression, cruelty, racism, and misogyny as well as magical thinking is quintessentially Christian. This creates the historical cruelty and brutality of jaw dropping Christian nihilism and unreason. I wish public intellectuals, educators, writers, and reporters would stop making excuses for this odious religion. The exclusionary Christhian takeover of politics and policy is a historic feature of this destructive and hateful religion, it is not an exception in the current moment. Christianity is brainwashing people into becoming angry, hateful, violent, and destructive under the guise of virtue and righteousness. Christians not interested in imposing their beliefs on others are the exception, both historically and currently. Backlash to a sickly persecution complex is quintessentially Christian. The belief that they have a monopoly on morality is quintessentially Christian. Magical thinking and the rejection of reason is quintessentially Christian. If anything, Christianity looks more like a Satanic cult or deception of Satan in the manner Christians think about Satan. Every time Christians call something demonic, it is a case of projection. Ironically, it is of course the Christians in their various flavors of fundamentalist, nationalist, evangelical, Pentecostal, dominionists, etc. that view anybody different form themselves as demonic thus demonstrating how demonic Christianity is. I mean, who else but demonic lunatics use such tactics as aggressive intimidation, stalking, bullying, false accusations, hate rhetoric, harassment, doxing, vandalism, death threats, and the literal ‘demonization’ of other people to advance religious indoctrination. Sounds like a Satanic cult to me. Christian preachers who want to find demons and demonic possession only need to look in the mirror to see the real demons since looking in a mirror is the only type of self-reflection of which they are capable. Sorry, I don’t mean to give nihilism a bad name by associating it with Christianity, but Christianly is a form of reactionary anti-humanist nihilism. The standard bearer for Christianity is now a degenerate fascist aided by deranged and dangerous followers, craven pseudo journalists, and the most psychotic members of Congress. One good thing I can say about Trump is that he is helping to discredit Christianity. But Christianity is still a clear and present danger to public health, education, acceptance, openness, tolerance, progress, science, medicine, female equality, and anything that improves the quality of life. If MAGA is worried about dangerous ideas poisoning the purity of America, they should ban Christianity which is a foreign cult imported from the ancient near east.
Reason to be Pessimistic
Contra the author’s final chapter, “The Way Forward”, I see no reason for hope. Past American flirtations with authoritarians were localized, regional or periphery, e.g., the slaveholding South, the Robber Barons, the Jim Crow South, the America Firsters etc. In each of these cases, the center of governance was still able to act in the public interest whereas now the malefactors of hate, paranoia, and grievance are at the center of government, not on the periphery. As such, they do not need to be in the majority to succeed. A modern state, not perfect, but based on facts, logic, and reason deliberating policy for the public good is an exception in human history. I believe that we are experiencing a reversion to the mean in terms of human governance, a reversion to the warlord and the holy man. Civil order and a rational society is not the default condition of human existence; oppression, persecution, war, cruelty and violence are. High standards of living do not magically appear once government is out of the way so to speak, general prosperity and public health are in fact highly dependent on public institutions and the rule of law which guarantee the safety of all people. We take the existence of public institutions, like fish in water, for granted and do not realize how difficult a world it would be without a public sphere and how difficult it would be to rebuild, if not impossible to regain, beneficial public institutions once they are lost or thrown away. Here we go again, the public sphere is now viewed as demonic - the prime evil incarnate destroying everything good, right, and just. Who else but demons can think in such incoherent, dire, and stark terms? While traditional Christian denominations are losing members, hardline raging reactionary religion is growing. We now have pathology in place policy. For example, the U.S. has already become an aggressive and belligerent predatory state allied to an aggressively expansionist and oppressive Mother Russia creating the new Russian oligarchy-America plutocracy axis of evil and defenders of the faith. This is a country run by cuckes, crackpots fanatics, and lunatics in charge of a religiously sectarian privately controlled authoritarian corporate state. Or, as Kathrine Stewart quotes from King Lear, “when madmen lead the blind.”
-This review written by an active Antichrist She-Devil of the flesh in league with Satan. After all, demons are real. Rock On!
”How does this happen?” This is a quote found on page 191 from a member of a documentary film team from Germany after seeing a “ReAwaken America” event in Las Vegas, August 2023. My answer is that it happened little by little, then all at once. That is, American democracy fell little by little, then all at once. America is now dedicated to the odious proposition of Christian fascist supremacy. This book is about the grim nihilistic destruction of a far from perfect, but improving secular, cosmopolitan, progressive, and open humanist democracy of decency and liberty and its replacement with a joyfully angry, bigoted, prudish, fanatical right-wing, and misogynistic Christian fascist alternative. An alternative based on willful ignorance, unrealizable fantasies, and a fictitious magical golden past that never existed. All authoritarianism is based on mythology. Even the pretense of reason and rationality in the affairs of government is now rejected as evil. For example, workplace safety regulation is equated to socialism and the use of contraception is considered baby killing. Religious beliefs are deployed to defend assault weapons and to end child labor protections. Another way to answer the question of “how does this happen?” is with a question: how much of this inveterate rage is rooted in American gender and sexual anxieties mobilized in support of authoritarianism as a coping therapy? Female freedom, sexual or otherwise, is cast as a threat to the family and thus to the society and state with religious authoritarian nationalism as the preferred response. Authoritarianism is the new authenticity.
Nobody Was Fooled
I disagree on a point echoed by many observes, viz., that wealth disparity and wage stagnation are the major causes of the flight to unreason and the anti-reality mindset. No doubt, there is some of this and the Katherine Stewart does not reduce the current anti-democratic surge to economics alone. But I contend that Trump’s election was a well-informed and affirmative choice, it was not based on despair and despondency or ignorance and misinformation; nobody was fooled. His election is the sign of a neurosis based on a desire for fascism, not just for those who voted for him but primarily to have it imposed on others. The people who voted for the fascism of Trump did so knowingly and primarily to have it imposed on others with themselves taking vicarious psychopathic pleasure in its cruel imposition. Their interest is to hurt other people and cause suffering. One of the means for doing do is to disguise bigotry and bullying as religious liberty. There are no economic excuses for the theocratic fascist neurotic psychopaths who brought Trump to power. I do not accept that the hate displayed by the religious right is the product of economic anxiety or fear, sometimes hate is just hate. The problem is with the American population that vomited up Trump to fulfill its cruel fantasies.
A Christian Prayer Event
Continuing from above, I know many very well-to-do and well-off middle class and upper middle-class people who fully support Donald Trump all that he stands for and represents. Their support has nothing to do with economic despair or financial anxiety. There is the example of the 01/06/21 terrorists, many of the participants were people of substantial economic means who could afford to travel and take time off work to joylessly participate in the attack. Much of the footage I saw from the 01/06/21 insurrection looked to me like a Christian prayer event, and this is where I think most of the causality can be found. This was proceeded by the “Jericho March” on the night of 01/05/21 to underscore the filthy religious nature of the entire enterprise – pray first, then take up arms and commit violence – the true Christian way. The author also documents the many pastors who encouraged their flocks to be good Christian warriors and attack the Capitol. One of the named Christian terrorist groups is the Black Robe Regiment and this name immediately remained me of the dirty black robe wearing parabalani, the volunteer militia of violent monks and Christian shock soldiers in the employ of Bishop Cyril who murdered Hypatia of Alexandria in 415. This is where we are today in Christian thinking, the fifth century. From what I can see, all Christian churches are potential terrorist cells. Religious mania and reawakening are independent of economic means and causes, or lack thereof. Religious believers are always susceptible to willful ignorance and magical thinking regardless of economic circumstances. There is also the obvious example of the super-rich who fund the anti-democratic movement based on their own reactionary right-wing religious beliefs. We have both the lower economic strata and the upper economic strata united in the same attack on democracy so how much of it can be attributed to economic disparity as the main cause? I think the lower and upper economic strata find common cause for based on religious belief and racial prejudice, i.e., culture wars. A central finding of the book is that the fascist movement is leadership driven and not a social phenomenon which suggests to me that this movement is not caused primarily by economic despair from the ground up.
The Trumpenproletiat
In the above discussion point, the lower classes are not aware of themselves as a separate class from the wealth class because they are unified by religious belief. The non-wealth class especially lacks class consciousness and is easily manipulated by the wealth class without understanding how they are being manipulated. The simple religious beliefs of the Trumpenproletiat are easily exploited by the wealth class. The Trumpenproletiat then become the anti-American antidemocratic unthinking foot soldiers of the Plutocrats who benefit from authoritarianism. With low educational attainment, the Christian Trumpenproletiat is easily and comically manipulated, targeted, and exploited with laughable conspiracy theories, religious mythology, and political lies. The unthinking lower strata of society are exploited by the wealth class and used as the foot soldiers of a new fascist theocracy of brutality and cruelty. For example, using the lumpen ignorant and violent mob of religious culture warriors to attack public education to make way for profit based private education with the emphasis on profit. The manipulated fools will soon find that those without membership in the wealth class have no right to have rights in the new nation of Trumpistan. Religious nationalism is now the primary tool of manipulation used to deploy the Trumpenproletiat against the open society.
The Social Gospel versus The Prosperity Gospel
The social gospel preaches economic justice for all, and the prosperity gospel preaches wealth as a sign of divine favor. As always, the Bible means whatever the interpreter of the Bible wants it to mean. The Bible is no help in that it supports both the social gospel and the prosperity gospel. However, helping the poor and less fortunate is now heresy for the wealth class now dominating and exploiting Christian belief. The wealth class Christians have the resources to make their point of view the orthodox theology with the principles of rapacious capitalism as holy writ. The rich are now the ‘elect’ of Christian wet dreams. With this, the only distinction left among Christians, e.g., Catholics and Protestants, is wealth, not their fabricated theology or fictitious beliefs. Every political issue is now a spiritual battle, but wealth is now a force multiplier in these belief battels. This of course translates into the Trump Gospel with God as the ultimate grift, the union of fantasy, faith, and financial gain. Money and God is a match made in Hell. The traditional American grift of separating suckers from their money has been replaced by separating suckers from what little brains they ever had.
Christianity as a Satanic Cult
It is often claimed that Christian nationalism is not Christian. I must disagree, the pathological sanctification it offers in support of authoritarianism, oppression, cruelty, racism, and misogyny as well as magical thinking is quintessentially Christian. This creates the historical cruelty and brutality of jaw dropping Christian nihilism and unreason. I wish public intellectuals, educators, writers, and reporters would stop making excuses for this odious religion. The exclusionary Christhian takeover of politics and policy is a historic feature of this destructive and hateful religion, it is not an exception in the current moment. Christianity is brainwashing people into becoming angry, hateful, violent, and destructive under the guise of virtue and righteousness. Christians not interested in imposing their beliefs on others are the exception, both historically and currently. Backlash to a sickly persecution complex is quintessentially Christian. The belief that they have a monopoly on morality is quintessentially Christian. Magical thinking and the rejection of reason is quintessentially Christian. If anything, Christianity looks more like a Satanic cult or deception of Satan in the manner Christians think about Satan. Every time Christians call something demonic, it is a case of projection. Ironically, it is of course the Christians in their various flavors of fundamentalist, nationalist, evangelical, Pentecostal, dominionists, etc. that view anybody different form themselves as demonic thus demonstrating how demonic Christianity is. I mean, who else but demonic lunatics use such tactics as aggressive intimidation, stalking, bullying, false accusations, hate rhetoric, harassment, doxing, vandalism, death threats, and the literal ‘demonization’ of other people to advance religious indoctrination. Sounds like a Satanic cult to me. Christian preachers who want to find demons and demonic possession only need to look in the mirror to see the real demons since looking in a mirror is the only type of self-reflection of which they are capable. Sorry, I don’t mean to give nihilism a bad name by associating it with Christianity, but Christianly is a form of reactionary anti-humanist nihilism. The standard bearer for Christianity is now a degenerate fascist aided by deranged and dangerous followers, craven pseudo journalists, and the most psychotic members of Congress. One good thing I can say about Trump is that he is helping to discredit Christianity. But Christianity is still a clear and present danger to public health, education, acceptance, openness, tolerance, progress, science, medicine, female equality, and anything that improves the quality of life. If MAGA is worried about dangerous ideas poisoning the purity of America, they should ban Christianity which is a foreign cult imported from the ancient near east.
Reason to be Pessimistic
Contra the author’s final chapter, “The Way Forward”, I see no reason for hope. Past American flirtations with authoritarians were localized, regional or periphery, e.g., the slaveholding South, the Robber Barons, the Jim Crow South, the America Firsters etc. In each of these cases, the center of governance was still able to act in the public interest whereas now the malefactors of hate, paranoia, and grievance are at the center of government, not on the periphery. As such, they do not need to be in the majority to succeed. A modern state, not perfect, but based on facts, logic, and reason deliberating policy for the public good is an exception in human history. I believe that we are experiencing a reversion to the mean in terms of human governance, a reversion to the warlord and the holy man. Civil order and a rational society is not the default condition of human existence; oppression, persecution, war, cruelty and violence are. High standards of living do not magically appear once government is out of the way so to speak, general prosperity and public health are in fact highly dependent on public institutions and the rule of law which guarantee the safety of all people. We take the existence of public institutions, like fish in water, for granted and do not realize how difficult a world it would be without a public sphere and how difficult it would be to rebuild, if not impossible to regain, beneficial public institutions once they are lost or thrown away. Here we go again, the public sphere is now viewed as demonic - the prime evil incarnate destroying everything good, right, and just. Who else but demons can think in such incoherent, dire, and stark terms? While traditional Christian denominations are losing members, hardline raging reactionary religion is growing. We now have pathology in place policy. For example, the U.S. has already become an aggressive and belligerent predatory state allied to an aggressively expansionist and oppressive Mother Russia creating the new Russian oligarchy-America plutocracy axis of evil and defenders of the faith. This is a country run by cuckes, crackpots fanatics, and lunatics in charge of a religiously sectarian privately controlled authoritarian corporate state. Or, as Kathrine Stewart quotes from King Lear, “when madmen lead the blind.”
-This review written by an active Antichrist She-Devil of the flesh in league with Satan. After all, demons are real. Rock On!
January 27, 2025
Katherine Stewart's Money, Lies, and God is a meticulously researched exposé that examines the hidden connections between religious nationalism, political power, and financial influence in America. Through detailed, documented reporting, Stewart uncovers the ways various factions—from reactionary religious activists to secular billionaires—collaborate to undermine democratic principles. She makes a compelling case that today's religious right is "an anti-American, antidemocratic, authoritarian party that exploits its spiritual claims over its congregants to advance its own power and its own political and economic agenda." A must-read for those seeking to understand the forces reshaping the nation's political landscape.
May 23, 2025
A tough book to listen to because there are so many characters and organizations to keep track of. I wish I'd read it instead. That being said, it's a hugely important book of what is basically a concerted effort to undermine democracy and replace it with (depending on the players) Bible-based governance, dissolution of public education, what is essentially an oligarchical power structure, taking apart the "Administrative State," and pretty much anything that hints at progressive/New Deal values. Describing this book is exceedingly difficult because doing so sounds like an endorsement of conspiracy thinking. The problem is, there really is a conspiracy involving both familiar (Heritage, Koch, DeVos, etc.) and unfamiliar actors, many of whom deliberately remain out of the spotlight. They're loosely affiliated, and several disguise themselves as grassroots (Moms for Liberty, for example) when in fact they're funded by powerful interests. They don't hide their cooperations and coordination, though they will disguise their intent with patriotic and pious sounding words. In the end they all support Trump and MAGA -- at least as means to an end. It's terrifying how successful they've been succeeding without attracting a lot of attention, often assisted by a very conservative Supreme Court.
“As a reporter," Stewart says in the introduction, "I like to look first and theorize later. I am interested in facts, not polemics.” She does indeed provide the facts: names, dates, documents, etc. She lets the actors speak for themselves about their plans an objectives.
For people who care about preserving traditional liberal democracy (defined by Encyclopedia Britannica as "a form of democracy in which the power of government is limited, and the freedom and rights of individuals are protected, by constitutionally established norms and institutions"), this is scary stuff.
“As a reporter," Stewart says in the introduction, "I like to look first and theorize later. I am interested in facts, not polemics.” She does indeed provide the facts: names, dates, documents, etc. She lets the actors speak for themselves about their plans an objectives.
For people who care about preserving traditional liberal democracy (defined by Encyclopedia Britannica as "a form of democracy in which the power of government is limited, and the freedom and rights of individuals are protected, by constitutionally established norms and institutions"), this is scary stuff.
May 28, 2025
This book examines the various groups which comprise the anti-democratic movement that has evolved in recent years into a political pathology. There is great diversity in focus of the various things these groups are for and against, but somehow in the end they all lean in an anti-democratic direction.
Christian nationalism is a partisan political identity that has become something that substitutes for religion. It is an intensely politicized religion centered on a newly concocted pro-life theology. It is more of a political mindset than a religion. mindset generally consists of four basic dispositions, catastrophism, a persecution complex. identitarianism, and an authoritarian reflex.
The author spends much of the book’s narrative telling of her visits and interviews at meetings of the various groups that comprise the anti-democratic movement. In the later part of the book there is discussion of similar movements in countries other that the United States.
At the end of the book the author tries to offer a bit of optimism by pointing out that the anti-democratic movement is highly fractured and divided, and ultimately vulnerable to organized and persistent resistance.
The following link is to a number of excerpts from the book that were collected by a Goodreads.com member whom I follow.
https://www.goodreads.com/notes/21534...
The best label I can find for the phenomenon, and I do not pretend it is a fully satisfactory label, is reactionary nihilism. It is reactionary in the sense that it expresses itself as mortal opposition to a perceived catastrophic change in the political order. It is nihilistic because its deepest premise is that the actual world is devoid of value, impervious to reason, and governable only through brutal acts of will. It stands for a kind of unraveling of the American political mind, a madness that now afflicts one side of nearly every political debate.Many pollsters and journalists try to identify the core supporters of this movement with labels such as Christian nationalists and white evangelicals. Christian nationalism is the dominant ideology cultivated among the rank and file of America’s anti-democratic movement. But the label is misleading. “Christian nationalism is not a religion. It is not Christianity. It is a political identity with a corresponding political ideology.” Many Christians don’t adhere to that ideology, and many patriotic individuals want nothing to do with the nationalism fostered by the ideology. Also, the author states that the term white evangelical “should no longer be regarded as interchangeable with Christian nationalist.” Other ethnic groups are moving in while many who consider themselves evangelicals are not part of the ideology.
Christian nationalism is a partisan political identity that has become something that substitutes for religion. It is an intensely politicized religion centered on a newly concocted pro-life theology. It is more of a political mindset than a religion. mindset generally consists of four basic dispositions, catastrophism, a persecution complex. identitarianism, and an authoritarian reflex.
The author spends much of the book’s narrative telling of her visits and interviews at meetings of the various groups that comprise the anti-democratic movement. In the later part of the book there is discussion of similar movements in countries other that the United States.
At the end of the book the author tries to offer a bit of optimism by pointing out that the anti-democratic movement is highly fractured and divided, and ultimately vulnerable to organized and persistent resistance.
The following link is to a number of excerpts from the book that were collected by a Goodreads.com member whom I follow.
https://www.goodreads.com/notes/21534...
March 26, 2025
Fascism 40 years in the making
This book was so difficult and infuriating to read. This is an updated book, recently published, about the rise and hostile takeover of right wing Chrstian Nationalist of the US government. It is highly researched, names names and clearly lays out a coordinated and well funded effort by billionaires, Christian nationalist and Catholic churches to roll out what are essentially the aims of Project 2025. This isn’t just a difference of opinions about public policy or social mores. This is literally a fascist Christian nationalist coalition that is fueled by reactionary nihilism and would like to restructure the American government and society and then sit at its head of power forever.
There isn’t much hope beyond the fact that lots of the people recently put into power are both stupid and incompetent and are not as monolithic as they appear. They are a coalition, not as harmonious as they appear. Hopefully a combination of their incompetence, vanity and rivalry will help fracture the movement over the next few years. The bigger issue is that this neo fascist movement is built on the politics of consumption and zero sum mentality. Something must always be consumed and there must always be a loser for this fascist movement to have life. Destruction is the natural course of the movement. Given how weak the opposition party is, I don’t see a quick way out of American neo fascism.
This is a good book but only read it if you have the mental fortitude, something in short supply at the moment.
This book was so difficult and infuriating to read. This is an updated book, recently published, about the rise and hostile takeover of right wing Chrstian Nationalist of the US government. It is highly researched, names names and clearly lays out a coordinated and well funded effort by billionaires, Christian nationalist and Catholic churches to roll out what are essentially the aims of Project 2025. This isn’t just a difference of opinions about public policy or social mores. This is literally a fascist Christian nationalist coalition that is fueled by reactionary nihilism and would like to restructure the American government and society and then sit at its head of power forever.
There isn’t much hope beyond the fact that lots of the people recently put into power are both stupid and incompetent and are not as monolithic as they appear. They are a coalition, not as harmonious as they appear. Hopefully a combination of their incompetence, vanity and rivalry will help fracture the movement over the next few years. The bigger issue is that this neo fascist movement is built on the politics of consumption and zero sum mentality. Something must always be consumed and there must always be a loser for this fascist movement to have life. Destruction is the natural course of the movement. Given how weak the opposition party is, I don’t see a quick way out of American neo fascism.
This is a good book but only read it if you have the mental fortitude, something in short supply at the moment.
December 31, 2024
“The desired end state of Christian nationalism today is neither to win a majority nor to secure a seat at the table in a pluralistic democracy but to entrench minority rule under the facade of democracy...consciously helping to lay the foundations for an antidemocratic future.”
I could have pulled quotes from nearly every page of this book as the author sets out to identify the various branches of Christian nationalism and their plans for moving this country to an antidemocracy minority rule. Whether they are in politics, on the school board, in the churches, or financing the ultra-right think tanks, among these people are readily recognizable public figures and others who help to finance the plans. They are the one percenters or the wealthy elite 0.01% of this country’s population.
This author has created a roadmap of the planning and activism taking place all across this country. Taking away women’s rights, the push for private school vouchers, the anti-woke rhetoric and legislation, and rewriting history to support a specific agenda are all parts of the plan to change the direction of the country.
In her eye-opening reporting Stewart takes us inside the meeting rooms and introduces the key players of what she considers to be the three driving groups: the funders, the thinkers, and the foot soldiers. If you want to be informed and understand how to interpret what is happening every single day this is a very insightful, if frightening, book to help translate the national news.
I could have pulled quotes from nearly every page of this book as the author sets out to identify the various branches of Christian nationalism and their plans for moving this country to an antidemocracy minority rule. Whether they are in politics, on the school board, in the churches, or financing the ultra-right think tanks, among these people are readily recognizable public figures and others who help to finance the plans. They are the one percenters or the wealthy elite 0.01% of this country’s population.
This author has created a roadmap of the planning and activism taking place all across this country. Taking away women’s rights, the push for private school vouchers, the anti-woke rhetoric and legislation, and rewriting history to support a specific agenda are all parts of the plan to change the direction of the country.
In her eye-opening reporting Stewart takes us inside the meeting rooms and introduces the key players of what she considers to be the three driving groups: the funders, the thinkers, and the foot soldiers. If you want to be informed and understand how to interpret what is happening every single day this is a very insightful, if frightening, book to help translate the national news.
February 19, 2025
Money, Lies, and God is essential reading for anyone confused about the alliance on the right between Christian nationalists, republican politicians, and billionaires. As someone who considers themselves more knowledgeable than the average person on this topic, I still learned quite a bit. I wasn't as familiar with billionaires' roles (outside of funding) within this movement but now I'm seeing the overlap in talking points that are popping up in the conservative/"enlightened centrist" crowd. Overall, I think this is Stewart's best book and highly recommend it!
March 20, 2025
A remarkable book. Stewart gives us a walk through the world of Christian nationalism, it's roots, financiers, actors, plans, and goals. Ninety of the books 338 pages are copious footnotes.e I checked a few and they checked out.
The story of the rise in Christian nationalism in the U.S. is pretty long but has come to the forefront since the reelection of Trump. Stewart tracks the moral collapse of conservative politics and conservative Christianity (e.g. Moral Majority, etc.). The two movements have been in bed together so long they're hard to tell apart.
"Money, Lies, and Guns" is a real life terror read. Conservatives have given way to reactionaries within American politics and religion. The marriage of these two movements has created what author Katherine Stewart calls "the first power couple of American fascism."
While some of the goals cross the different streams within the movement, many do not. It is not a totally united entity. But the goals they share are the antithesis of what the Founders intended. Any ideas rooted in the Enlightenment would be overturned and destroyed within American society to the greatest extent possible in the future they envision. No freedom of speech, no freedom of religion, no separation of church and state, no voting except by straight, white, Christian, and male. No civil rights, compulsory church membership including tithing. A nightmare.
Highly recommended for anyone who's watching current events and having an extended Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moment. A very good explanation of a significant part of world wide erosion of democracies.
The story of the rise in Christian nationalism in the U.S. is pretty long but has come to the forefront since the reelection of Trump. Stewart tracks the moral collapse of conservative politics and conservative Christianity (e.g. Moral Majority, etc.). The two movements have been in bed together so long they're hard to tell apart.
"Money, Lies, and Guns" is a real life terror read. Conservatives have given way to reactionaries within American politics and religion. The marriage of these two movements has created what author Katherine Stewart calls "the first power couple of American fascism."
While some of the goals cross the different streams within the movement, many do not. It is not a totally united entity. But the goals they share are the antithesis of what the Founders intended. Any ideas rooted in the Enlightenment would be overturned and destroyed within American society to the greatest extent possible in the future they envision. No freedom of speech, no freedom of religion, no separation of church and state, no voting except by straight, white, Christian, and male. No civil rights, compulsory church membership including tithing. A nightmare.
Highly recommended for anyone who's watching current events and having an extended Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moment. A very good explanation of a significant part of world wide erosion of democracies.
April 11, 2025
Gender identity is at the heart of most of the hate that the powerful use when manipulating the hateful in the reshaping for their new world order through any means necessary so that they can destroy democracy and implement their version of Hegelian Phenomenology. It doesn’t matter as the author states that they don’t understand Hegel. Here’s a tip, when ‘think tanks’ quote Hegel in support of their weird-view, realize that the number one rule concerning Hegel is never take him too seriously and that those who are quoting him understand him wrongly.
I can’t stand Joe Rogan. He’s not mentioned in this book, I think he should have been. He undermines trust in reason, logic and science and is as much of the problem as the billionaires who control the Claremont Institute, or the billionaires who are systematically destroying the Catholic Church from outside of the church by funding seminaries with agendas and poisoning the minds of the faithful through propaganda as documented in this book. Did you know Thomas Aquinas supported abortion? There’s a reason why he did and it’s in the Bible, but I digress. Rogan believes what he says and he is ‘just asking questions,’ while destroying lives. Transgender humans become needless victims in the war against self-identity by the part of ignorant gender deniers who see the world differently from the comforting re-affirming binary assumptions they grew up with. Richard Dawkins, Stephen Pinker, JK Rowling, and Joe Rogan, all undermine the humanness of individuals being who they sexually identify with and they are part of the divisiveness through their purity of thought.
A very funny line the author states: “Trump the Platonist, who knew,” it’s in the context of conservative ‘intellectuals’ appealing to their version of philosophy justifying their world re-formation into their own stifling image as they embrace their own version of hate toward others not like themselves.
As the author states “the paradox for a demon-haunted-world is that demons are running the world.” For true-believers the demons include all defenders of gender identity such as homosexuals, Democrats, feminists, transgender, and anyone who questions the privileges of the self-appointed privileged class, the class who demand acquiescence through their stifling conforming norms of yesteryear.
The bottom-up approach by the reality deniers who follow Joe Rogan, or the evangelical Christians who know that they know that they know aren’t given agency in this book and the author thinks that the billionaire manipulators (or church leaders) have the sole responsibility. In this case, I think the fish rots in the head and in the body and the hoi polloi are anti-democratic and want an authoritarian Red Caesar since they believe the Egyptian pyramids could have been built by ancient aliens, or fluoride is bad for your teeth, or small pox vaccines don’t work, or tariffs are magically paid, or donkeys and serpents talk.
Their belief foundations are mythical and their feelings support their hate of the other who make them believe in demons, but demons aren’t real.
This book shows how from the top-down approach organized power-driven manipulators use hate and division while reason and kindness get trumped by money, power, and organization.
I can’t stand Joe Rogan. He’s not mentioned in this book, I think he should have been. He undermines trust in reason, logic and science and is as much of the problem as the billionaires who control the Claremont Institute, or the billionaires who are systematically destroying the Catholic Church from outside of the church by funding seminaries with agendas and poisoning the minds of the faithful through propaganda as documented in this book. Did you know Thomas Aquinas supported abortion? There’s a reason why he did and it’s in the Bible, but I digress. Rogan believes what he says and he is ‘just asking questions,’ while destroying lives. Transgender humans become needless victims in the war against self-identity by the part of ignorant gender deniers who see the world differently from the comforting re-affirming binary assumptions they grew up with. Richard Dawkins, Stephen Pinker, JK Rowling, and Joe Rogan, all undermine the humanness of individuals being who they sexually identify with and they are part of the divisiveness through their purity of thought.
A very funny line the author states: “Trump the Platonist, who knew,” it’s in the context of conservative ‘intellectuals’ appealing to their version of philosophy justifying their world re-formation into their own stifling image as they embrace their own version of hate toward others not like themselves.
As the author states “the paradox for a demon-haunted-world is that demons are running the world.” For true-believers the demons include all defenders of gender identity such as homosexuals, Democrats, feminists, transgender, and anyone who questions the privileges of the self-appointed privileged class, the class who demand acquiescence through their stifling conforming norms of yesteryear.
The bottom-up approach by the reality deniers who follow Joe Rogan, or the evangelical Christians who know that they know that they know aren’t given agency in this book and the author thinks that the billionaire manipulators (or church leaders) have the sole responsibility. In this case, I think the fish rots in the head and in the body and the hoi polloi are anti-democratic and want an authoritarian Red Caesar since they believe the Egyptian pyramids could have been built by ancient aliens, or fluoride is bad for your teeth, or small pox vaccines don’t work, or tariffs are magically paid, or donkeys and serpents talk.
Their belief foundations are mythical and their feelings support their hate of the other who make them believe in demons, but demons aren’t real.
This book shows how from the top-down approach organized power-driven manipulators use hate and division while reason and kindness get trumped by money, power, and organization.
August 7, 2025
I had a hard time with this one. Starting to think I shouldn't pick up non-fiction, my most common criticism is that most people pick up these books that don't need to read them. It is often a "preaching to the choir" pardon the comparison.
For 250 pages, Stewart lays out a network of incredible misinformation, emotionally fear driven tactics, and a strong contingent of Americans who vote against their interests and are both very powerful and brainwashed. It is hopeless, horrible. You may think things are bad, and she will lay out for you in 250 pages how things are so much worse than you even thought. It is soul crushing information.
Then for 15 pages, the conclusion, which is supposed to give you hope, made me feel more hopeless than ever. "Separation of church and state is a good idea, we should try it." Yeah. But we won't, though.
this book made me want to cancel all my social media, quit my job and move to another country and just live in a hut.
For 250 pages, Stewart lays out a network of incredible misinformation, emotionally fear driven tactics, and a strong contingent of Americans who vote against their interests and are both very powerful and brainwashed. It is hopeless, horrible. You may think things are bad, and she will lay out for you in 250 pages how things are so much worse than you even thought. It is soul crushing information.
Then for 15 pages, the conclusion, which is supposed to give you hope, made me feel more hopeless than ever. "Separation of church and state is a good idea, we should try it." Yeah. But we won't, though.
this book made me want to cancel all my social media, quit my job and move to another country and just live in a hut.
April 18, 2025
Кое тласка хората към регрес, изолация и трибализъм (“моето племе е по-горе от твоето племе и ако се наложи, ще ви изядем”), авторитаризъм и - в крайна сметка - обратно към най-лошата версия средновековието? И ги кара да избират (докато това право още не им е отнето) водачи, които им обещават отмъщение, разделение и разруха? Колкото повече омраза им се поднася като обещание, толкова възторгът им е по-голям. Ето ти го и Тръмп, който май не е най-опасният от целия щатски отбор на тъпи, упорити и овластени.
Стюърт прави опит да покаже различните течения на крайната десница в САЩ, сред която в хармония битуват расизъм, конспиративни теории, женомразство, ксенофобия, религиозен фундаментализъм и откровена гласовита идиотия. Ултрарелигиозните изпитват носталгия по времената, когато религията е била начело на парада, и започват да четат Библията както дявола евангелието, хвърляйки в пламъците всичко, което не им харесва. Мъже, които изпитват затруднения да си хванат гадже, или ако поискат да го набият - то бяга и търси правосъдие, или не ще да дава всички пари вкъщи - мечтаят за смърт на феминизма и забрана на абортите, на контрацептивите и на разводите. Истерични пастори громят науката, че покварялавала умовете, а аналитичното мислене е от дявола. Самодоволни родители настояват децата им да учат религия, да не учат за робството и да се подчиняват. И всички те заедно мразят хомосексуалистите и всякакви хора с по-нетрадиционна ориентация.
Проблемът в САЩ е, че всички тези “онеправдани” реваншисти дето си искат привилегиите, които в миналото удобно са давали на всяко нищожество чувство за значимост без никаква лична заслуга за това, са 1/ много, 2/ активно си сътрудничат, 3/ активно индоктринират, 4/ намерили са си и куп свръхбогати спонсори-съмишленици. Реакционерстворо не е единно течение, но това не му пречи да счупи света.
И все пак след цялото това четене не разбрах какво всъщност мотивира и обединява всички тези типажи. Авторката не е искала да бръкне в дълбокото и да покаже как “цъкат”, а се е плъзнала основно по повърхността на публичните събития и материали. Те сами по себе си са крайно плашещи - а “активистите” им усилено се окопават и агресивно пробиват извън САЩ (засега в Англия и Ирландия) чрез дъщерни църкви и разни НПО-та и фондации. Тъй че мекотата и свободата на словото не са приложими, защото тези типове не искат дискусия и диалог, а подчинение и еднолична власт. За тях е приложим единствено отпорът с бухалката. И все пак - коя е сърцевината на тази масова психоза? Все още ми е загадка.
Но не ме учудва. Нюрнбергските расови закони на нацистите водят началото си от щатските расистки закони на Джим Кроу. Често се забравя, че САЩ никога не са били цялостна демокрация и че крайностите във вътрешната и външната им политика винаги са били налице. И не само в САЩ…
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▶️ Цитати:
🏴☠️“The bulk of this movement is best understood in terms of what it wishes to destroy rather than what it proposes to create. Fear and grievance, not hope, are the moving parts of its story. ”
💣“it’s identity and not policy that drives divisions”
♟️“The first step is to build an information bubble within which supporters may be maintained in a state of fact-denial.”
🏴☠️“Step two is that this base must be conditioned to expect an imminent, cataclysmic event that will threaten its identity and everything it values.”
💣“A third step is to transfer the perceived source of political legitimacy from democratic processes like elections and law enforcement mechanisms to “higher” authorities that allegedly represent the “true” spirit of the nation”
♟️“the ideas always blow in the direction that big money favors, and what big money wants more than anything is obedience.”
🏴☠️“Christian nationalism and the New Right are the power couple of American fascism.”
💣“the world the men of Claremont think they inhabit—…—appears to recognize no truth beyond power and no value other than victory.”
♟️“They put a top hat on Jefferson Davis and call him Abraham Lincoln.”
🏴☠️“Authoritarian movements always begin with a feeling of persecution and always thrive on the demonization of seemingly all-powerful others. Terms like white supremacy, patriarchy, and ethnonationalism suggest confident programs arrogantly indifferent to outsiders and aimed at consolidating existing privilege.”
💣“Yes, the rationality of the modern state is limited. … But what the New Right seems to want is a state that appeals only to signs from heaven and holds itself accountable to the needs of the local warlord equivalent and his favored holy men.”
♟️“For them, the personal is the political.”
🏴☠️“The deconstruction of the administrative state, in short, is just the destruction of public administration and its replacement with a privately controlled, corporate-managed state.”
💣“Fascism always looks promising for big money,”
Стюърт прави опит да покаже различните течения на крайната десница в САЩ, сред която в хармония битуват расизъм, конспиративни теории, женомразство, ксенофобия, религиозен фундаментализъм и откровена гласовита идиотия. Ултрарелигиозните изпитват носталгия по времената, когато религията е била начело на парада, и започват да четат Библията както дявола евангелието, хвърляйки в пламъците всичко, което не им харесва. Мъже, които изпитват затруднения да си хванат гадже, или ако поискат да го набият - то бяга и търси правосъдие, или не ще да дава всички пари вкъщи - мечтаят за смърт на феминизма и забрана на абортите, на контрацептивите и на разводите. Истерични пастори громят науката, че покварялавала умовете, а аналитичното мислене е от дявола. Самодоволни родители настояват децата им да учат религия, да не учат за робството и да се подчиняват. И всички те заедно мразят хомосексуалистите и всякакви хора с по-нетрадиционна ориентация.
Проблемът в САЩ е, че всички тези “онеправдани” реваншисти дето си искат привилегиите, които в миналото удобно са давали на всяко нищожество чувство за значимост без никаква лична заслуга за това, са 1/ много, 2/ активно си сътрудничат, 3/ активно индоктринират, 4/ намерили са си и куп свръхбогати спонсори-съмишленици. Реакционерстворо не е единно течение, но това не му пречи да счупи света.
И все пак след цялото това четене не разбрах какво всъщност мотивира и обединява всички тези типажи. Авторката не е искала да бръкне в дълбокото и да покаже как “цъкат”, а се е плъзнала основно по повърхността на публичните събития и материали. Те сами по себе си са крайно плашещи - а “активистите” им усилено се окопават и агресивно пробиват извън САЩ (засега в Англия и Ирландия) чрез дъщерни църкви и разни НПО-та и фондации. Тъй че мекотата и свободата на словото не са приложими, защото тези типове не искат дискусия и диалог, а подчинение и еднолична власт. За тях е приложим единствено отпорът с бухалката. И все пак - коя е сърцевината на тази масова психоза? Все още ми е загадка.
Но не ме учудва. Нюрнбергските расови закони на нацистите водят началото си от щатските расистки закони на Джим Кроу. Често се забравя, че САЩ никога не са били цялостна демокрация и че крайностите във вътрешната и външната им политика винаги са били налице. И не само в САЩ…
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▶️ Цитати:
🏴☠️“The bulk of this movement is best understood in terms of what it wishes to destroy rather than what it proposes to create. Fear and grievance, not hope, are the moving parts of its story. ”
💣“it’s identity and not policy that drives divisions”
♟️“The first step is to build an information bubble within which supporters may be maintained in a state of fact-denial.”
🏴☠️“Step two is that this base must be conditioned to expect an imminent, cataclysmic event that will threaten its identity and everything it values.”
💣“A third step is to transfer the perceived source of political legitimacy from democratic processes like elections and law enforcement mechanisms to “higher” authorities that allegedly represent the “true” spirit of the nation”
♟️“the ideas always blow in the direction that big money favors, and what big money wants more than anything is obedience.”
🏴☠️“Christian nationalism and the New Right are the power couple of American fascism.”
💣“the world the men of Claremont think they inhabit—…—appears to recognize no truth beyond power and no value other than victory.”
♟️“They put a top hat on Jefferson Davis and call him Abraham Lincoln.”
🏴☠️“Authoritarian movements always begin with a feeling of persecution and always thrive on the demonization of seemingly all-powerful others. Terms like white supremacy, patriarchy, and ethnonationalism suggest confident programs arrogantly indifferent to outsiders and aimed at consolidating existing privilege.”
💣“Yes, the rationality of the modern state is limited. … But what the New Right seems to want is a state that appeals only to signs from heaven and holds itself accountable to the needs of the local warlord equivalent and his favored holy men.”
♟️“For them, the personal is the political.”
🏴☠️“The deconstruction of the administrative state, in short, is just the destruction of public administration and its replacement with a privately controlled, corporate-managed state.”
💣“Fascism always looks promising for big money,”
August 13, 2025
Thoroughly researched, well-written, dispiriting at times, and speaking to today's issues, Stewart's book is recommended to anyone who wants to understand where conservative dark money goes (into dominionism, reactionary forces worldwide, religious schools, the Republican Party). Spotlighting various fronts, or think thanks, and their representatives does a public service.
April 16, 2025
This was really a scary book. Katherine did an excellent job being the boots on the ground inside some of these insidious and hostile meetings. She cited a massive number of sources and really did a great job getting her facts straight and forming a cohesive, narrative structure.
Growing up nonreligious in an incredibly religious community, it was easy to see how little respect / consideration was given to those who live outside of the religion. It almost felt less like they wanted me to convert, and more like they wanted to control me by following their rules, regardless of my own belief. As this book lays out, we already see that happening on a national level with the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the war on rights for LGBTQ people. They will use any means, like money and lies or deception, to achieve those aims. The rich are happy to do so if it means expanding or clinging on to their power. It’s heartbreaking to see our freedoms taken away and the same playbook being exported to other countries.
I’m glad we have brave journalists like Katherine going into the thick of it and relaying to the world what is really happening behind closed doors.
Growing up nonreligious in an incredibly religious community, it was easy to see how little respect / consideration was given to those who live outside of the religion. It almost felt less like they wanted me to convert, and more like they wanted to control me by following their rules, regardless of my own belief. As this book lays out, we already see that happening on a national level with the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the war on rights for LGBTQ people. They will use any means, like money and lies or deception, to achieve those aims. The rich are happy to do so if it means expanding or clinging on to their power. It’s heartbreaking to see our freedoms taken away and the same playbook being exported to other countries.
I’m glad we have brave journalists like Katherine going into the thick of it and relaying to the world what is really happening behind closed doors.
May 21, 2025
A necessary read if you’re concerned about American democracy.
Tl;dr: The Christian Church’s thousands of American iterations, from the tiny to the massive, are more than ever de facto Political Action Committees.
Whether you go to those churches or not, you functionally subsidize their existence as an American taxpayer.
And with DeVos and now Linda McMahon at the helm of the Ed Dept, Christian and atheist Americans alike are funding Christian indoctrination machines via publicly funded parochial school vouchers. Those Christian schools espouse a doctrine that seeks to restrict the right to marry whom you want, give birth when you want, and, if you have a vagina, even whether you have the right to vote.
Scary? Yep. Christofascist? Mmhm. Salvageable? Not without first knowing the stakes and the order of battle, which is what Stewart lays out so well here. Please read!
Tl;dr: The Christian Church’s thousands of American iterations, from the tiny to the massive, are more than ever de facto Political Action Committees.
Whether you go to those churches or not, you functionally subsidize their existence as an American taxpayer.
And with DeVos and now Linda McMahon at the helm of the Ed Dept, Christian and atheist Americans alike are funding Christian indoctrination machines via publicly funded parochial school vouchers. Those Christian schools espouse a doctrine that seeks to restrict the right to marry whom you want, give birth when you want, and, if you have a vagina, even whether you have the right to vote.
Scary? Yep. Christofascist? Mmhm. Salvageable? Not without first knowing the stakes and the order of battle, which is what Stewart lays out so well here. Please read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2025
Essential Reading to Understand the Madness
America, as Katherine Stewart sees it, is in the midst of a psychotic break, and it’s through journalist integrity, investigation, and interviews that Stewart uncovers the root of our malady.
For anyone struggling to understand how this country has fallen so far into fascism, this book is an essential read. I think I’ve highlighted more sentences than I’ve left blank, and I keep pasting passages to share Stewart’s insights and powerful prose with others.
Read this book. And call your Congressmen. But really, read this book!
America, as Katherine Stewart sees it, is in the midst of a psychotic break, and it’s through journalist integrity, investigation, and interviews that Stewart uncovers the root of our malady.
For anyone struggling to understand how this country has fallen so far into fascism, this book is an essential read. I think I’ve highlighted more sentences than I’ve left blank, and I keep pasting passages to share Stewart’s insights and powerful prose with others.
Read this book. And call your Congressmen. But really, read this book!
March 1, 2025
Even though I rate this book highly, I would advise most of you who are my friends not to bother reading it, unless you are seriously into politics and US politics.
By the way, I often get asked why I never review political books from my own country.
Firstly, I don’t read them. Politics in SA is a waste of time crap show.
I also have disengaged from SA and what happens because of, firstly, being the victim of BEE. Even with high marks and a disability, the colour issue has prevented me from finding suitable employment.
It also does not help when politicians here talk about ‘cutting the throats of white privilege,’ or openly singing ‘shoot the Boer.’
Never mind the high crime rate and not feeling too safe when walking around. This place is good for a holiday, but not actually to live. Most of my friends have left this place, and I also wish I was in a position to do exactly that as well. I would do it with zero hesitation or regrets.
Anyway this book. Why do I recommend you my friends not bother reading it?
Ok, I know America has done an unusual thing by electing Trump again and I know I didn’t anticipate that, but surely, a country as amazing and diverse as America, all the amazing people would surely realize before it is too late to actually be ruled by Christian Nationalism and be lead to adopt such laws and outlooks?
The book is very interesting, but I do think, for the totality of America, it is more just fear-mongering.
By the way, I often get asked why I never review political books from my own country.
Firstly, I don’t read them. Politics in SA is a waste of time crap show.
I also have disengaged from SA and what happens because of, firstly, being the victim of BEE. Even with high marks and a disability, the colour issue has prevented me from finding suitable employment.
It also does not help when politicians here talk about ‘cutting the throats of white privilege,’ or openly singing ‘shoot the Boer.’
Never mind the high crime rate and not feeling too safe when walking around. This place is good for a holiday, but not actually to live. Most of my friends have left this place, and I also wish I was in a position to do exactly that as well. I would do it with zero hesitation or regrets.
Anyway this book. Why do I recommend you my friends not bother reading it?
Ok, I know America has done an unusual thing by electing Trump again and I know I didn’t anticipate that, but surely, a country as amazing and diverse as America, all the amazing people would surely realize before it is too late to actually be ruled by Christian Nationalism and be lead to adopt such laws and outlooks?
The book is very interesting, but I do think, for the totality of America, it is more just fear-mongering.
November 4, 2025
This non fiction academic book is important if you are concerned about the state of our current democracy. I have recommended it to a few people as I didn’t want to be reading it alone. That being said, be warned it’s very depressing. But depressing shouldn’t prevent you from being educated. Knowledge is power.
March 8, 2025
A well-researched report on how the anti-democracy movement has been systematically financed and infiltrated within certain factions of the church and has been decades in the making. The pro-democracy side may need to take SOME lessons from this playbook.
May 15, 2025
I made 135 highlights in this book. It was eye-opening and incredibly well-researched. I cannot recommend this enough.
December 21, 2025
Investigative accounting at its best. Kind of horrifying pulling back the curtain on where the far right money comes from and how it gets used. By some miracle, the author did at least manage to write a mostly hopeful conclusion.
February 25, 2025
Arguably one of the most critical books to read regarding America’s current political climate. Intelligently answers the question, “How did we end up here?” If you’re concerned about the state of American democracy, this book will help you understand the history behind what’s happening now and its grave implications for the future.
April 14, 2025
This book was so interesting to me. I feel that it is important for everyone to read, however, those that should read this book, and actually listen, probably will not. It did such a good job of explaining how people can easily be distracted by extraneous information that roils people up enough to make them lose the plot on what the actual issues are.
July 3, 2025
I approached Money, Lies, and God with high expectations and for the most part, Katherine Stewart delivered. For the majority of the book, I found myself nodding along—her argument is precise, urgent, and backed by sharp insight. She correctly identifies the deeply dangerous fusion of oligarchy and religious fundamentalism, showing how this alliance is weaponized to undermine democracy while masquerading as its defender. Stewart skillfully exposes how economic anxiety in rural communities is exploited to pass policies that entrench elite power and strip civil liberties.
For about 200 pages, this was easily a five-star book.
However, the final stretch—particularly the last 30 pages—reveals troubling contradictions that undercut the moral clarity of her earlier arguments. Stewart criticizes a third-party candidate for referring to President Biden as “Genocide Joe,” dismissing it as political extremism. But this critique ignores a glaring and inconvenient truth: a significant portion of the Democratic base (with polling showing a dramatic swing in favor of Palestinians) views Biden’s support for Israel's assault on Gaza as deeply immoral. To dismiss that position is not only out of step with public sentiment—it also betrays the very values of justice and anti-authoritarianism Stewart champions.
Why is it controversial to protest your tax dollars funding apartheid and the bombing of civilians? If Stewart urges us to oppose fascism in all its forms, why is the Israeli government exempt from that critique?
More troubling is her characterization of peace and justice groups like Code Pink. Rather than acknowledging their grassroots activism against war and human rights abuses, she implies they serve foreign interests—a smear tactic historically used to silence dissent. Ironically, this mirrors the very authoritarianism she condemns elsewhere in the book.
Stewart also echoes the long-debunked Russiagate narrative while omitting any mention of the clear and ongoing influence of the Israeli government on U.S. politics. From Trump moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem to his unilateral withdrawal from the Iran deal, there is a pattern of policy decisions that align tightly with Israeli interests—yet Stewart does not mention this once. If foreign interference is such a pressing concern, then why not address AIPAC, Israeli lobbying power, or the fact that some prominent American journalists have military ties to the IDF?
These omissions weaken the book’s credibility and raise questions about consistency. Stewart is entirely right about the authoritarian creep of Christian nationalism in America—but if she cannot apply that same scrutiny to theocratic power abroad, especially when it intersects with U.S. policy and media, her argument begins to feel hollow.
In the end, Money, Lies, and God is a vital and brave book—but one marred by selective outrage and blind spots. I’m left feeling conflicted: it’s a 5-star book undermined by a final act that contradicts the very ideals it set out to defend.
3.4 stars
For about 200 pages, this was easily a five-star book.
However, the final stretch—particularly the last 30 pages—reveals troubling contradictions that undercut the moral clarity of her earlier arguments. Stewart criticizes a third-party candidate for referring to President Biden as “Genocide Joe,” dismissing it as political extremism. But this critique ignores a glaring and inconvenient truth: a significant portion of the Democratic base (with polling showing a dramatic swing in favor of Palestinians) views Biden’s support for Israel's assault on Gaza as deeply immoral. To dismiss that position is not only out of step with public sentiment—it also betrays the very values of justice and anti-authoritarianism Stewart champions.
Why is it controversial to protest your tax dollars funding apartheid and the bombing of civilians? If Stewart urges us to oppose fascism in all its forms, why is the Israeli government exempt from that critique?
More troubling is her characterization of peace and justice groups like Code Pink. Rather than acknowledging their grassroots activism against war and human rights abuses, she implies they serve foreign interests—a smear tactic historically used to silence dissent. Ironically, this mirrors the very authoritarianism she condemns elsewhere in the book.
Stewart also echoes the long-debunked Russiagate narrative while omitting any mention of the clear and ongoing influence of the Israeli government on U.S. politics. From Trump moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem to his unilateral withdrawal from the Iran deal, there is a pattern of policy decisions that align tightly with Israeli interests—yet Stewart does not mention this once. If foreign interference is such a pressing concern, then why not address AIPAC, Israeli lobbying power, or the fact that some prominent American journalists have military ties to the IDF?
These omissions weaken the book’s credibility and raise questions about consistency. Stewart is entirely right about the authoritarian creep of Christian nationalism in America—but if she cannot apply that same scrutiny to theocratic power abroad, especially when it intersects with U.S. policy and media, her argument begins to feel hollow.
In the end, Money, Lies, and God is a vital and brave book—but one marred by selective outrage and blind spots. I’m left feeling conflicted: it’s a 5-star book undermined by a final act that contradicts the very ideals it set out to defend.
3.4 stars
March 22, 2025
I read this book in preparation for a group discussion (along with the sharing of select microbrews). It was fascinating to see how many well-funded and organized movements—some claiming to be "Christian"—are aligning themselves with current authoritarian and anti-democratic political forces in the US and abroad. I appreciated the very thorough documentation.
But I also despaired as I read.
I despaired because I am a person of faith, a Christian, even a former pastor and educator at a respected theological seminary. I was not naive about Christian nationalism and the religious far-right; I had to confront some of those forces head-on in the early 1980s. But the sweep and power of these movements is cause for despair, not only because of the damage they do, but also because they self-create a category into which many who do not agree can be dropped by those who see religion in general as a major problem.
People like me, who shudder at what is happening.
The author offers, in her conclusion, recommendations for responding to these movements. She also makes a brief comment about the religious folks out there who aren't drinking the far-right Kool Aid, but I found that to be of little comfort. I would have appreciated just a couple of pages (or even a lengthy footnote!) that identified Christian groups that standing against these negative forces and actually doing good in the world.
So, maybe the antidote for my despair is to stand against authoritarianism and try to do some good in the world. I think I'll give that a try.
But I also despaired as I read.
I despaired because I am a person of faith, a Christian, even a former pastor and educator at a respected theological seminary. I was not naive about Christian nationalism and the religious far-right; I had to confront some of those forces head-on in the early 1980s. But the sweep and power of these movements is cause for despair, not only because of the damage they do, but also because they self-create a category into which many who do not agree can be dropped by those who see religion in general as a major problem.
People like me, who shudder at what is happening.
The author offers, in her conclusion, recommendations for responding to these movements. She also makes a brief comment about the religious folks out there who aren't drinking the far-right Kool Aid, but I found that to be of little comfort. I would have appreciated just a couple of pages (or even a lengthy footnote!) that identified Christian groups that standing against these negative forces and actually doing good in the world.
So, maybe the antidote for my despair is to stand against authoritarianism and try to do some good in the world. I think I'll give that a try.
April 4, 2025
This was a difficult read. So challenging and frightening to see our democracy being undermined by extremist, well funded antigovernment forces and movements via libertarian billionaires.
The continuous attack on public institutions to replace our democratic norms with authoritarianism is widespread.
It wearied me to read about the ceaseless attacks on the most vulnerable of our citizens, and scary to hear people say they speak for God who apparently wants vast numbers of his children to burn.
Very well researched, but emotionally exhausting.
The continuous attack on public institutions to replace our democratic norms with authoritarianism is widespread.
It wearied me to read about the ceaseless attacks on the most vulnerable of our citizens, and scary to hear people say they speak for God who apparently wants vast numbers of his children to burn.
Very well researched, but emotionally exhausting.
June 6, 2025
She certainly did her homework following the money and singling out the key players and the dynamics at play in the growing Christian Nationalist movement, perhaps going a little to broad and deep into the background of these actors. But I guess that is her point - this wave has many tentacles not always operating as a coordinated effort but still managing to have a huge influence on the impressionable and unenlightened.
Very concerning. God help us...
Very concerning. God help us...
March 5, 2025
4.5 stars. A very good breakdown of puppeteers, mouthpieces, thinktanks, dark money, and how it all flows into propping up a christian nationaist state. I have read the Power Worshippers by Katherine Stewart and this stands as a companion of recent history. Although, the last chapters are a bit too optimistic by my estimation in convincing the faithful to abandon reactionary politics.
March 29, 2025
Just in case you haven’t worked out the way conservatives have co-opted religious groups in pursuits solely of power and money, then this book is an excellent analysis of that. It’s a really important read for anyone who isn’t an aspiring oligarch, though maybe if they read this it would change their path.
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