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[ music playing ]
[ cheers and applause ]
Paula White: Let us pray,
because God is gonna be in today.
Let we the people have the assurance
of a fair and a just election.
Hear our cry and turn our hearts to you.
[ cheers and applause ]
Donald Trump: Nobody knows what the hell is going on.
There's never been anything like this.
We will not let them silence your voices.
We're not gonna let it happen.
All: Christ for Trump! Christ for Trump!
Donald Trump: Not gonna let it happen.
- Christ for Trump! - [ crowd yelling ]
[ yelling continues ]
Elizabeth Neumann: Faith is primary for me.
Faith is the first thing that I build my life around.
My reaction to January 6th was-- my stomach churned.
I was nauseous. I wanted to throw up.
People had Christian flags,
they were praying on bullhorns outside the Capitol
while beatings were occurring inside the Capitol.
It was a co-opting of my faith
that is supposed to be a faith of peace.
From a security standpoint, it was also devastating.
We spent 20 years preparing for another bad day,
building up intel systems, law enforcement capabilities,
the protective measures,
and that failure was utterly on display.
[ crowd shouting ]
- Thank you, Heavenly Father! - Amen.
Thank you for allowing the United States of America
to be reborn and get rid of the communists, the globalists,
and the traitors within our government.
Crowd: Treason! Treason! Treason!
Narrator: The galvanizing force behind
the assault on the U.S. Capitol
was a political movement known as Christian nationalism.
Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is...
The leaders had a long range plan
to seize power and impose their political vision
by any means necessary.
They knew that the only way to create
a theocratic Christian nation
was to overthrow our democracy,
and that's what they set out to do.
We love you, and we thank you. In Christ's holy name we pray.
All: Amen!
[ music playing ]
William Billings: When government is in the hands of Godly men, it is good.
but in the hands of all others, it is evil.
What we're talking about here is spreading the Gospel in political context.
Make no mistake about it.
We are talking about Christianizing America.
I'm sick and tired of hearing about all of the perverts
and the liberals and the leftists
and the communists coming out of the closet!
It's time for God's people to come out of the closet,
out of the churches, and change America!
[ cheers and applause ]
We are at war, you have to choose sides,
and you have to get in the fight.
Man: I am a Christian nationalist.
Give me the flag, and I'll carry it all the way to Calvary.
Man: We're gonna have a new country.
It's gonna be a Christian nation.
Fuck democracy. I stand with Jesus Christ.
[ radio tuning ]
Alex Jones: They are tearing down the wall at the border,
and building a wall around the United States Capitol.
[ radio tuning ]
Announcer: America First. MAGA-nificent.
Tucker Carlson: How precisely is diversity our strength?
Do you get along better with your neighbors
if you can't understand each other?
[ radio tuning ]
Announcer: Patriot Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
God always comes first, but country is a close second.
Ken Peters: Do I have any soldiers in the house this morning?
[ applause ]
If you're not a soldier, hang out here.
You'll end up a soldier.
So I was there in the Capitol incident
that happened in D.C.
There were some people there
that were breaking windows
and climbing walls and being destructive.
That's not what Christians do.
But what I was determined to do is to stand.
We have a right in this country to stand at that Capitol
and let our voices be heard.
And by the way, that's all our president asked us to do.
- Man: Yeah. - Is to let our voices be heard.
- Yes, yes. - Our forefathers built this country upon Christianity
and for Christians, and said that if we ever left that,
the constitution wouldn't work, and we're seeing that today.
People wanna come here because we founded this country on Christian principles.
They work. So let's stick with them. They've been good to us.
[ cheers and applause ]
The church has relinquished
too much authority to government.
We should not be taking orders
by the government, from the government!
The government needs to be looking at the church
and saying, "How do we do this effectively?"
[ cheering ]
Eboo Patel: So the big idea of Christian nationalism
is that God made America for Christians.
And not all Christians,
but a particularly kind of white Christian
with a particular theology
and a particular political worldview.
And that group is supreme in this nation
and everyone else is subordinate.
And they need to be kept subordinate,
with violence if necessary.
Let me tell you something.
- You ain't seen an insurrection yet. - [ cheering ]
The church of the living God
is an institution that the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it,
and the Bible says that we'll take it by force!
- That's what the Bible says! - [ applause ]
Christian nationalism is nationalism.
It has nothing to do with Christianity.
It's about power in politics,
and let's separate it from religiosity.
In this country, we have freedom of religion.
We're a secular nation that is built by, sustained by,
and filled with people who have deep faith in God.
But that's not Christian nationalism.
There's a fictional work, Margaret Atwood book,
called "The Handmaid's Tale."
That's Christian nationalism.
It's men saying that this is God's law
and administering it for the purposes of achieving absolute political power.
And the societies that practice it,
in whatever form it takes,
are the most evil places on Earth.
Reporter: Putin stands accused of war crimes--
to date, nearly 10,000.
Katherine Stewart: When leaders like Putin in Russia or Orban in Hungry
or Erdogan in Turkey bind themselves
to religious conservatives in their countries,
what they do is signal that there is a so-called correct religion,
one that has access to the president
and has disproportionate voice in the public square.
And then there's everybody else.
I mean, that's how Christian nationalism works.
It divides the insider from the outsider,
the pure from the impure.
Every other authority that exerts itself
outside of the kingdom of Jesus Christ
is an illegal authority.
Samuel Perry: Our most recent survey data
shows that about a third of Americans
are either friendly to
or true believers of Christian nationalism.
That federal government should advocate for Christian values.
That there should be no separation between church and state.
That we as a country have a special relationship with God.
Though is completely politically incorrect to say, the truth is this.
America was founded as a Christian nation.
And our success as a nation
depends upon our fidelity to God's word.
And I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk.
That's not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter,
and it means nothing like what they say it does.
Randall Balmer: When the founders configured this new nation,
they recognized that religious establishment was a form of tyranny.
It tyrannized the people.
And so they came up with this radical idea that the people themselves
should determine how they wanted to worship
rather to have that dictated by the state.
Russell Moore: The separation of the state from the church
is a key Baptist confessional principle
that predates the United States of America.
Because people have to come to God
one by one through new birth,
someone cannot be claimed as a Christian
because of citizenship in a state.
So if the state or the culture
bullies people out of openly expressing their religious views,
you don't end up with Christians.
You end up with pretend Christians.
And as an evangelical Christian,
I don't think that takes anyone to heaven.
[ music playing ]
[ indistinct shouting ]
♪ My home
♪ Sweet home
I wanna say a word of greeting
to the most resilient, the most courageous,
the most faith-friendly president
in the history of America, President Donald Trump.
President Trump, we love you.
William Barber II: I would say they don't have their Jesus.
They may have their Trump, but they don't have their Jesus.
I'm kind of particular about the Jesus thing.
They can't have that brown-skinned Palestinian Jew
who said, "I come to preach good news to the poor,
healing to the brokenhearted,
recovery of sight to the blind."
They can't have that Jesus
because he's already told us what he stands for.
And that's what always gets in the way
of Christian nationalism and proves it ain't Christian,
because the problem is Jesus.
If you're tired of a president
that's committed to lying and racism
and economic policies that cater to the wealthy and hurt the poor,
then embolden and intensify your agitation
and get everybody to the ballot box!
We gotta challenge Christian nationalism
that tries to teach us that real faith
is being against gay people and for tax cuts,
and believing that Jesus was a founding member of the NRA.
We gotta challenge all that and say no.
Now, having said that though, let's own a few things.
It is not new.
It's always been a part of this American experience,
those who want to take religion
and use it to justify all kinds of evil.
Narrator: Christian nationalism has been
an effective political tool for centuries.
The Ku Klux Klan emerged post Civil War
to challenge emancipation.
As waves of immigrants arrived from Europe,
the Klan condemned them as a new threat.
At its peak in 1924, the Klan claimed 8 million members.
The vast majority were white evangelicals.
Linda Gordon: The Klan argued that America was destined by God
to be a white Protestant country.
And what that meant was that all of these immigrants,
all of these people coming in were actually subverting
what was the true destiny of America.
The Klan claimed to have 40,000 ministers.
So if you hear these stories
from people that you are socialized to respect,
they are gonna carry a weight even beyond rumors.
And the view of evangelicals,
there was a lot of talk about Satan.
That it is Satan that is driving these enemies.
Once you believe that Satan
is an actual present, daily force,
it adds a tremendous intensity to the commitment to loyalty.
[ horns honking ]
[ screaming ]
Samuel Perry: For decades and decades,
there has been a strain of Christian nationalism
in the American popular consciousness,
but it seems to reemerge during times of intense cultural and political conflict.
Especially when those who have traditionally been in power--
white conservative Christian men especially--
feel like that power is threatened.
Martin Luther King Jr.: I think it is one of the tragedies of our nation
that 11:00 on Sunday morning is one of the most
segregated hours in Christian America.
Any church that stands against integration
and that has a segregated body
is standing against the spirit
and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Good morning.
I'm Jerry Falwell, pastor here.
Isn't it grand to be a Christian?
Narrator: Jerry Falwell,
like many other white, evangelical leaders,
claimed segregation was biblical
and refused to integrate.
My, what a wonderful-looking congregation.
I didn't say a wonderful congregation.
I said a wonderful-looking congregation.
[ marching band playing "Dixie's Land" ]
George Wallace: Today I draw the line in the dust,
and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow,
and segregation forever.
[ cheering ]
Lyndon Johnson: Wherever states and counties are using regulations
or laws or tests to deny the right to vote,
then they will be struck down.
And under this act,
if any county does not want federal intervention,
it need only open its polling places
- to all of its people. - [ applause ]
Jesse Helms: The real challenge to Christians in this country,
is do we really want to save America?
Do we want to to prevent it
from being taken over by godless atheists?
Now if that sounds extreme, so be it.
But that is challenge we face,
because the other side is working.
And the question is are we willing to work, too?
You see, government is the flow of power and force.
When government is in the hands of godly men, it is good.
But in the hands of all others, it is evil.
[ trumpets playing ]
Paul Weyrich: You who are pastors,
who have chosen by God Almighty to lead,
we are talking about Christianizing America.
- Man: Amen. - We are talking about spreading the gospel
- in a political context. - Men: Amen.
We share the guilt
because we have ceded certain areas
of endeavor to the devil.
Narrator: Paul Weyrich was a dangerous combination
of religious zealot and savvy Republican operative.
He realized that if he could organize an army
of angry Christians into a powerful voting block,
he could completely transform America.
Make no mistake about it.
Even if we should prevail in every possibility
in the November election, our job will just be beginning.
- All: Amen. - Man: That's right.
Jim Wallis: In 1980, Paul Weyrich went to Jerry Falwell,
who was just a fundamentalist preacher,
and Pat Robertson, who had a TV show,
and said, "Give us your lists.
Give us your names, and we'll make you household words in America."
And they created the Moral Majority.
It was a political creation from the political right
to co-opt evangelicals
into a Republican power block in their party,
in the country, and that's what they did.
Jerry Falwell: Moral Majority is not a religious organization.
It's a very political organization,
and one's membership is based
upon citizenship in this country and a commitment
to a pro-life, pro-traditional family--
pro-moral, and pro-American position.
Reporter: Moral Majority claims 47 state organizations
and a network of 72,000 preachers
combining to form what some call a Christian political machine.
Everything that we do here is aimed at the next world or it ought not to be done.
Bill Moyers: The preachers here turn the meetings over
to the professionals, men like Paul Weyrich.
He spends much of his time urging ministers to get out the vote.
And then my friends, we will truly see a moral majority in America.
May God bless you.
[ cheers and applause ]
Lisa Sharon Harper: When I was younger,
there was an itinerant preacher
who came through for a revival.
It was a Sunday evening camp church meeting.
So, you know, with the piano and the singing of the hymns, you know?
Think white 1950s.
That's really literally what it felt like.
We're listening to the hellfire/brimstone preacher,
and he's really getting to his point, which is, you know,
you're gonna go to hell if you don't accept Jesus.
And my friend tapped me on the shoulder,
and she said, "Would you go up with me?"
We walked up the aisle and knelt down at the altar.
And Terry started to cry. I started to cry.
I mean, both of us were just weeping.
There was a very real innocence, welcoming home.
A spiritual welcoming home.
It was very, very soon after that handed a tract
that told me that I had to vote for Reagan,
even though I was only about 14 years old.
I was gonna be voting anytime soon,
but I had to become a Republican in order to be a Christian.
I can't tell people how to vote.
I just go around the country saying,
"Vote for the Reagan of your choice."
Narrator: With Weyrich coaching, their message was direct.
Republicans were the party of God
and the Democrats were the party of the devil.
Jerry Falwell: I would say that just about every church in America,
the evangelical fundamentalist churches,
follow the cue of their pastor.
Interviewer: That's an extraordinary amount of power.
Yes.
I'm sick and tired of hearing
about all of the radicals
and the perverts the liberals and the leftists
and the communists coming out of the closet!
It's time for God's people to come out of the closet,
out of the churches, and change America!
We must do it.
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove: It was important
for the Moral Majority to be able to claim
the authority of God for a partisan agenda.
You know, it wasn't that this is our version of what God wants
versus another version of what God wants.
No, this is the word,
you know, from the Lord, of what God wants.
So the GOP became "God's Own Party"
in the minds of the people who only heard that story.
Ronald Reagan: I was asked once what book I would choose
if I were shipwrecked on an island
and could have only one book for the rest of my life.
I replied that I knew of only one book
that could be read, and reread,
and continue to be a challenge.
The Bible, the Old and New Testaments.
Pat Robertson: Reagan is winning the votes
of 26% of the white electorate
who are followers of the evangelical preachers.
This group is providing Reagan
with his clear margin in the election.
[ applause ]
♪ My country 'tis of thee
Crowd: ♪ Sweet land of liberty
Narrator: Weyrich had succeeded in harnessing
the evangelical voting bloc.
He had found his army, and it became the foundation
of the modern Christian nationalist movement.
So help us, God,
we will make America great again.
- Man: Amen. - [ cheers and applause ]
As of this morning, we have a president-elect
who is committed to help us pass a human life amendment through the Congress.
We all agree that life begins at conception,
and we're willing to stand up together
in the defense of voiceless, defenseless unborn babies.
One of the most durable myths is that the religious right
galvanized as a political movement
in direct response to the Roe v. Wade decision
of January 22, 1973.
And it utterly false.
Jerry Falwell, by his own admission,
did not preach his first anti-abortion sermon
until February of 1978.
That's more than five years after the Roe v. Wade decision.
The religious right responded to a court ruling,
but it was not the Roe v. Wade decision.
It was a lower court ruling
on school desegregation.
June 30th, 1971,
the court ruled
that any institution
that engages in racial discrimination
or racial segregation is not, by definition,
a charitable institution.
Therefore, it has no claims on tax-exempt status.
It got the attention of people like Jerry Falwell
who had his own segregation academy in Lynchburg, Virginia,
and in particular, Bob Jones University,
which had a long history of racial discrimination.
And that provided the catalyst for the religious right.
It had nothing to do with abortion.
Weyrich's clever move was to recognize
that if he really wanted grassroots evangelicals
to be part of this movement,
he needed an issue other than defense of racial segregation
in the late 1970s.
Reporter: It was the most politically sensitive case
before the Supreme Court this term.
The ruling has dealt a severe blow
to the Reagan administration
and to private schools that discriminate.
The justices have ruled the government
must deny tax breaks to schools in violation.
Bob Jones III: I'm very sad for America.
I think we witnessed today the death of religious freedom,
murdered by the Supreme Court.
Lisa Sharon Harper: When the constructors
of the religious right came together in 1980,
they made their principal battle cry
to turn the Supreme Court.
Why? Why would they do that?
Why would they choose the Supreme Court?
A conservative majority in the Supreme Court
has absolutely never protected the rights
of people of color or women or any minority.
So if your goal is to preserve white patriarchy,
then you want a conservative Supreme Court.
The masterminds of the religious right
did not raise the white supremacy flag.
They raised the abortion flag in order to get the same result.
And they got it.
[ applause ]
[ shouting, screaming ]
Reporter: In this historic decision,
the Supreme Court has now overturned Roe v. Wade.
Reporter: This is moment America and women's rights went back in time.
- Whoo! - I'm so happy!
It's a blessing. It's a miracle from God.
Reporter: The ruling is a win for conservatives
and the Christian right's influence on the court and in politics.
Elizabeth Warren: Six extremists on the United States Supreme Court
have decided that they can force all of America
to bend to their personal religious and moral views.
Ted Koppel: The White House Rose Garden
was the scene today for photo ops,
waiting for President Reagan and Judge Sandra O'Connor
to stroll casually into view.
Narrator: In 1981, President Reagan
nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court,
but conservative evangelicals felt betrayed.
She was pro-choice.
Richard Viguerie: We are very disappointed at the president,
and that he's apparently going against the 1980 Republican platform.
Reporter: Right-wing opponents of her nomination
were claiming that she's not only pro-abortion,
she was also alleged to be an active feminist.
Paul Weyrich: The White House people that were sent here
they ran against Washington to get elected,
but they have now been co-opted by Washington.
I'm not the kind of conservative
that says preserve the status quo
I think the status quo in large measures is awful.
Rather, let us change the premises
- upon which we're operating. - [ applause ]
Narrator: Paul Weyrich realized the Republican party
was not committed to his goal of a theocratic America.
He wanted revolution, not accommodation.
In 1981, Weyrich co-founded
the Council for National Policy,
a secretive network to spearhead the Christian nationalist movement.
40 years later, it has become one of the most influential
political organizations in the country.
Anne Nelson: Paul Weyrich was grand architect of the movement.
He talked about the way that his vision of religion
needed to dominate every aspect of American culture and society.
They realized that this was going to go
against the majority of Americans,
but they felt they had the right
and the obligation to do that.
Now why did they feel entitled
to dominate American society?
Why should these people have dominion over the rest of us?
A lot of the Council for National Policy's vision
was rooted in a form of Calvinism
where the belief was that God favored certain people,
and that was reflected in their level of prosperity.
So if you were a very rich person,
that's because God had predestined you for salvation.
And on the other hand, if you were a poor
Black single mother in Milwaukee,
that was because God had predestined you to be that,
and he did not favor you with the wealth and riches.
I don't think we have apologize for God's blessings,
but we-- you know, money is not the focus of our life.
Isn't it easy to say that if actually you're the only rich guy standing there?
It takes a lot of money to do what we do.
You said that you don't like to fly commercial
because you don't wanna get into a tube with a bunch of demons.
Do you really believe that human beings are demons?
No, I do not, and don't you ever say I did.
You need to send in 35,000.
You need to send in that $100,000 check.
If you do not write that P.O. box
and you do not call that toll-free number,
you will never see sustainment in your life and your dream will die.
So their whole worldview
was to increase income disparity
as a gesture of God's will.
A lot of their writings
sound as though they believe
they have a direct line to God.
Narrator: At the core of Weyrich's political ambitions to overturn democracy
was Rousas Rushdoony's vision of a theocratic government.
If democracy exalts man in the place of God
and the will of man to the place of God, it will fail.
And it is failing today.
Samuel Perry: One of the very foundations
of Rushdoony's theology, often called Dominionism,
is to try to reconstruct the nation along Christian lines
according to the Bible, according to biblical foundations.
And democracy, especially liberal democracy,
isn't really necessary to that.
Matter of fact, liberal democracy is kind of the enemy.
And you think democracy has substituted what
for the kingdom of God?
The will of the majority.
If we love these liberals, as we must,
if we love these people who are,
despite the terrible pain that it takes to even say it,
helping to murder the unborn, as we must,
then we want what is right for them,
and what is right for their immortal souls
is to get them out of public policy in this country.
[ cheers and applause ]
In Paul Weyrich's eyes, the goal was winning.
The goal was conservative Christians in positions of power
and being able to dictate how things go in our country,
not ensuring that fair elections happen.
I don't want everybody to vote.
Elections are not won by a majority of people.
They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now.
As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections,
quite candidly, goes up as the voting populace goes down.
Reporter: Since the election, Republican state lawmakers
have introduced over 250 bills
in 43 states to limit voter access.
Reporter: The law bans the use of ballot drop boxes
and allows the state legislature to take over local election boards.
They're gonna vote for Trump whether you like it or not.
You got no choice!
We are seeing rejection rates from anywhere between 25% to 40%.
It designed to ensure that we have minority rule in the United States,
that we don't have a democracy.
- What do we want? - All: Voting rights!
- When do we want it? - All: Now!
This is not Jim Crow. This is James Crow Esquire.
He went to school, got a law degree,
and he has come back to try to take out
every progressive voice in this nation.
[ cheers and applause ]
[ no audible dialogue ]
[ music playing ]
Bill Moyers: At the touch of a button,
millions of letters a year
portray a world bristling with enemies
and call for help-- meaning money.
Narrator: Direct mail gave the Council nationwide reach
to build their grassroots movement.
But to truly change the culture,
they needed to find a more substantial donor base.
Anne Nelson: In Oklahoma, where I grew up,
we called it the buckle of the Bible Belt,
and that certainly included Texas and Louisiana.
But those are also the centerpieces of the American oil industry.
[ "Dallas" theme playing ]
In the 1980s, you have the entry
of these incredibly wealthy oil barons
putting money into political campaigns
and political operations.
And so they found that they had natural allies
with fundamentalists and evangelical Christians.
The church people work for the oil companies.
The oil company people go to the churches.
One hand washes the other.
Narrator: Weyrich struck a deal
with oil and gas billionaires.
In return for their support, he would make the Council
a powerful political voice for eliminating
their corporate taxes and regulations.
If you look at the roster of the Council for National Policy,
you see these names surface again and again
from these key states.
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove: The Council for National Policy
was founded as a place where major money
could be invested toward making their narrative
the mainstream interpretation
of what it meant to talk about moral issues in public life.
And I think that was very much a response to the role
of religious leadership in the mid-20th century
and in the Civil Rights movement.
The power of a voice like Martin King's
demanded a moral majority to answer it.
And they knew that if they didn't do that,
they were gonna lose that struggle
for the moral narrative.
Well, I was born in rural North Carolina in tobacco country
the Sunday after Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980.
An incredible amount of money was invested
in targeting communities like ours
and to use our religious identity
to make us part of a voting coalition
of white people in the South and in the suburbs
and across the Sun Belt.
It became something that I as an earnest kid
took very seriously, and I wanted to everything that I could for Jesus,
and I thought that meant I needed to become President of the United States.
So that was my goal as a teenager,
and it's what got me involved
in the kind of formation programs
that the religious right had established for people like me.
I figured out how to apply as a 16-year-old
to be a page in Senator Strom Thurmond's office.
He was an old-school racist.
He campaigned on segregation and explicit racism
for as long as he could survive that.
But when he crossed the rubicon,
he learned to speak in a different way.
We were told to vote for people like Strom Thurmond because they were pro-life.
Well, I began to see, when I got up close and began to participate
in the so-called pro-life politics,
is that it really didn't have much to do with serving life.
Senator Thurmond was the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
and so there was a whole lot of talk about how to serve
the interests of military contractors.
I began to question whether biblical values really mattered very much to these folks.
When I came back to North Carolina
after that experience in Washington D.C.,
I went to a meeting that the governor's office hosted,
and there was a motivational speaker.
By the time he had finished with this group of young political hopefuls,
he had all of us up on our feet.
It was almost a sort of a tent meeting revival kind of feel,
and I wasn't entirely sure what had happened to me.
So I got to know the Reverend William Barber as a 17-year-old kid,
and he began to introduce me
to the long tradition that he was part of.
A tradition of people who took their faith very seriously,
but always connected that with work for justice in the world.
William Barber: I think it's an abdication of my Christian responsibility
not to remind politicians that the budgets you pass
in these legislatures is a moral document.
That if you pass a budget that hurts poor people
and takes healthcare from sick people,
that in fact you are violating fundamental values of the Christian faith,
which are love, justice, and mercy.
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove: Christian nationalism
is incredibly powerful
because of the money that's been invested in it.
But I think it's also absolutely essential that people realize
it is not the majority position in this country.
It's not even the majority position among Christians.
I think it's absolutely imperative that we lift up the witness
of people who practice a different kind of faith.
[ crowds screaming ]
Jerry Falwell: This is the first time
that we've been attacked on our soil,
and by far the worst results.
I really believe that the pagans
- and the abortionists... - Oh, yeah.
...and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians,
all of them who tried to secularize America,
I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen."
Narrator: At the turn of the century, the religious right
wielded significant political power.
But American society was no closer
to their vision of a Christian nation.
No one was more disheartened than the movement's architect.
We are continuing to decline as a nation.
Our culture is continuing to decline.
You know, when all is said and done,
it doesn't matter whether you have a minimum wage or not,
and it doesn't matter what kind of trade policy you have
if in fact the moral fabric
of the society has disintegrated.
Narrator: Weyrich commissioned a manifesto
which describes in detail
how a Christian elite will take power in America
by waging an insurrectionist war.
Anne Nelson: The manifesto is the purest distillation
of Weyrich's ideas that we have.
They felt that the political arena was inadequate.
They weren't guaranteed of winning elections,
and in fact, played by the rules,
they would lose more and more elections
unless they figured out some detours.
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove: The Council for National Policy and the folks
who were coordinating their attempts to maintain control
decided that they couldn't use the institutions.
They needed to delegitimate and destroy them.
Anne Nelson: Many of their publications say,
"Our goal is to bring down
the federal government as we know it."
I mean, what is this image?
Trump is "God's chaos candidate."
What are they doing to the American flag?
They're shredding it. Right?
That's what's going on here. They're shredding it.
So, yes, it's been a declaration of internal warfare.
[ cheers and applause ]
All: Because of our covenant with God,
we are equipped and delegated by Him
to destroy every attempted advance of the enemy.
We take back and permanently control positions of influence
and leadership in each of the Seven Mountains.
- Whoo! - [ cheers and applause ]
- Whoo! - One of the most common
expressions of Dominionism
is called Seven Mountains Dominionism.
Take from a Levite.
Only 10% of the population
is supposed to be involved with temple work.
- 90% takes territory. - [ cheering ]
The idea is that you can't take over society
unless you take over the seven crucial pillars.
They realized that all of culture was against them.
So they said, "All right, we don't like Hollywood.
We'll invent our own Hollywood." They've done that.
Man: Spirit of God, I am chosen.
Donald Trump.
Woman: I saw it, and it was like it was twisting and fighting.
Woman: Everything that they told us is a lie.
Anne Nelson: At public universities, many students were liberal.
All right, let's direct them towards Bible colleges
and create this youth core
that Paul Weyrich asked for in his manifesto.
What we're doing at Turning Point USA
I believe has the opportunity to significantly move the dial.
Because whatever happens on college campuses
will soon happen in the halls of Congress.
Anne Nelson: They claim to have trained some 200,000 candidates
and campaign managers through the Leadership Institute.
Mike Pence: It will not be enough just to win the next election.
We've gotta win the next generation,
and that's what the Leadership Institute is all about.
Anne Nelson: You go into every sector,
and just as Paul Weyrich's manifesto laid out the plan,
they've gone one by one to do it.
[ no audible dialogue ]
Barack Obama: It's been a long time coming,
but tonight because of what we did on this stage,
in this election, at this defining moment,
- change has come to America. - [ cheering ]
Narrator: The 2008 election swept Barack Obama
and the Democrats into power
and devastated the Republican party.
The Council saw the 2010 midterms
as an opportunity to exploit the weakened GOP.
Reporter: In this election year in the United States,
the majority of Americans say the country is on the wrong track.
And no segment of the electorate is more frustrated
with the U.S. government and President Barack Obama
than the folks driving the Tea Party movement.
Steve Schmidt: The Tea Party movement has a lot to do
with Barack Obama's presidency and an unleash of whitelash,
which has always happened historically in the country
in the face of Black progress.
But the Tea Party was also a reaction to the Bush presidency.
What happens in 2008
is we have a mortgage crisis.
Tens of millions of Americans
lose their jobs, lose their homes.
Not a single Wall Street banker goes to jail.
Americans believe that Washington is broken,
that both parties are to blame, and the Tea Party movement
is an expression of that sentiment.
Steve Schmidt: What Tea Party voters believe by 2009 is this--
Barack Obama set out to change America and he succeeded,
but he didn't do it alone.
He did with the help of a corrupt, feckless,
weak Republican establishment who sold out.
Narrator: The Council enlisted Tea Party members
to compete against incumbent Republicans.
With massive funding, their candidates had a chance
to infiltrate the Republican party.
Reporter: A lot of the groups that you've supported have essentially provided
financial fertilizer for the Tea Party.
- Would you agree with that? - Charles Koch: Yes.
If we had to agree with everything a group or a person stood for,
we would never do anything.
Anne Nelson: The Koch brothers put $50 million--
five-zero-- million dollars into a state of the art
political data platform called i360.
And the organizations affiliated with the Council for National Policy
paid to develop a series of apps that could implement the data
and use it for highly targeted political campaigns in critical swing states,
and they had considerable success through their operations.
The Republicans will take control
of the House of Representatives.
Reporter: The Tea Party captured political lightning in a bottle
and helped elect dozens of new congressmen.
They came in on a promise to shock Washington
into spending less, cutting more.
Narrator: The Council's gambit worked.
The success of the Tea Party
brought Christian nationalists into the GOP.
So what you have is the Republican party
trundling along in its traditional way,
but this parallel structure that's growing up
that's going to supersede it.
And it gets to the point of power and influence
that it can mount a hostile takeover of the Republican party.
Crowd: Kill the bill! Kill the bill! Kill the bill!
[ indistinct shouting ]
William Barber: We are seeing in state capitals across the South
and other places Tea Party extremism,
where the argument is the way to a better society
is to deny education, deny healthcare,
deny voting rights, deny women's rights.
And then if you really wanna have a great society, the extremists are saying,
"Give people more guns and give more tax cuts to the wealthy."
That kind of policy demands a moral response.
We decided that if they were going to crucify healthcare,
and crucify living wages, and crucify voting rights,
every crucifixion needs a witness.
Every crucifixion needs somebody that's willing to call it what it is.
Somebody asked me the question, "When will you stop?"
- Well, that's a question for them. - [ crowd shouting ]
Don't ask us when we'll stop.
Ask Tillis and Berger
and the man in the governor's mansion
- when will they stop? - [ cheering ]
- When will they stop hurting children? - That's right.
When will they stop hurting the sick?
When will they stop hurting our public schools?
When will they stop hurting our economics?
Because if they stop, we'll stop.
But we can't stop as long as people are being hurt.
Before the end of the summer,
thousands of people showed up every Monday.
And they looked like North Carolina.
I mean, they were white people,
Black people, brown people,
indigenous people, gay people,
straight people, even Republicans.
Something like 16% of the people
who went to jail with us were Republicans.
And so we wanted people to understand
that racism is not just about hatred of Black people.
It is really fundamentally about hatred of democracy.
And racism becomes a tool for feeding the corporate greed
of a few who want an aristocracy
and nothing that looks like a democracy.
- [ cheering ] - Forward together!
- Not one step back! - [ cheering ]
Gentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions.
Is there anyone onstage who is unwilling tonight
to pledge you support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party
and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person.
- Mr. Trump. - [ crowd jeering ]
So, Mr. Trump...
Elizabeth Neumann: I remember hearing from a family member
that Donald Trump had met with a group of faith leaders
and he had become a Christian.
And we needed to view him,
even though he has this horrible, morally depraved past--
um, we need to view him as a King Cyrus.
President Trump will be like Cyrus.
Trump has the Cyrus anointing.
God was raising him up like Cyrus.
The point being that Donald Trump
is going to be this pagan king that God is going to use
to rebuild the America that is crumbling.
I really don't think we can underestimate
how powerful that was for a certain segment of the Christian community.
You feel like you're participating in the prophecies
and that something big is gonna happen.
So for part of the community
the support became not just "hold your nose,"
but, like, a rapid encouragement and excitement about him.
What I'm concerned about is the reputation
of evangelical Christianity and the credibility
of the church of Jesus Christ right now,
when people who previously told us character matters
are now just waving away really serious
and shocking character issues
as though they don't matter at all.
It's just leaving a wreckage of cynicism in its wake.
In the case of Trump, I was concerned that evangelical Christianity
would become synonymous in the minds of people inside the church
and outside the church with Trumpism.
Many evangelical Christians agreed with me then.
It wasn't until after the primaries that they didn't.
Narrator: The evangelical leadership remained skeptical of Trump.
So Ralph Reed, one of Weyrich's key disciples, decided to step in.
Please join me in welcoming the presumptive Republican nominee for President,
- Donald J. Trump. - [ crowd cheering ]
Reed saw Trump as the perfect vessel
to deliver on the Council's goals.
Donald Trump: Here we are, and here are the goals.
We wanna uphold the sanctity and dignity of life.
As you know, I put a list together
of highly, highly respected judges.
And by the way, these judges are all pro-life.
[ cheers and applause ]
Narrator: Trump followed the script, and the Council offered him a deal.
They would pledge their network's resources to his campaign
if they could influence his judicial and cabinet appointments.
Trump agreed.
The Bible means a lot to me, but I don't wanna get into specifics.
- Even to cite a verse-- - No. I don't wanna do that. I mean--
You're an Old Testament guy or a New Testament guy?
Uh, probably equal.
2 Corinthians, right? 2 Corinthians 3:17.
- That's the whole ball game. - [ laughter ]
"Where the spirit of the Lord--" Right?
Anne Nelson: When people questioned how
these fundamentalists with their relationship to the Bible
can choose Donald Trump as their candidate,
it's not because they identify with him
and feel that he's one of them.
It's because he can be an instrument.
Trump can the wrecking ball
that they use to bring down the federal government
that they have so many problems with.
I believe that God's using him to destabilize
these progressive institutions,
the penetration of that progressive ideology in these places
so that believers and other viewpoints
can into them and establish credibility also.
Michelle Bachmann: I believe without a shadow of a doubt this is the last election.
It's a math problem of demographics
in a changing United States.
If you look at the numbers of people who vote
and who lives in the country and who Barack Obama
and Hillary Clinton want to bring in to the country,
this is the last election when we even have a chance
to vote for somebody who will stand up for Godly moral principles.
Narrator: What white evangelicals lacked in numbers,
the Council made up for through the vast network
of faith leaders and high tech mega churches
which spread their message.
It's not too late. You're not too old.
Our mission is to champion the pastors of America
for the transformation of America.
Katherine Stewart: Leaders of the movement know that pastors drive votes,
and so they draw pastors into networks such as Watchmen On The Wall,
which is an initiative of the Family Research Council.
It has tens of thousands of affiliated pastors,
and they delivered these pastors' messaging materials
that they can use to turn out their congregations
to vote for the hyper conservative politicians that the movement favors.
Father, we thank you for the grace that you have bestowed upon this nation.
Anne Nelson: President of the Family Research Council,
Tony Perkins, was the president
of the Council for National Policy.
There is no air between them,
and the Family Research Council publishes voter guides.
They're called the iVoterGuides.
They're allegedly nonpartisan,
but you basically have the Democrat with their policies,
which are things like, "Hillary Clinton supports the homosexual agenda,"
and "Donald Trump supports American families."
- So choose one, right? - Guess what, ladies and gentlemen?
This next Tuesday, you get the privilege
to live out a biblical Christian worldview
when you go to the poll.
What this network of organizations has done
has for years involved data mining of church directories
which are then cross-referenced with voter files.
Pastors have been organized to facilitate this.
Brent Allpress: The Council for National Policy
has a series of pretty deep ties
to adjacent organizations.
Gloo, from 2015 through, was developing something
that became known as the Gloo Insights Micro-targeting Platform.
That's a platform that accesses and harvests data on all Americans.
They've actively harvested data from churches,
and most troubling, they have accessed self-revealed
mental health, and behavioral health, and treatment data.
And they're using that for micro-targeted Facebook advertising
to harvest very vulnerable individuals.
And they had a very high uptake of conversions and radicalizations
entering into those large evangelical churches.
Anne Nelson: Now you think of your average target voter,
and you go back a few years ago, and Ralph Reed announced,
"We've got 17-18 million evangelicals who don't vote.
How do we corral them into voting our way?"
Well, you surround them.
Every one of those households is gonna be contacted
by this organization 7 to 12 times.
So if you're this person out in Missouri,
this is all the information you're getting.
Newspapers have been dying off.
Local news is disappearing
from thousands of counties
in the middle of America.
And what fills that vacuum,
it's Fox and Sinclair,
which function and sing in harmony.
So you don't have the newspapers.
You're broadcasting environment has changed.
When you go online,
it's not just that you've chosen a silo.
You are target for a multifaceted operation
of tremendous sophistication.
USA, USA, USA, USA!
- USA, USA, USA, USA! - Donald Trump: Thank you.
I've just received a call from Secretary Clinton.
[ cheers and applause ]
Commentator: A complete earthquake.
This wasn't like any earthquake I've really seen
since Ronald Reagan in 1980. It just came out of nowhere.
Commentator: I'm looking at some numbers here.
81% evangelicals voted for Donald Trump.
- You got it dead right. - This is historic.
No Republican nominee has ever gotten
that level of support from evangelicals.
Franklin Graham: There's been a lot of discussion
as to how Donald Trump won the election.
I believe that it was God.
[ cheering ]
God showed up.
Narrator: With the Council calling the shots,
the wrecking ball went to work.
Barbara Walters: Her critics say
she wants to privatize the public school system,
that she once called quote, "a dead end."
Reporter: Donald Trump is forming his cabinet
very much in his own image--
white, male, and wealthy.
Stephen Colbert: Trump named Scott Pruitt,
sworn enemy of the EPA, to be the head of--
What's the word? The EPA.
Jared Huffman: Some of these folks' only qualification
is that they have attempted to destroy the very agencies
that they are now hoping to run.
Reporter: President Trump revoking the Obama era law
expanding federal protection to streams and waterways
across the country.
Donald Trump: Behind me, we have evangelical leaders.
We're going to be signing a day of prayer.
Reporter: President Trump has just signed a historic $1.5 trillion tax bill.
Reporter: Trump told friends at his Florida club,
"You all just got a lot richer."
National security advisor Mike Flynn
saying the quiet parts out loud.
We have to have one religion, one nation under God,
and one religion under God.
Steve Schmidt: As Trump rose, all of these groups,
Paul Weyrich's group, people who were viewed
as fringe players, as extremists,
they formed within the party the base of his movement.
Bob McEwen: The Conservative Action Project is a division of CNP.
The president got tired of everybody coming to our meetings,
so now we meet at the White House.
We are watching the foundation shift,
and we're going back to our founding principles.
We poured millions of dollars
into judicial nominations and vetting
to make sure the president picks the best judges.
I, Brett M. Kavanaugh, do solemnly swear,
- so help me God. - [ applause ]
You are really special people.
The support you've given me has been incredible,
but I really don't feel guilty
because I have given you a lot back.
Just about everything I promised.
And as one of our great pastors just said,
"Actually, you've given us much more, sir, than you promised."
- And I think that's true in many respects. - [ applause ]
Samuel Perry: I think most of Americans would be completely oblivious
to the designs behind this,
that there are intentions to enshrine Christian identity
and a certain kind of Christian identity as the law of the land.
Meet Project Blitz, which funnels religious bills
to state lawmakers all across the country.
The ones that have been passed in six states already
are the "In God We Trust" bills,
which mandate that that slogan
go up in public schools.
- Senator Marty. - John Marty: Thank you, Madam President.
79% of Americans believe in some supreme being,
which means 21% do not.
And I would speak against it for the sake of the 21%
who this is clearly not something that is welcoming
or encouraging or comfortable for them.
As a person with strong religious beliefs,
I don't want government pushing my religious beliefs
or anybody else's religious beliefs on others.
That's what the core of separation of church and state is about.
It was probably a Thursday when we were voting on that resolution.
On Sunday morning I went to church, which I do on Sunday mornings,
and I came home, and our home answering machine was beeping, and I listened to the message.
It was a vile obscene statement from some guy yelling at me for why I hate God so much.
And it didn't take long to figure out what happened.
It was on "Fox & Friends" that morning.
Those of us must hate God,
and therefore we were trying to block
even this innocent little harmless thing.
[ music playing ]
Why is God, the mention of God, in our schools controversial for the left today?
There seems to be an anti-faith movement in our country,
to suppress anything that is religious
in any way and wipe it out of government.
When we stripped God out of the schools,
we replaced it with something else
like ideological indoctrination,
and we're seeing the fruits of that right now.
Christianity is in the crosshair today.
There is a concerted effort in this country
by the seculars to ignore our history
and turn us into an absolutely secular world.
You know, they're hunting Christians in many parts of the world.
And we're not doing that in the States yet.
It's real and it is horrific.
And, yes, we know other faith groups
are also being persecuted.
But Christians have a giant X on their back.
Randall Balmer: The notions that evangelicals or the religious right
is aggrieved in this country, on the face of it
I think is preposterous.
I think a case can be made
that these people in fact are the aggressors.
They're the ones who are trying to impose their values,
their religious convictions on the remainder of society.
Katherine Stewart: They're actually demanding a license to discriminate
against those of whom they disapprove,
and they're asking for an ability to override the law
when it conflicts with their religious beliefs.
For some Americans that's a cause for alarm,
and for others it's the answer to their prayers.
[ cheering ]
1776, our founders boldly declared
that we are all endowed with the same divine rights given us
by our Creator in heaven,
and that which God has given us
we will allow no one ever to take away ever.
Samuel Perry: Christian nationalism really did create Donald Trump
to the extent that without that kind of fear,
Donald Trump would've had no chance.
He wouldn't have even been close.
But he was able to leverage that kind of rhetoric
to appeal to a very powerful
and influential voting block of Americans
who felt like they had been wronged
the last eight years under Obama.
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove: No, he's not an example of Christian virtue.
No, there's not much about his life
that you could compare to the life of Jesus,
But neither has this movement
ever been about shaping people
in the way of Jesus.
This movement has been about
scaring white Christian people
into believing that there is an enemy out there
that's going to obliterate you.
If you believe that,
then you believe that in your home
you need to have the biggest, baddest gun possible.
And in the White House you also want the biggest,
baddest gun possible, and Donald Trump is that gun.
Joe Biden's following the radical left agenda.
Take away your guns, destroy your Second Amendment.
No religion, no anything. Hurt the Bible, hurt God.
Samuel Perry: Because it embraces this overtly religious language,
Christian nationalism represents a tremendous threat to democracy.
It's one thing if you feel like,
"Hey, my political position is correct,
it is justified, it is backed up by research."
But it is another thing when you feel like,
"We are on the side of God, and you are on the side of Satan."
Your position is demonic. It is evil in a cosmic sense.
If you bring the ultimate, if you bring the sacred into this argument,
then you can justify just about anything
in the service of defeating this evil power
that is out to get your people,
that is out to destroy your country
that God has a special relationship with.
I don't care what you think about fraudulent Sleepy Joe!
He's a sex-trafficking, demon-possessed mongrel!
He's of the left! God, he's gonna burn the whole thing to the ground!
Now, to me, LGBT stands for "Let God Burn Them."
- [ laughter ] - Man: Right.
But I hear you say, "Well, it's LGBTQ."
Well, then you could say, "Let God Burn Them Quickly."
Russell Moore: In some places in American life,
we have a church growth movement
but for angry people.
A sense of theatrical anger
feels to some people like depth of conviction,
when of course it's theater.
But that can build a crowd.
Ken Peters: Now we're gonna fight to hopefully keep our freedom
because we don't wish this upon our children our upon our grandchildren.
Amen? But, ladies and gentlemen,
they are censoring us like crazy!
- They are trying to shut down our voice! - Man: Yeah.
Like Paul Revere said, "The British are coming! The British are coming!"
Well, the leftists are coming. In fact, they're already here.
- Man: Yes, sir. - So we aren't afraid. We aren't fearful.
But I'm telling you, the Bible is about to get really real.
Amen, Yeah.
Stan Minner: When Biden says something
about unifying the nation,
people like me are convinced
that we cannot unify with that
because good cannot unify with evil.
And so I don't see a way of coming together
in this issue at all.
This is more of
we have to take a stand against this
and we have to defeat it.
It has to be defeated.
Ken Peters: Most of the Bible was written under persecution.
Whether you like it or not,
we're going into the soldier realm
where "Onward, Christian Soldiers" as a hymn becomes real.
- That's right. - Ken Peters: There is an intensity right now,
and, yes, I am very concerned that this is going to end up in a civil war.
I think it's very important that every American home that can
own as many weapons as possible.
I think peaceful people that are well-armed
- keeps a peaceful nation. - [ news theme playing ]
Announcer: This is breaking news.
Reporter: Around 2:30 this afternoon at a Tops supermarket
at least ten people have been killed.
Reporter: In a 180 page document posted online,
the suspected shooter often referring to Black people
as "replacers," a reference
to the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.
Jews will not replace us!
Eboo Patel: I think the danger of white Christian nationalist rhetoric
to Muslims, to Jews, to Hindus, to atheists,
I mean, that's obvious, right?
Not only are we subordinate, in many cases we're the enemy.
We are the reason that they need to rise,
because not only do we need to be subordinate,
we need to be defeated and vanquished.
Miss Neumann, you are recognized for five minutes.
Thank you, Chairman Raskin.
Whether it's an attack on a school, a nightclub,
a synagogue, a mosque, a church, it really needs to stop.
Elizabeth Neumann: In 2017, when I joined government
as the deputy chief of staff to John Kelly,
I didn't notice any focus on domestic terrorism.
The counterterrorism community was still very focused on ISIS,
and then Charlottesville happened.
[ screaming ]
Donald Trump: When you say the alt-right, what about the alt-left
that came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right?
You had a group on one side that was bad,
and you had group on the other side that was also very violent.
Elizabeth Neumann: Because of the way that the president reacted,
domestic terrorism became another one of those no-go hot topics
that if you raised at all to the president,
he immediately became defensive.
The Secretary of Homeland Security
multiple times asked for the White House
to include domestic terrorism in the counterterrorism strategy
that the administration eventually released, and we were rebuffed.
So by the time we have Christchurch,
and then sadly another attack in Poway, California,
and that all leads us up to El Paso at the Walmart,
and they're using language
straight out of the president's campaigns.
He has the opportunity to set the record straight.
He doesn't do that.
Thank you to the Council for National Policy.
Together we're committed to keeping America safe,
strong, prosperous, and free.
Narrator: The Council's gamble had paid off.
Christian nationalists were firmly embedded
at the highest levels of government.
The Supreme Court had an absolute majority of justices
poised to overturn landmark
civil and women's rights decisions.
Paul Weyrich's vision of a Christian nation was becoming a reality.
Man: The president is extremely well-positioned for reelection.
So we gotta get past this coronavirus speedbump.
It's unlikely that we're gonna have a recession.
If we don't, and we do our job,
historically, he should be reelected.
Black lives matter! Black lives matter!
- [ chanting stops ] - [ screaming ]
- [ woman shouting ] - Katherine Stewart: Trump appeals to
the authoritarian impulses of his supporters.
They're often referring to him as a king, a biblical king,
an imperfect leader through whom God chose to enact His will.
Now here's the thing about kings.
They don't have to respect the rules.
They are the law unto themself.
And that underscores the fact
that is an anti-democratic movement
that doesn't believe in representative democracy.
Crowd: USA! USA! USA!
[ cheers and applause ]
Wolf Blitzer: CNN projects Joseph R. Biden Jr.
is elected the 46th president of the United States,
winning the White House and denying President Trump as second term.
If you count the legal votes, I easily win.
If you count the illegal votes,
they can try to steal the election from us.
If you count the votes that came in late--
we're looking at them very strongly,
but a lot of votes came in late.
Commentator: Well, there we go.
The president's comprehensively demolishing
the American democratic process.
It was almost as if he was describing
a Zimbabwean election or something going on in Belarus.
Narrator: The Council went into full combat mode to support the Big Lie,
and the entire Christian nationalist movement quickly fell in line.
Four more years! Four more years!
Bill Walton: This is a spiritual battle we are in.
This is good versus evil.
We have to do everything we can to win.
[ cheering ]
Michael Flynn: We're actually standing in the middle of Jericho
because we have penetrated the walls of Jericho, right?
There is evil and there's corruption,
and us inside of this barricade
we're gonna knock those walls down, okay?
Michael Flynn was part of the Council for National Policy.
On December 18th,
he shows up in a meeting at the White House
where there's a discussion of the imposition of martial law
as a possible way of addressing the electoral crisis.
I mean, these people out there talking about martial law
like it's something that we've never done.
We've done-- martial law has been instituted 64--
- 64 times, Greg. - Martial law was about hoping
that the January 6th event would create a state
of what you could call controlled chaos.
And there's a level of chaos
that will require us to hold the election again.
I think this is the biggest steal that we've ever seen.
Donald Trump's fighter, and we're here in Washington to back up him up,
bringing thousands and thousands and thousands
of people this Saturday for our march.
All of sudden, you see various components
of the Council for National Policy coming in to participate.
You've got Ali Alexander, who registers "Stop the Steal."
Charlie Kirk states that he's sending buses to the protests on January 6th.
Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas.
Once you started to have this convergence
between CNP organizations,
QAnon, and the fundamentalist sectors,
you had something that escaped control of the leadership,
but it also escaped visibility.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are not just up against politicians,
and we are not just in a culture war.
We are in a kingdom war.
This is the kingdom of darkness
versus the kingdom of light.
- Do you feel that? - [ cheering ]
Donald Trump: We will not let them silence your voices.
- We're not gonna let it happen. - [ cheering ]
Not gonna let it happen.
Crowd: Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!
Fight for Trump!
Man: Holy shit! They just broke down the barricades!
- [ shouting ] - Fuck you, police!
- [ shouting continues ] - Fuck you!
[ screaming ]
- Come on, Americans! - [ whooping ]
[ roars ]
Kent Christmas: Every authority outside
of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is an illegal authority.
Man: We're gonna start hunting them down one-by-one!
Man: We're gonna go fuck with Nancy Pelosi.
Paul Weyrich: What is right for their immortal souls
is to get them out of public policy in this country.
[ shouting ]
Oh, oh!
[ screaming ]
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove: It's possible to draw a line
from the January 6th Capitol riot
back to that manifesto and to plot
just how a culture was built
in which mainstream Christians
could feel completely legitimate
and they could feel righteous participating in an act
of trying to overthrow their government.
They would rather tear it down,
they would rather burn it down than going along with it.
And in that way, I think it's very much a holy war.
People who understood themselves to be in the army of God
were waging a war to try to reclaim the United States for God.
Officer: All individuals must leave the U.S. Capitol grounds
or be subject to arrest.
Many Americans are reeling tonight
saying they can't believe this is their country.
Legislators did go back to work tonight
to try to finish what they started,
to officially make Joe Biden president.
What does it say to the nearly half the country
that believes this election was rigged
if we vote not even to consider the claims?
Narrator: The assault on democracy continued
inside the chambers of Congress.
Senate and House Republicans rejected the slate of electors,
though no proof of electoral fraud was ever presented.
- [ sirens wailing ] - [ indistinct chatter ]
Steve Schmidt: What always happens when you look at autocratic movements
is one guy is not enough to give it lift.
Is there a charismatic leader with the capacity
to build a cult of personality? 100%.
Donald Trump did that.
But that's not enough for an autocratic movement.
You need to have a propaganda arm,
and they have theirs.
But that's not enough.
You need to have the cynicism of the elites,
the most highly educated people in the country--
Harvard University's Ted Cruz,
Stanford University's Josh Hawley--
who look at all of this
and say, "I can ride that tiger.
I can manipulate these rubes
who actually like this guy to my own advantage."
Because at the core of an autocratic movement is no morality.
In fact, it's immorality or amorality,
because it's about power.
And in the pursuit of that power,
history teaches us terrible, terrible things happen.
Reporter: Tonight as a nationwide firestorm continues,
following Friday's Supreme Court decision
that overturned Roe v. Wade...
Reporter: Clarence Thomas suggested the court could reexamine decisions
on contraception and same-sex marriage.
Reporter: This is another major ruling
from the court's emboldened conservative majority,
resetting that delicate balance between church and state.
With just 22 days until election day, democracy is very much on the ballot.
Reporter: The Trump show's second act
that will test his grip on the Republican party today...
Kari Lake: You can us extremists,
you can call us domestic terrorists.
You know who else was called a lot of names?
- Jesus. - Man: Amen. Yeah.
There's a movement in this country that is demonic.
It is the transgender movement.
Steve Bannon: We're taking over school boards.
We're taking over the Republican party.
We're taking over all the elections. Suck on this.
Reporter: The vast majority of Republicans have embraced the Big Lie.
They have kowtowed to whatever Trump wants
because Trump has a loyal base of support.
Reporter: The biggest thing coming out of January 6th
is that people are emboldened to take matters into their own hands.
Nick Fuentes: We need to have a white uprising.
I don't believe in democracy.
I don't support women's rights.
We need to take control of the government
and force the people to believe what we believe,
and you are gonna become a Christian.
Marjorie Taylor Greene: Most Americans,
no matter how they vote,
really care about the same things.
We need to be the party of nationalism.
And I'm a Christian and I say it proudly.
We should be Christian nationalists.
[ singing indistinctly ]
- Forward together! - Not one step back!
William Barber: This is a moral, constitutional moment.
- Preach, man! - We say it clear today.
If you allow the infrastructure of this democracy
to be fractured and torn asunder,
this nation will pay a deep price.
[ cheers and applause ]
My mom taught me at a very young age
that Christianity and faith
was about doing what we can
to be of service to others.
I want every child to feel
seen, heard, and supported,
not marginalized and targeted
because they are not straight, white, and Christian.
And I know that hate will only win
if people like me stand by and let it happen.
- Stand up! Stand up! - Fight back! Fight back!
- Stand up! - Fight back!
Medhi Hasan: They said no one cared about democracy,
that the only thing voters care about is the economy.
- They were all wrong. - Jon Favreau: Right wing justices
overturned Roe v. Wade, and fueled
one of the biggest backlashes in American politics.
Commentator: This would've been a red wave election
if not for millions and millions of young millennials and Gen Z-ers.
Oliver Laughland: What I think these midterms have shown us
is that at least in part,
there's been nationwide rebuke
to Trump-backed extremism around the country.
I believe we're in the moment right now
that's primed for a movement that leads us into a resurrection of America.
And I believe if we do it right, with love and justice,
many of the people who have put on Christian nationalism
will take it off, will get born again,
will see the Gospel in its truth.
And that's what gives me hope even in America.
I'm not an optimist.
No, no.
I'm full of Christian hope,
which looks at the despair and at the destruction
and at the denials and at the deceptions,
and says they are real,
but they don't have to have the last say.
Now one of the reporters that interviewed me the other day said,
"Well, you know, you people think
that everything is black and white.
Everything can be reduced to simplicity."
- And I accept that charge. - Crowd: Amen.
Ultimately, everything can be reduced to right and wrong.
Everything.
As a preacher, I'm always making the connection
between the ancient story of God's people
and the world that we live in.
And one of the most basic connections
is that the worst evils never present themselves as evil.
The worst evils always present themselves as the good.
Vincent James: Christian nationalism is on the rise,
and people are thirsty for it.
We are the Christian Taliban.
- [ cheering ] - Elizabeth Neumann: 34% of Americans think
violence to achieve your political end
could be justified in certain circumstances.
Folks, that's the definition of terrorism.
In a country where 40% to 50% of people don't vote,
you don't need a majority to win elections.
All you need is a disproportionately organized
and very, very committed minority of the population.
Gavin Wax: We must be prepared to do battle in every arena.
In the media, in the courtroom,
at the ballot box, and in the streets.
We want total war.
My attitude has always been that democracy is more fragile
than we think, and it has to be actively defended.
Paul Weyrich understood this very well.
He said straight out that he wants to blow it up.
So regardless of what happens to Donald Trump,
it's the machinery of the Council for National Policy
that has the staying power, and it's that machinery
that presents the lasting threat to our democracy.
This moment requires an ability to orient to reality.
And reality is the Republican party is more extreme
more dangerous and more committed
to the autocratic project of gaining power right now
than it was on January 6th of 2021.
And this has to be confronted
and there is no issue that supercedes it.
Every generation has had its challenge it has had to face,
- and we just have ours now. - [ cheering ]
We're from California to the Carolinas,
from Massachusetts to Mississippi,
from Alaska to Arkansas,
and we ain't going nowhere!
[ cheering continues ]
[ music playing ]