Monitoring Biden and other Contemporary Events

Most US Republicans sympathetic to Christian nationalism, survey finds

Survey also finds that 29% of white evangelical Protestants qualify as nationalism adherents while 35% qualify as sympathizers

Two-thirds of white evangelicals and most Republicans are sympathetic to Christian nationalism, a new survey has found.

According to a national survey released on Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute and Brookings Institution, 29% of white evangelical Protestants qualify as Christian nationalism adherents while 35% qualify as sympathizers.

Meanwhile, more than half of Republicans are classified as adherents or sympathizers, at 21% and 33% respectively.

The survey also found that Christian nationalism adherents are nearly seven times more likely than non-adherents – 40% vs 16% – to agree that “true patriots might have to resort to violence to save our country”. Among those that support such political violence, 12% indicated that they have personally threatened to use or actually used a gun, knife or other weapon on someone in the past few years.

Additionally, half of Christian nationalism adherents and 38% of sympathizers endorse the idea of an authoritarian leader “who is willing to break some rules if that’s what it takes to set things right”.

In regards to Christian nationalism and other ideologies, 57% of Christian nationalism adherents disagree that white supremacy is a major problem in the country, and 70% reject the idea that historical discrimination contributes to current challenges faced by Black Americans.

Moreover, 71% of Christian nationalism adherents support the so-called “replacement theory” – a racist conspiracy belief that white Americans and Europeans are being deliberately “replaced” by non-white immigrants.

Nearly one-fourth, or 23%, of Christian nationalism adherents indicated that they believe the stereotype that Jewish people in the United States hold too many positions of power. Meanwhile, 67% of Christian nationalism adherents say that people from some Muslim-majority countries should be banned from entering the US.

Furthermore, 69% of Christian nationalism adherents agree that “in a truly Christian family”, the husband is the household head while his wife submits to his leadership.

The survey comes as the US experiences an increasing number of Americans shifting away from religious affiliations, as well as a declining number of churches across the country. Data released last year by the Pew Research Center found that Christians in the US could be a minority group by 2070.

Nevertheless, there appears to be an growing number of Christian nationalism supporters, especially as far-right politicians such as Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Florida governor Ron DeSantis publicly endorse the ideology via comments such as “We should be Christian nationalists” and that Republicans should wear the “full armor of God”.

Ron DeSantis will tell Americans in his new book Courage to Be Free that his heart “was always for the people of Florida” and pay lip service to Florida’s rich history.

Another DeSantis ad stated that God made DeSantis on the eighth day because, as God allegedly put it, “I need a protector.”

Quote:

Another DeSantis ad stated that God made DeSantis on the eighth day because, as God allegedly put it, “I need a protector.”

That's blasphemous.

State of Disunion

“Democratic-leaning states represent the future and Republican ones the last gasps of a dying empire.” That’s been the theory long espoused by many on the left, my colleague Jerusalem Demsas wrote this week. But geographic trends suggest a possible reversal of this state of the union: Florida and Texas were last year’s top states for inbound domestic migration, with New York and California in the rear. And some red states may be better hubs for employment right now too: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data suggest that there are now more nonfarming jobs in Florida than in New York.

Jerusalem took a close look at Florida and New York, which together are a paradigm of a broader national trend of migration from blue states to red states. She found that the cost of housing is likely the single greatest factor behind the shift. “The top 10 metro areas for unaffordability are a sort of who’s who of Democratic cities: Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim tops the list, with New York–Newark–Jersey City rolling into the sixth spot as the first non-California metro,” she writes. The rise of remote work in the pandemic has also meant that one of New York’s main superpowers—“its gravitational pull on workers,” as Jerusalem puts it—has been weakened.

So what does this mean for blue states and their superstar cities? They’re far from dying, of course: “New York City isn’t some dystopian wasteland where no one can see their future,” Jerusalem reminds us. But evidence of a growing exodus does mean cities that have long been sitting comfortably need to put in some work to retain their residents—by, for example, improving basic amenities such as public transit.

And there are some selling points that more affordable red states might never be able to offer. “A healthy city attracts wealthy, middle-, and working-class people; it pulls newcomers into its orbit while leaving room for natives,” Jerusalem writes. “I don’t have a lot of faith that the Republican regimes now attracting Americans will be invested in this type of inclusive growth.” As Jerusalem notes, “We’ve seen these states become hostile to LGBTQ rights, educational freedom, voting rights, racial equality, and more.” This is true in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis’s anti-critical-race-theory legislation is forcing professors to change how they teach.

In short, the lack of affordable housing in blue-state cities means that some Americans have to “choose between liberal values and financial security,” Jerusalem argues. And that choice is made more stark by the fact that red and blue America can feel, to some, like two entirely different countries.

My colleague Ronald Brownstein has written about what he calls “the great divergence” between red and blue states. This widening divide is a defining characteristic of 21st-century America, he argues, with the GOP in particular hoping to impose its politics on the entire country. He wrote last year:

What’s becoming clearer over time is that the Trump-era GOP is hoping to use its electoral dominance of the red states, the small-state bias in the Electoral College and the Senate, and the GOP-appointed majority on the Supreme Court to impose its economic and social model on the entire nation—with or without majority public support.

These new migration trends won’t do much to end the ongoing duel between red and blue America. “Although some predict that liberals moving to red states could moderate our nation’s politics, that seems unlikely given states’ tendency to preempt local policy,” Jerusalem told me. And that happens in both red states (on issues such as gun laws) and blue states (where state governments may hold localities accountable for housing failures), she explained.

For now, it looks like the divide between red and blue states will persist. But as long as cheaper housing and good jobs coexist in red states, blue-staters will keep on coming.

Quote:
Another DeSantis ad stated that God made DeSantis on the eighth day because, as God allegedly put it, “I need a protector.”

Every one that is:
- respectful / courteous
- teaches their children values
- understands and values personal responsibility
- understands and values community
- charitable by nature
- believes in fairness
- supportive of their loved ones
- values high self esteem
- etc

As Ron DeSantis provides safe harbor for oppression in Florida and exports bad policy across the country, it's clear that he represents an existential threat to American democracy--even if he fails to become president.

After four years of punishing the people of Florida with actions largely meant to increase his personal power, Governor Ron DeSantis appears to be bringing his corrosive brand of politics to a presidential run.

A Florida political system that has over the course of several Republican governors maximized voter suppression and gerrymandering has contributed to DeSantis' unprecedented ability to centralize power in Florida and muffled most effective opposition. It is in this context of restricting voting rights, too, that disastrous policy decisions opposed by millions of Floridians have been portrayed as somehow not subpar, but superlative. In certain quarters, these policies are bally-hoo'd as a form of "freedom" and "liberty."

With DeSantis' explicit approval, the Republican-led Florida legislature has stamped out as much home rule as possible, continuing Scott's legacy, and rendered cities and counties less able to govern effectively. This helps the special interests that fuel DeSantis' campaigns, but does nothing for ordinary citizens.

made Black students uncomfortable with comments dismissive of slavery,

In addition to a brutal campaign of suppression of queer identity,

DeSantis has supported his crusade against Critical Race Theory (CRT) by trying to destroy New College with extremist (and incompetent) board appointees, and by sending a letter to all public universities asking for information on their race and diversity teachings--even as professors quit rather than subject themselves to censorship. CRT allows far-right Republicans to combine a strawman with a bogeyman in pursuit of the perfect bogus woke war, while the demonization makes it hard for colleges to effectively serve their students.

a crackdown on nonviolent Black Lives Matters protestors in the state by expanding "Stand Your Ground" laws to absolve motorists driving into marchers. (In 2022, this law would be condemned by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of on Racial Discrimination.)

Why would you want any of this inflicted on the nation?

Like I said, the state of affairs in the US in red states and republicans in congress, is just appallingly sad and among those republicans who support them.

The left has long believed that Democratic states are the future, whereas Republican states are the past. But migration data tell a different story.

Referring to my previous entry, I'm not sure that the Red Regimes should get complacent believing that all these bluecomers are just going to turn into MAGATs.

When the saltwater is lapping at their front door,

the rolling blackouts during the summer shutting down their air conditioners,

and a few inches of snow bringing winter life to a standstill,

these new arrivals may have second thoughts. The lack of social services, the shitty schools, and the repressive political atmosphere may move them to start making political demands of their own.

The Republican-dominated Mississippi house of representatives has passed a bill to create a separate, unelected court system in the city of Jackson that would fall outside the purview of the city's voters, the majority of whom are Black.

The bill, which local leaders have likened to apartheid-era laws and described as unconstitutional,

"It's oppressive because it strips the right of Black folks to vote.

It's oppressive because it puts a military force over people that has no accountability to them.

It's oppressive because there will be judges who will determine sentences over people's lives.

It's oppressive because it redirects their tax dollars to something they don't endorse nor believe in," Lumumba said.

The passage was preceded by an intense, four-hour floor debate in which members of the state's Black caucus made impassioned pleas to reject the legislation and compared the bill to the state's Jim Crow-era constitution of 1890.

The proposed bill is the latest in a line of extreme legislation in the state, which last year introduced a sweeping anti-critical race theory law, which met vocal opposition from the state's Black caucus.