The essential American soul is hard, isolated, stoic, and a killer.

 D.H. Lawrence's asserted, “The essential American soul is hard, isolated, stoic, and a killer; it has never yet melted,” is a sweeping generalization, one that I find difficult to accept in its entirety. While Lawrence's words may have captured a particular aspect of the American psyche during his time, they fail to account for the complexity and diversity of the American spirit, which has shown itself to be equally capable of kindness, generosity, and compassion. However, I see a troubling trend that aligns more closely with Lawrence’s bleak characterization with the rise of Christian Nationalism.

This merging of politics and religion into a single entity has led to a dangerous erosion of the boundaries between personal faith and public governance. The result is an increasing willingness to commit acts of violence and justify them in the name of God, all under the guise of protecting religious values. A chilling example of this can be found in the words of a picnic-goer from Woodstock, IL, interviewed by Sky News: “This is the holy war in the United States. We’re voting for God by voting for Trump.” The speaker’s conviction stems from the unfounded claim that the 2020 election was stolen—a “big lie” that has given rise to a host of fevered fears and wild conspiracies. The same individual, in a moment of frightening candor, declared, “If you’re to try to put me in a detention camp or try to re-educate me, I’ll kill ya.”

This dangerous mentality didn’t appear overnight, nor can it be solely attributed to one former president, as tempting as that might be. The roots of this movement trace back to the Reagan era when efforts to infuse government with the will of an extreme Fundamentalist Christian minority began to take shape. Over the decades, these efforts have borne fruit, culminating in significant shifts in the political landscape. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority, for instance, has achieved feats once thought impossible, such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade—a decision that stood for fifty years until the current activist court, assembled in part through Senator Mitch McConnell’s calculated political maneuvering.

A particularly insidious force in this equation is the extreme right-wing media, which has become a powerful handmaiden to the movement. With a platform that reaches millions, this media machine spins narratives that keep its audience in a perpetual state of agitation, feeding them a steady diet of “news” that often bears little resemblance to reality. Meanwhile, the mainstream media has been far too timid in confronting these distortions, allowing the airwaves to be flooded with lies and misinformation under the guise of “politics as usual.”

This perfect storm of religious fervor, political opportunism, and media manipulation has profound implications for American society. Perhaps the most tragic consequence is the harm it does to sincere Christians who find comfort and solace in their faith. These are not the professional Christians who weaponize evangelism to impose their values on others, but rather those who genuinely strive to live by the teachings of Christ—teachings meant for a spiritual realm, not for wielding power in this life.

On my show today, I shared an interview from PBS Frontline with Tim Alberta, author of American Carnage and The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. Alberta recounts a personal experience that highlights the disturbing intersection of faith and politics in contemporary America. After his father’s funeral, he was reprimanded by members of his father’s church for his critical coverage of Trump, with one congregant accusing him of being “part of an evil plot [...] out to undermine God’s ordained leader of the United States.” This experience led Alberta to delve deeper into the relationship between American Evangelical Christianity and the radical right.

In the interview, Alberta poses a provocative question to Christians who view Trump as God’s chosen representative: Could it be that Trump is not a divine messenger but rather a test of their faith? Is he the Golden Calf of the Bible, a false idol luring them away from true Christian teachings? If so, are they passing this test?