NYT on my recent Paul Pressler piece: "Political evangelicalism is a system that is deeply influenced by depraved men, and it has exactly the features that depraved men will demand of an institution they control."

"Again, it’s worth repeating that these allegations followed Pressler for decades. Yet he retained his power. He retained his influence. For all too many Baptists, the ends justified the means."

I don’t think Peter Thiel’s network has received enough attention for having elevated Christian Nationalist pastor Doug Wilson. Exhibit A is Tucker’s weird softball interview of Wilson in May 2024 at a time when Tucker’s media company was still backed by 1789 Capital. 1/

The leader referenced here, in one of the last paragraphs from my recent piece on the SBC, GOP and Paul Pressler, is actually William Wolfe.

Thought you might like this little addition to the literature. bsky.app/profile/frat...

For an even deeper dive, see @anelsona.bsky.social “Shadow Network”

Always useful to point out that the SBC exists because the original Baptist Church it schismed off of decided ministers shouldn't own other humans as property.

We went from "armed gunman mere seconds away from shooting the president is killed by Secret Service" to "guy with a shotgun falls down on a different floor well outside the entrance of the ballroom and we can't find the bullets because that just happens sometimes" awfully fast.

One of those cases quietly closed was the investigation into sexual assault allegations within the #SBC. No word as to whether or not it was done as the result of political pressure by influential figures in the Trump administration by men like Robert Jeffress.

This is going to be fascinating reading, and I'm so glad that Robert hasn't given up on the story of how Paul Pressler used religious organizations to build his power base, suborn men for sex and lead the evangelical movement into idolatry.

People really should read American history more often. Like, all of it.

NatCon is the Thiel-backed conference that has helped propel both Christian Nationalism & JD Vance’s political ascension. Its Statement of Principles—signed by (among others) Peter Thiel—was co-authored by John O’Sullivan, founder of the Danube Institute in Hungary. 1/

JUST IN: John Eastman, the conservative attorney who helped devise President Trump's last ditch strategy to overturn the 2020 presidential election, has officially been disbarred, per the California Supreme Court:

I think the big picture here is unprecedented in American history. It’s the climax of corruption: using the US military to set up conditions from which the president and his minions can benefit personally. (In hindsight this should be transparent to all).

If we all work together, we can make sure the World Cup is an absolutely embarrassing failure for the rich people who care about it.

JD Vance/Turning Point USA event in Athens, Georgia

🚨BREAKING: Federal Court DISMISSES DOJ lawsuit to obtain Massachusetts' unredacted voter file. A victory for our clients the New England NAACP and the MA Alliance for Retired Americans and the Commonwealth. My firm is now 4-0 in these cases against DOJ. www.democracydocket.com/cases/massac...

Breaking News: A federal judge rejected an attempt by the Pentagon to impose a new set of restrictions on journalists.

I wasn’t prepared for psychological warfare being fought via animated Ai Lego rap diss tracks, but here we are. I can’t believe Trump hasn’t hired Big Balls to make retaliatory Kid Rock versions yet.

The more these evangelicals try to become the government the more people they will drive away. They are only accelerating the demise of their institutions by merging them with the state. The evangelicals of the founding era understood this dynamic, which is why they wanted church/state separation.

Dear Christian, If you’re demanding that the Ten Commandments be put up in public schools, but you’re not holding this president or his administration accountable to a single one of them, please don’t act like you actually take them seriously.

As a Christian, I don't think federal agencies should be referring to "Christ, our Savior" in any context. I don't need my government to validate my faith. That's why it's called faith. More importantly, my government shouldn't be invalidating the religions of other Americans.

Don't forget Robert George's key role as co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage, which gave us both John Eastman and Brian Brown, now also head of the WCF that is one of Russia's main vectors for influencing the religious right. George has ties to Peter Thiel, too, since at least 2009

Evergreen

“political leadership roles should mostly be occupied by men.” I look forward to the day when Meg Basham believes this enough to remove herself from roles of public influence and leadership. Like when she “spoke” to the CBN pre-rally meeting two years ago.

This guy will be an SBC Pastor in five years, writing Substack articles on why the Left’s real father is Lucifer.

Leaving X was worth it just to not see her posts anymore.

I hope somebody asking questions about how the F “Taylor parlayed [his] auto repair company… to Valar Atomics.” Think about that claim— he (maybe) knew how to code, somehow that led to an auto repair company (?), and then a bunch of Russian investors said “here is $$$$ to build nuclear reactors!”

😳 Isaiah Taylor of Valar Atomics—which somehow scored a DOE contract to build a nuclear reactor by July 4—claimed that “a person cld hold the spent nuclear fuel from [Valar’s] reactor in their hand & get the same amount of radiation as one would expect from a hospital CT scan.” About that… 1/

I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war

Trying to help get the word out

So even as we condemn political violence, we need to be clear of the legacy of Turning Point USA. Those who are whitewashing its work as a “free speech and debate” organization are willfully obscuring the truth. 8/

Self-described Christian nationalist pastor Douglas Wilson is part of an ascendent group of Christian religious leaders finding influence among MAGA conservatives. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is Wilson’s most prominent and public follower in the Trump admin. Aug 8, 2025 (7 min) 🍿🔊

Anyone else getting these weird messages from Twitter about strongarming people into subscribing? I didn’t get an email or any other alert about it.

This is part of the long term endgame for the political marriage of Republican politicians and “Conservative” Evangelicals, going all the way back to the old school Moral Majority.

Two thoughts: 1. Baptists & Catholics together under the idea of “Christianity” betrays both Baptist AND Catholic doctrine. We have divergent views on critical doctrines. 2. Enforcing this kind of watered down “christian” theology by the State can be undone by the next POTUS.

GM!

Bingo

Both

There is at least one follower who gave away everything he had accumulated four fold, though. Not that we'll ever see that done by our theological overlords. They're too busy grabbing for $100 million dollars because they were "defamed" as the result of actions they took.

160 years ago today, the traitor Jefferson Davis and his treasonous cabinet abandoned Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, spelling the beginning of the end of the Civil War. A day for all patriots to celebrate.

Nonprofits known as 527s can raise unlimited sums for political spending. As a reminder, we've got a database that allows journalists, researchers and others to more easily search these organizations’ finances:

Important to remember Mike Johnson can’t math

JUST IN: A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore funds for programs that provides legal services to unaccompanied minors children in immigration proceedings. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Every time you see someone powerful acting like a craven coward in the face of this authoritarian menace, let it stiffen your own spine. We are all we've got.

Military aid to Ukraine has always been a bargain for the U.S. We degraded Russia’s armed forces and replaced our own stockpiles with brand new weapons, all while brave Ukrainians— not Americans—fought the Russians off. Halting that aid is not only morally repulsive, it’s plain stupid.

BREAKING: Trump, Vance meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over minerals deal devolves into heated argument — "You're gambling with World War III," Trump said.