Christian nationalism preconditioned voters to accept authoritarian rule before Trump.

Evidence

Many critics of the Republican party today trace its present corruption to the influence of big money. This explanation is true enough yet incomplete. In the age of Trump, the party’s resolute rejection of the democratic and constitutional norms that it once at least pretended to champion would not have been possible without the prior success of Christian nationalism in training millions of supporters to embrace identity-based, authoritarian rule over pluralistic, democratic processes. The roots of the present crisis in the American political party system lie at the juncture of money and religion. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 41

Categorization

• SEED: Strong thesis for an essay/article: the causal sequencing claim that religious-right cultural training (not money alone) enabled the Trump-era breakdown of democratic norms — ‘money explains Wolf PAC, religion explains the base.’
• XREF: connects to: The Christian right supports Trump for autocratic power, not shared Christian values — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 169; Anti-abortion absolutism fused with Christian nationalism to anchor GOP loyalty by 2016 — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 290; Christian nationalism robustly predicts authoritarian political attitudes — Ruiqian Li and Paul Froese, The Duality of American Christian…, 45 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Christian nationalism robustly predicts authoritarian political attitudes #corroborates (0.85) — Ruiqian Li and Paul Froese, The Duality of American Christian…, 45
• Christian nationalism fuses moral traditionalism, authoritarian control, and ethno-racial boundaries #expands (0.80) — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 142
• Christian nationalism is radical, not conservative, and undermines democratic institutions #corroborates (0.80) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 33
• Christian nationalism predicts approval of the Capitol rioters and political violence #expands (0.75) — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 219
• White evangelical Trump support reflects prior populist and authoritarian dispositions #corroborates (0.70) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 11