If Doug Mastriano doesn’t step down, or isn’t asked to step down, when this little ditty you’re about to hear gets around today, then the GOP is more irretrievably broken than we know. This is certainly a moment of reckoning.
The tape you’re about to hear is culled from a two-hour recording unearthed by Rolling Stone of Doug Mastriano speaking before a group called “Global Prayer For Election Integrity” who held a number of Zoom calls.
Plain and simple, this is about Dominionist takeover time. I guess we should give thanks that Mike Pence didn’t go insane and buy into this. He’s definitely a Christian supremacist, no question about that and they were counting on him. No question about that either. Pence was bankrolled by wingnut Erik Prince and his sister Betsy DeVos starting way back many years ago. Here’s Mastriano praying and preying.
The prayer meeting — one of a series of nearly two dozen “Global Prayer for Election Integrity” calls organized between election day and Jan. 6 — was organized by Jim Garlow, a prominent figure in the far-right New Apostolic Restoration movement. Garlow believes that U.S. government should operate according to biblical principles, because, “He knows best how government is to function.” Mastriano’s participation on the call was first reported by Right Wing Watch last year, but the video of Mastriano’s remarks is published here for first time:
The content of and context of Mastriano’s participation on the call gives lie to his protestations that he’s neither affiliated with NAR nor a Christian Nationalist. The video also sheds a harsh light on Mastriano’s mutinous mindset in the buildup to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Mastriano was on ground in Washington D.C. on that day and allegedly crossed police lines at the Capitol. (Mastriano has insisted he “respected all police lines as I came upon them.”) Mastriano’s role is of keen interest to the Jan. 6 Committee which has sought to compel his testimony. On Sept. 1, Mastriano filed a lawsuit against the Committee, challenging its authority to depose him. Mastriano did not respond to an interview request.
Christian Nationalism is the radical notion that the United States should not simply protect the religious freedoms of Christians, but that the nation should be governed according to their biblical beliefs, and that Christianity’s moral codes should be imposed on all citizens. Christian Nationalism is a rising force within the Trumpist, authoritarian GOP, with sitting members of Congress now openly rejecting the separation of church and state.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene identifies as a “proud Christian Nationalist” and Rep. Lauren Boehbert spoke succinctly of its aims in a June appearance at the Cornerstone Christian Center: “I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk,” she said. “The church is supposed to direct the government; the government is not supposed to direct the church.”
This is scary stuff with its roots going very deep. It should not be disregarded or minimized. These people are very dangerous and they are the leaders of what I’ll call the true sheep of the MAGA movement, meaning the people who will jump when told to jump, shoot when told to shoot, riot when told to riot. We have seen the truth of this firsthand.
In late 2020, Garlow saw the effort to overturn Joe Biden’s election to the presidency as divinely inspired. “This is good versus evil,” he said on a Dec 20 call featuring special guest Steve Bannon. “This is righteous people versus unrighteous people. This is a biblical theological situation we’re facing,” Garlow insisted. He argued that those seeking to return Trump to the White House were “following truth, righteousness, holiness, [and] biblical justice.”
Garlow was joined organizing the call series by the “apostle” Mario Bramnick, who heads up the Latino Coalition for Israel. Bramnick was also tied to the Trump administration, serving as a faith envoy for the White House. On the Dec. 30 video, it’s Bramnick who introduces Mastriano. “We’re honored to have with us Senator Mastriano, who… is leading the charge in Pennsylvania.” Mastriano was reportedly Trump’s “point person” for organizing a fake slate of electors for Pennsylvania to submit to the Electoral College.
As stated, Mastriano needs to get out of the race. It will be interesting to see what he does. It will be very interesting to see how he labels this tape as “fake news” should be decide to go that route.
We have an influx of conservatives on this site recently. Some make comments I disagree with but are capable of doing so firmly and in actual sentences that are well written and clearly articulate their point of view. Others not so much, and in fact if you have trouble understanding what I just said or need to look up some of the words that means YOU. I’ve referenced this because god frequently gets invoked. Now to be fair, despite what some (often it seems like the majority) of conservatives think the average Democrat including many a flaming liberal I’ve known in my life believes in god and Jesus too. For the record, I’m agnostic and have been for over two decades. Still, I was raised in the Christian faith in a regular old Presbyterian church, quite traditional. However, in addition to being an athlete I was also a musician and could sing. Well. That meant visiting lots of other churches of an astonishing variety of denominations as a guest to sing with their choir or sing a solo religious song. That I might add includes places where people spoke in tongues and such. I could say much more but I’ll leave it at that.
I’m a senior citizen now, which means I grew up in a time where Civics education was required in states around this country. In fact, we had a formal course of instruction in Civics both in Jr. High and High School where I grew up. So in addition to standard grade school history textbook stuff and the history part of daily grade school that covered very basic stuff about our govt. and free country’s govts. vs. the USSR (you can easily imagine it being good vs. evil and in fact while simplified that was true) I really learned details of our system of government at a granular level starting in 8th grade. Starting I remind you.
Beginning with the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation established after we won our independence and the Constitution itself (Illinois state govt. instruction was shorter but still comprehensive) I have that initial learning, butressed with a lifetime of additional learning as I’ve also got some affinity for the law (although I’m not a lawyer and don’t pretend to be an expert on it – I just find enjoyment in wading through statutes and court decisions on relevant issues) so I have some questions to pose to conservatives.
Since so many of you insist we are, and were established as a Christian Nation please point out to me exactly where in our founding Documents, be it The Declaration, the Constitution or the Bill of Rights one can find the word “God.” Or “Jesus.” Or “Christianity.” You so often toss out comments (a lot lately with abortion and Roe and the impact it’s likely to have this fall) like “the word privacy can’t be found in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights!” Yet even though those three words I initially asked about can’t be found either you INSIST that they are if not explicitly spelled out but “everyone knows that’s what the founders assumed everyone would understand.” Sorry, but you don’t get to have it both ways any more than I do.
What I DO however know is the text of the First Amendment which quite clearly in plain ole black and white text says people are free to practice their religion, or practice no religion at all. It doesn’t say or even imply a specific religion or even denomination within a given religion! As for the main body of the Constitution it SPECIFICALLY states NO (emphasis mine) text can be applied for anyone to seek or hold any office of trust (as in work for the govt. at any level, or be elected to any office from local to federal) in the United States! Got that? The founders quite clearly spelled out that people had religious freedom BUT that we and our govt. were not religion based and that while any person of faith could serve they were not allowed to impose THEIR religious views on others using government as a means to do so.
Many of our founders were what are called Deists, believing in what they called divine providence as some entity out there somewhere guiding the universe as they knew it. Yes, some including Washington attended church but even Washington wasn’t actually a member of any church. And some of the founders didn’t even rise to the level of being Deist although to be fair most were at least at that point. Ben Franklin for example. Someone celebrated by many as the most crucial to our Revolution and a driving force in its aftermath was, since abortion is such a hot topic now the inventor of something widely known and utilized as Mr. Franklin’s Special Tonic. Wanna guess what it was for? To induce ABORTION! And it apparently worked fairly well and had few nasty side effects that cause women lasting harm, much less their lives! So suck on that you “GOD’S WILL AND HE TOLD ME WHAT I SAY IS WHAT HE WANTS” fanatics! There’s also ample correspondence among the delegates at the Constitutional Convention (as well as records of debate) and afterwards, especially between two key figures (Jefferson and Adams) and even Washington’s writings that were NOT founded as a Christian Nation nor should anyone get it into their heads it was intended but not (for whatever reason) spelled out in the Constitution. Not that there weren’t a few people that felt that way, hence that part in the First Amendment about the govt. NOT respecting the establishment of any religion or restricting the free exercise thereof. It was debated and easily passed precisely to prevent zealots from trying to impose their religion on others and use the government to do so!
You can make up all the bullshit you want, and search for hidden clues QAnon style but there is plain black and white writing in the hand of those who made notes of the debates, their correspondence with each other and journal writings and articles of their that we were NOT founded as a religious, much less specifically Christian nation. On the contrary. They went to some lengths to ensure people of the time and future generations would understand that simply was NOT the case.
By all means pray. Go to church. Read your bibles (although I ask you pay attention to what Jesus actually said and did rather than the what the Prosperity Gospel/Dominionist preachers tell you “he actually meant”), meet with each other for study and prayer groups and so on. You have that freedom. Just as I have the freedom not to do any of those things. Neither of us should have our lives restricted by what we believe and do in our private lives so long as we aren’t harming others. (and if you’re going to hit me with abortion let me remind you that prior to twenty three weeks gestation in the womb ANY fetus born is is quite literally a dead, prematurely born baby. And at least thirty percent of fertilized eggs never implant in the uterine wall (most estimates run closer to forty percent) and pass right on out of a womans body so if as you contend life begins at conception God tosses out an awful lot of life. In fact he/she is the most prolific abortionist of all!)
John Adams, when debating the need to Declare independence and even during the final debate before the actual vote spoke passionately of a country of laws, not men. Though he was a man of faith, not ONCE did he speak or even imply a government based on religion, much less Christianity! No, he envisioned as did most of our founders right through the writing of the Constitution a secular government – and that religion was something that should be kept well out of the matter.
So just as I challenged you early I’ll do so again. SHOW ME where in our founding documents or the writings of our most well known and admired founders they speak of a Christian Nation. You can’t. Because your contention that’s the case is based on a lie.
Go take a look at your Commandments. I distinctly recall there being one about bearing false witness – in plain terms it says DON’T LIE! Practice what you preach assholes. And while you’re at it try practicing what Jesus himself preached. It’s all right there in your bibles in the New Testament. Lucky for you that during your time on earth you won’t have to rely on Jesus turning the other cheek. But when you die? Oh boy are you in for it! Because he spoke faith through acts and the way so many of you ignore his teachings won’t be getting into that heaven you dream of. IF you’re lucky he and God won’t meet you at the Pearly Gates to personally crotch-punt you straight to hell!
I wonder who these ‘Christians’ are following. Their ‘messiah’ has lied everytime he opens his mouth. Given Jesus has called the devil “the father of all lies” in John 8, and then called out those who follow this “murderer& liar” the “children of the devil”. Then there are the two GREATEST commandments, the second being the golden rule. There is also the fact Jesus pointed out time & again his disciples ministered to the poor & dispossessed, not demonize them & turn them away. He never advocated violence even when it would be used to defend him, as when Peter cut off the ear of a solider sent to arrest Jesus. He healed the man. In short, these people can call themselves anything but it DOESNT MAKE IT TRUE. Jesus didn’t say being born again was a free get out of jail card. There are parables where folks in the afterlife were surprised he didn’t know them. He made a point over and over that ONLY those who FOLLOW his commandments can call themselves his disciples. Cue up the so called Christian nazi excuses.
Im not gonna write a book Im only gonna say this guy belongs in a loony bin!
Wanna find a preacher who knows the Bible, our national history of greed & racism & follows the actual gospel? Watch Reverend Barber who leads the organization Dr. King founded, The Poor People’s Campaign. Otherwise you are what Dylan said you are: ” you say you lost your faith. You know it’s not like that. You had no faith to lose and you know it”.
One of the main reasons (if not THE main reason) why we have an established separation of church and state is due to the effects of comingling that was apparent in other countries and cultures. These effects were not good.
It never ceases to amaze me that those who preach the loudest are those most likely to violate the 10 Commandments.
The Christian Evangelicals who are nothing more than right-wing lunatics display a striking similarity to the Muslim extremists that are sworn enemies of our country. Get a load of their hypocrisy tomorrow (9/11), oblivious to their resemblance to the Taliban.
Whenever I hear “Christians” talk about governing, I ponder that voting is nowhere in the bible. Google it. Hundreds of references to anointing, choosing, rulers, kings, and authorities, but nothing about “electing” leaders. The biblical worldview was explicitly rejected by the Founders, who decreed that voting was the manner in which America would proceed. Can’t get much clearer than that.
The romans used crucifixion to control the populations they conquered. You could worship anything you wanted as long as you didn’t cause civil unrest. Thousands would line roads hanging from crosses shaped like x. They would leave them to rot so everyone knew EXACTLY would happen if you crossed them.