Investigators are still examining the motives driving Thomas Jacob Sanford, who opened fire on a Mormon church in Michigan, killing four people. Yet White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt quickly link the killing to an alleged rash of anti-Christian violence. “This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians,” Leavitt insisted, amplifying a similar claim by President Trump. Yet this is backfiring: Evidence quickly emerged that the shooter may well be a Trump supporter motivated by anti-Mormon bigotry in particular. While it’s of course possible for someone to be a Trump supporter and also target Christians, Leavitt was plainly trying to turn this to the political advantage of Trump and the MAGA movement, and that’s gone awry. We talked to Sarah Posner, author of good books about the religious right, who explains how this all sheds light on a bigger story that we saw at play after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, too. It’s that Trump-MAGA relentlessly inculcate a sense of persecution among their armies of Evangelical supporters, to rally them for religious war against the Democratic, liberal, secular enemy within. Thus far, in this case, the facts aren’t cooperating. Listen to this episode here.
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