We have seen the future of MAGA, and it is not Donald Trump. But even Trump has to be impressed with who he is being replaced with.
Sunday’s memorial for Charlie Kirk was, on one level, a moment of reflection on the conservative activist’s life—and one of catharsis for his supporters given the trauma of his murder. But on another, it was the most significant high-level gathering of MAGA leaders since Trump’s inauguration and, in that respect, it was strikingly different from any other such conclave we have ever seen.
That is because on Sunday, for the first time ever, Donald Trump was not the center of attention. In fact, he seemed almost out of place there, out of step with its tone and its clear focus on the future of the right wing in American politics.
Quite apart from the looming presence of Kirk himself, the most important voices at the event were his widow, Erika Kirk, and Vice President J.D. Vance.
Erika Kirk’s speech was the most emotionally resonant. Her public forgiveness of her husband’s murderer was clearly the signature moment. But she also established, with her language and focus, the character of the event—and revealed its purpose
Vance’s remarks, meanwhile, were the strongest of the senior Trump Administration officials who appeared on stage. That is true both because he seemed to be the person most genuinely close to Kirk, and also because he was the most in tune with Erika.
While Trump spoke as a politician, Erika Kirk and Vance adopted an approach that appeared more consistent with televangelists. As Erika stated explicitly, what they were there to advance was the politics of religious revival.
Their message was unmistakable: The future of MAGA is Christian nationalism. The central figure of their movement going forward would be not Trump, but Jesus.
On the face of it, it’s hard to object to such a shift.
Clearly, such a move would be a big step up, a transition from one of the worst of men, a living catalogue of vices who has been supported his entire life by the wages of sin, to a deity, the epitome of virtue.
What is more, it is a natural evolution for the American right, which in recent years has had an increasingly religious bent to its structure and focus. Evangelism at large has become a core part of the MAGA base. Movements like Dominionism, which argues that America is a Christian nation that should have Christian leaders guiding the country based on Christian principles, have been increasingly influential within Republican officials, jurists and commentators.
But there are deeply troubling elements to this trend. First, of course, is the fact that not all Americans are Christian or even religious, and that one of the principles on which this country was founded was the separation of church and state.
Also troubling is the degree to which so many televangelists in America have themselves become corrupted by money and power. Nothing illustrates this fact so well as their embrace of as corrupt a person as Trump as an agent of a Higher Power, a quasi-religious figure himself.
In fact, without for a moment doubting the sincerity of the beliefs held by many of those present at Kirk’s memorial, or those who embrace Christianity in its many forms, it cannot be denied that there is hucksterism and con-artistry to be found among prominent church leaders who echo the approaches and abuses of Trump himself.
We seem to be on the verge of replacing one type of hypocritical con with another.
Add all these factors together and it is hard to deny that the desire of so many at the memorial is to recast the goals of the right not in terms of the merits of their policies but in terms that define, their rhetoric of tolerance and free speech aside, their opponents as evil or out of favor with heavenly powers. Some—the ever-fiery Trump aide Stephen Miller, for example—were explicit in this regard.
Taking us from an America divided by politics to one divided by religion—into virtuous true believers and those who are destined for Hell—is not exactly progress. Further, putting a new face on this movement, even if it is the face of Jesus himself, will not exactly divest it of other elements like racism or misogyny. Certainly, studying the work of the man whose life was celebrated—and the fact that it was celebrated—on Sunday demonstrates this clearly.
So while the names of the players and some of their rhetoric may change, the essence of the MAGA movement will not. Nor will appropriating the language of Jesus or the Bible will not make those with hate or greed in their heart holy.
The post Opinion: The MAGA Movement Is Ready to Dump Donald Trump. Here’s His Replacement appeared first on The Daily Beast.
