Thank you Caryn Morgan, Noble Blend, Leah Anderson, Independent Voter 1, Kiera Stroup, and many others for tuning into my live video with THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali! I’ll be doing more of these occasional Substack LIVE conversations in 2026. I’ll post recordings here for everyone, but if you want to tune in live, you’ll need to download the Subtack app (on your phone and now even on your TV for a big screen experience). Hope you’ll join me for my next live video in the app.
In this conversation, Waj and I take a deep dive on the long history of what we today describe as white Christian nationalism. That’s a good term for this impulse’s contemporary manifestation, but it is not new. It is the same spirit that embodied the Christian Doctrine of Discovery and fueled genocide toward Native Americans; the Confederacy with its claim that God would vindicate white supremacy and slavery; and the attempt to continue the Lost Cause by erecting an apartheid Jim Crow society enforced both by racist laws and the terrorism of the KKK (and explicitly Protestant Christian organization) in the wake of their defeat in the Civil War. Waj and I trace these historical vectors and talk about how they connect to the racist violence unleashed by ICE and its targeting of Black and brown people in Minnesota and across the nation. We wrap with a call to action and some suggestions for how we all might reclaim the country and stand up for the principles of pluralism and democracy.
ICYMI
And here’s the latest episode from The Convocation Unscripted, my weekly podcast conversation with Jemar Tisby, PhD , Kristin Du Mez , and Diana Butler Bass . Check it out below and subscribe (it’s free) to get it delivered to your inbox every Friday.
