During his 2000 presidential campaign, then-Republican Sen. John McCain told voters he had no use for the religious right movement, denouncing prominent evangelists as “agents of intolerance.” His party’s far-right base was not impressed, and it contributed to McCain losing to George W. Bush in the GOP’s primaries.
Eight years later, McCain decided to forge partnerships with religious right radicals and welcomed the support of evangelists like Pastor John Hagee.
It wasn’t long, however, before McCain ran into a problem: The Arizona senator started facing questions about whether he agreed with Hagee’s record of radicalism, including the pastor’s arguments that the Holocaust was a divine plan from God, Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for Pride parades, and women are “only meant to be mothers and bear children.” (He also described the Catholic Church as “the great whore,” though he later apologized.)
McCain, reluctant to be associated with such madness, felt like he had no choice but to publicly reject Hagee’s endorsement and repudiate the pastor’s views.
Sixteen years later, Republicans at the national level are apparently no longer burdened by such concerns. On the contrary, right-wing evangelists with radical records can take comfort in the fact that in 2024, national GOP candidates won’t make much of an effort to keep them at arm’s length.
For example, on Saturday, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance appeared at an event hosted by an evangelist who’s argued that Vice President Kamala Harris is demonic. The Washington Post reported:
The event’s host, Lance Wallnau, who emceed the live event and introduced Vance’s first town hall on the campaign trail, is a leading figure in the fast-growing New Apostolic Reformation, a movement that preaches Christian supremacy through a blend of prophecy and hard-right politics.
For those unfamiliar with Wallnau, Right Wing Watch has published some excellent research on the evangelist’s vision, which makes clear that he’s the kind of guy that GOP officials probably ought to avoid. As the Post’s report summarized, “Wallnau has previously cast Harris as both a demon and Jezebel, the biblical symbol of womanly wickedness.”
Wallnau, a self-described Christian prophet, is also on record claiming that Vice President Kamala Harris relied on “witchcraft” during her recent debate victory.
Just as importantly, NBC News reported ahead of Saturday’s event:
Since 2016, Wallnau and his allies have presented former President Donald Trump as a flawed but anointed leader — like the biblical figure King Cyrus — who has been chosen by God to restore Christian power in America. After denying Trump’s 2020 election defeat and telling followers that God had a plan to keep him in office, Wallnau joined pro-Trump protestors in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, to pray for divine intervention to stop Congress from certifying the electoral count as rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol.
In recent months, Wallnau — with support from the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk — has hosted a series of get-out-the-vote worship rallies in swing states, where he and other evangelists have delivered a blend of pro-Trump political commentary and prophetic warnings about the coming end times, framing the 2024 election as an epic struggle between forces of good and evil.
Again, it really wasn’t that long ago when GOP candidates seeking a national audience wouldn’t return phone calls from a guy like this. Nevertheless, Vance appeared only too pleased to attend the Wallnau-hosted event.
In fairness, I should emphasize that Vance’s spokesperson told reporters that the Ohio senator did not actually share the stage with Wallnau, and the two reportedly have not met. I’ve seen no evidence to the contrary.
But when a right-wing evangelist who claims that Harris is literally demonic hosts an event, and a Republican candidate for national office accepts an invitation to attend, whether the two literally shake hands or not isn’t altogether relevant.
What’s more, this came on the heels of Vance sitting down with Tucker Carlson after the far-right media personality interviewed and praised a Holocaust revisionist.
A New York Times report summarized soon after, “Not long ago, candidates running for national office spent much of the general election distancing themselves from the fringes of their parties. But on Saturday, Senator JD Vance of Ohio will share a stage with someone on the fringes of his.”
Oddly enough, those identical sentences were equally applicable a week later, as the line between the Republican fringe and the Republican mainstream blurs out of existence.