"Money, Lies, and God"
A new book by Katherine Stewart journeys inside the movement to destroy American democracy
My vision is to do interviews like these about critically important books with expert authors at least twice a month. I’m a long way from that now, but you can help me get there. Become a paid subscriber today!
For the first time in my lifetime, I don’t see a clear or likely electoral path toward national progress.
Right now a regime has taken over the White House and is systematically dismantling the democratic apparatus as we know it.
As pro-democracy individuals and organizations scramble to respond and mount opposition, part of the work entails understanding how this regime came to power in the first place.
A labyrinthine network of institutions, media outlets, billionaires, politicians, and more have combined into multi-headed hydra of authoritarianism and grift.
There are so many people, ideologies, networks, and surreptitious links that the average person hardly has any hope of untangling the “rat king” mass of intertwined interests.
Thankfully, generous and skilled individuals such as investigative journalist, Katherine Stewart, are here to help.
Her latest book, Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy does the tedious and essential work of exposing how a combination of wealth, right-wing institutions, and religious nationalism combined into a toxic brew that gave us the current political regime.
Core Themes
Stewart’s core argument is as follows:
The big story of our time is the rise of an antidemocratic political movement in the United States. Like any such movement, this one is diverse and complicated. It brings together a collection of people and ideas that in ordinary circumstances would not dream of sharing a bed. It is united in its profound rejection of the Enlightenment ideals on which the American republic was founded, and it represents the most serious threat to American democracy since the Civil War. It is best described as a new and distinctly American variant of authoritarianism or fascism.
Stewart labels this antidemocratic movement as “reactionary nihilism.”
It is reactionary in the sense that it expresses itself as mortal opposition to a perceived catastrophic change in the political order; it is nihilistic because its deepest premise is that the actual world is devoid of value, impervious to reason, and governable only through brutal acts of will. It stands for a kind of unraveling of the American political mind—a madness that now afflicts one side of nearly every political debate.
The most critical intervention of this book, in my view, is Stewarts assiduous tracking of the trail of money that funds this antidemocratic movement. As she writes:
A central finding in this book is that the direction and success of the antidemocratic movement depends on its access to immense resources, a powerful web of organizations, and a highly self-interested group of movers and backers…That matrix is far more densely connected, well-financed, and influential at all levels of government and society than most Americans appreciate.
The Five Forces Driving the Destruction of Democracy
In the introduction, Stewart helps us make sense of the dizzying variety of actors in this Christo-fascist regime. She identifies five distinct yet interdependent groups:
The Funders – Billionaires and shadow donors financing the operation (e.g., Betsy DeVos, Koch networks, Wilks brothers).
The Thinkers – Ideological architects shaping anti-democratic policies and messaging (e.g., Heritage Foundation, Claremont Institute).
The Sergeants – Local and state-level operatives pushing the movement forward (e.g., school board activists, election deniers).
The Infantry – The mass base of radicalized followers convinced they are in a holy war.
The Power Players – Charismatic leaders and political figures consolidating control
Identifying the Anti-Democratic Strategy
Religious Nationalism as a Political Weapon
Christian nationalism is not merely a religious movement—it is a calculated political strategy designed to justify minority rule. As Katherine Stewart explains, this ideology claims that America was founded as a Christian nation and that a "sacred heritage" has been betrayed by secular elites. It positions political opponents as enemies of the faith and Trump’s rise to the presidency as a divine sign of God’s favor. In its pursuit of fundamentalist “Christian privilege” it will trample over the principles of participatory democracy.
Stewart also notes the racial elements of Christian nationalism (which I typically refer to as white Christian nationalism):
The story of this movement cannot be told apart from the racial and ethnic divisions that it continuously exploits and exacerbates. The psychic payoff that the new, antidemocratic religious and right-wing nationalism offers its adherents is the promise of membership in a privileged “in-group” previously associated with being a white Christian conservative, a supposed “real American,” with the twist that those privileges may now be claimed even by those who are not white, provided they worship and vote the “right” way.
The War on Public Institutions
Public institutions—especially schools, universities, and government agencies—are primary targets for the anti-democratic movement, which sees them as barriers to conservative dominance. Stewart documents how school boards, state legislatures, and local governments have been infiltrated by activists who aim to reshape education into an instrument of ideological control. The broader goal is to dismantle public education, weaken regulatory agencies, and delegitimize any institution that upholds pluralism and democratic governance.
Disinformation as a Strategy
The anti-democratic movement thrives on disinformation, using media, churches, and social networks to spread narratives that erode trust in democratic institutions. Election fraud conspiracies, attacks on mainstream journalism, and revisionist history about race and gender are all tools designed to confuse the public and create an environment where authoritarian control appears as the only solution. By relentlessly questioning the legitimacy of elections, the movement manufactures distrust that paves the way for voter suppression laws and anti-democratic power grabs.
An International Counterrevolution
The authoritarian counterrevolution is not merely a United State phenomenon. Stewart details how American Christian nationalist leaders have formed alliances with illiberal regimes across the world, from Viktor Orbán’s Hungary to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. She warns that “this movement has captured one of the nation’s two major political parties, and some of its leading thinkers explicitly model their ambitions on corrupt and illiberal regimes abroad”. These connections reveal a disturbing reality: the war on democracy is not just domestic—it is part of a transnational effort to replace pluralistic societies with reactionary, authoritarian rule.
The Battle Is Here
Katherine Stewart’s Money, Lies, and God isn’t just another political book—it’s an exposé that connects the dots between religious nationalism, dark money, and authoritarian ambitions.
Stewart lays out the chilling but undeniable story of how a well-funded, highly organized movement is systematically dismantling democracy in America.
From local school boards to the highest levels of government, these forces are working to reshape the nation in their image—one where power is concentrated in the hands of a chosen (ultra-wealth) few, dissent is silenced, and democratic norms are discarded in favor of religious rule.
The battle isn’t coming—it’s here. Theocratic extremists aren’t just threatening democracy; they’re actively dismantling it.
Either we meet them with fierce opposition, or we watch our rights, our freedoms, and a more perfect union slip away.
Listen to my full interview with Katherine Stewart:
Which theme or concept from Money, Lies, and God intrigues you the most? What do you want to dive deeper into? Share your thoughts below!
Don’t let Black History Month end without helping the young people in your life learn these stories.
I Am the Spirit of Justice (ages 4-7)
Stories of the Spirit of Justice (ages 8-12)
I’ve just started listening to this book, and the idea of reactionary nihilism - that the actual world is devoid of value, impervious to reason, and governable only through brutal acts of will - is exactly what I see and hear from the “far white” (as you so aptly named the movement in the most recent Convocation Unscripted). Especially that the actual world is devoid of value. What a dark and empty viewpoint, and how counter to God’s view that every person has the greatest value and is worth sending His Son to die for. I am horrified to think that our country’s current leadership, elected or otherwise, has the hubris to believe they alone can “Save America”, and are willing to destroy democracy to do it. I pray that God will not allow them to bring their plans to fruition. But I wonder if America is under God’s judgement. Are Christian Nationalists our Babylonians?
It's important to get books like Jemar's and Katherine Stewart's into as many hands as possible-buy them, get them into churches, and request your local public library to buy them. My local library is very responsive to requests from the public. Supporting public libraries is a form of resistance. Librarians protect our right to privacy when it comes to what we read, and they stand against arbitrary book bans.