Brad and Dan discuss the GOP's opposition to 1/6 commission and how the GOP is doing myth making in real time to change the perception and memory of the Insurrection. They then discuss SCOTUS' decision to hear a case about abortion that could lead to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The episode wraps with a discussion of the Ur-Christian Nationalist, Billy Graham, and the new PBS doc about his life; as well as a brief back and forth on Biden's decision to approve a sale of arms to Israel.
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My name is Brad Ornishi, faculty in religion, Skidmore College.
Our show is hosted in partnership with the Kapp Center, and I'm here today with my co-host, I'm Dan Miller, Associate Professor of Religion and Social Thought at Landmark College.
It's good to see you, Brad.
I know it's a bit unsettled as you're traveling the country, so it's nice to get to talk a little bit.
I'm on the road here in New York doing commencement weekend, giving the commencement address, which is really cool, here at Skidmore.
Our technology's a little off today, so if I don't sound as crisp and clean as usual, folks, that's what's up.
But we're doing our best, and there is a lot to talk about this week.
Some weeks, you know, we sort of have to kind of Think about what is most important and and really kind of reflect on it.
Other weeks things come gushing to the fore and there's almost too much and I feel like this is one of those weeks, Dan.
So one of the first things we wanted to talk about was just January 6th and the commission on investigating what happened with the insurrection.
As we know this week, There's been statements by Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump in opposition to this.
So Trump came out with a statement from his desk of former President Donald Trump, you know, whatever that place is, letterhead situation blog.
Whatever he's doing over there.
It is just more partisan unfairness and unless the murders, riots, and fire bombings in Portland, Minneapolis, Seattle, Chicago, and New York are also going to be studied, this discussion should be ended immediately.
So Dan, I want to come back to that because I want to come back to you as a philosopher and this sort of, this logic of this is invalid unless you do all these other things.
So I think you'll have probably some stuff to say there.
Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader, who on, or about a week after January 6th, laid blame on the President for inciting the riot, said this, given the political misdirections that have marred this process, given the now duplicative and potentially counterproductive nature of this effort, and given the Speaker's short-sighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation.
More elevated language?
But in many ways, the same message.
Not examining interrelated forms of political violence is basically what Trump said, just in more politician-speak.
Let me say this, Dan, and I'll throw it to you.
I wrote this after the election.
I updated it after January 6th, and it was published in January in the New York Times.
To me, everything that I was writing there is coming true.
I'm not trying to toot my own horn.
But as I come back to this, Dan, it all seems like it's happening.
So here's what I wrote.
The lasting legacy of the January 6th insurrection is the myth and symbol of Trump's lost cause.
He has successfully nurtured a feeling in the 74 million Americans who voted for him.
That they can trust neither their government nor the electoral process.
By encouraging them to question the validity of votes in some of the blackest cities in the country, such as Detroit, and stoking anger that such constituencies would have the power to swing an election, he convinced them that the process is rigged, thus giving his supporters the moral high ground.
This creates the foundation for collective memory based on a separate national identity held together by the tragic stealing of his presidency and the evil of his opponents.
The Lost Cause provides a blueprint for winning the war even though Mr. Trump had lost this election.
After Biden's inauguration, if prominent Republican figures encourage their followers to accept the results but not defeat, if they pick up Trump's leadership mantle by fostering resentment and the desire for revenge through their Twitter feeds, if they perpetually call into question the legitimacy of the U.S.
government through an army of evangelical pastors, Less concerned with reality than with disseminating the myths and symbols of Make America Great Again as a vehicle for Christian nationalism.
It's not hard to see how they will become heirs of the lost cause.
That should frighten us all.
The lost cause in question is the myth That formed after the Civil War that the Confederacy was in fact morally superior and had been the victim of northern aggression and so on and so forth.
Dan, my argument is this.
We are seeing in real time the GOP create a myth where January 6th was a normal tourist visit, was not a big deal, does not need to be investigated, and we should all just move on because it was not something that needs to be looked at further.
I'll throw it to you.
What do you think about Trump's sort of whataboutism and what do you think about the situation in general?
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