Brad and Dan begin with a discussion of the revelations from the new book, "I Alone Can Fix It," including General Mark Milley's preparing for Trump's Reichstag Moment, Pence's belief that his Secret Service detail was part of a Trumpian conspiracy, and the ways our democracy have been pushed to the limits before, during, and after 1/6.
They then discuss what the Texas Dems self-exile to DC means for saving voting rights and how democracies often undergo autoimmune moments wherein democratic processes are used to end democracy.
They finish by discussing the child tax credits and how they reflect good policy that can counteract the Right Wing Media Machine.
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All right, Dan, we're going to get to the weekly roundup in a minute.
But before that, we have to tell some folks about some very exciting things coming up for Straight White American Jesus.
So in August, I'm going to be launching, and I know you'll be part of it too, our Masculinity After Purity Culture series, and that's going to be in our Patreon.
And so purity culture is something that both of us experienced and went through.
I know a lot of folks out there have as well.
It was harmful.
Am I right, Dan, that you had a pledge card at the very first True Love Waits?
I believe I did.
Yeah, people study true love weights and they went to the National Mall in D.C.
and put in all the cards.
I believe that one of my cards was there.
Yes.
And I think I think it's a good series.
As you say, we talk about purity culture.
It's talked about a lot.
But there has been, I think, a gap of what it means in relation to masculinity and for men and boys coming through purity culture.
And that's something I think we're really going to try to hit as we talk about.
So that's launching in August.
It's very exciting.
Going to be on our Patreon.
In September, we're going to be having our very first Straight White American Jesus Seminar, so if you would love to take a class from Professor Dan Miller or Professor Brad Onishi, this is your chance.
We're going to be talking about a pure America, religion, race, and nation.
We're going to be looking at white Christian nationalism, And how white Christian nationalists try to create a social body in this country that is straight, white, patriarchal, native-born, and so on and so forth.
It'll incorporate so many themes we talk about on this show.
Purity culture is one of them.
Christian nationalism is another.
But we'll get into the weeds with some things that we don't always have time with on our shows.
The ways that white evangelicals were the foremost proponents of pro-slavery theologies.
The way that conspiracy theories and other aspects of white Christian nationalist movements play into this attempt to create a kind of pure America.
So, Dan, I'm excited about it.
I'm excited, too, because a lot of this will touch on some material from your new book, Queer Democracy.
You're going to be kind of leading the charge, even though I'll make an appearance at various times.
Are you excited about this, as I am?
I'm really excited about it, and I'm excited for an opportunity.
I know we hear from people, follow-ups, who they want more depth than we can do in the podcast or maybe more depth and is really going to sort of communicate that way.
This is an opportunity for anybody who's interested in that to get that, to get time.
This won't be the only one of these we do.
We plan on doing others, right, to get time.
Getting to know each other, getting to know us, getting to interact.
It'll be virtual, but live, right, in a way that we can't do in the podcast and other things.
So I'm really excited about it.
I think the themes and the topics are really important and timely, but I also really look forward to having sort of a deeper conversation with some of the people that have been with us and some of the people who are coming to be with us in a way that we just can't do on a weekly basis in the podcast.
So I'm really excited about it.
We'll have more information in the coming weeks.
We'll have a brochure and links for signing up and dates and all those things.
Be on the lookout for that.
Two big announcements.
August, Masculinity and Purity Culture.
September, our very first Straight White American Jesus seminar on race, religion, and nation.
Look for those.
Now to the weekly roundup.
Welcome to Straight White American Jesus.
My name is Brad Onishi.
Our show is hosted in partnership with the Kapp Center at UCSB, and I'm here today after a week off with my co-host.
I'm Dan Miller, associate professor of religion and social thought at Landmark College.
Good to see you, Brad, after a week where I felt like I was in your territory.
I was on the beach, but I was in Rhode Island and there was a tropical storm and it rained the whole time.
But other than that, it was basically the same as California.
Well, yeah, there's no rain here.
That's one.
Two, this is a long-standing disagreement between the two of us, but I know that you don't enjoy the beach, which it's hard to trust someone like that.
But, you know, nonetheless.
But this time I caught a crab.
So I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to catch a crab with my seven-year-old and We did with a hot dog which was, I have to say, sort of stupidly exciting for him.
So it could change the whole beach experience from here on out.
And I will say that we caught and released, let the crab go.
The blue crab is back, you know, happy in the Atlantic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good stuff.
All right.
Crabs, hot dogs, the shore.
What better for summer of 2021, huh, Dan Miller?
Fourth of July.
Yeah.
Fourth of July weekend.
OK.
All right.
Let's jump in.
We got three kind of major things we're going to talk about today.
We're going to talk about Trump's Reichstag moment and talk about the Texas Dems and their Absconding to Washington, D.C.
to plea for voting rights reform, and we want to talk about child tax credits, the GOP, and their supposed concern for family values.
So child tax credits are hitting bank accounts as we speak, Dan, and so we'll get to that in a minute.
Before we do, a lot of folks have been talking and buzzing this week about the new book by Leonig and Rucker called I Alone Can Fix It.
It's about the last days of the Trump administration, the election night, January 6th, etc.
Some excerpts have been published, some folks have gotten hold of early copies, and so
The reason I want to talk about this today is because I think it really brings home just what kind of precipice we were on as a country and I think are still on as a country when it comes to rising fascism and or fascist tendencies, I should say, and authoritarian leadership styles and just Trumpism in general as an infection on our body politics.
So let's go through some of this.
Friends, I know we talk about this quite often.
And I guess what I would say is the reason we talk about it quite often is because we feel like we have to keep talking about it.
This is something that just continues to plague us.
And if we don't talk about it, then in the 2022 midterms, the 2024 election, whenever it is, we'll kind of all wonder, oh, why weren't we worried about that when we were?
It's a little bit like climate change, Dan, to me.
If you don't take action and heed when the warning signs come, then you're going to wonder why things are happening in catastrophic ways.
All right, here we go.
In the book, the authors explain that General Mark Milley, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff— gosh, whenever we talk about Mark Milley, I can never get his title or anything right.
Okay.
So Mark Milley expressed concerns that personnel moves were putting Trump lackeys in positions of power at the Pentagon, right?
So he was worried about the firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, The resignation of others.
He was worried that Trump was going to do drastic things, fire Bill Barr, whatever it was, to clear the deck for him to have the runway for not leaving office if he lost the election.
Here's what Leonid and Rucker say in the book.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff already had been on edge.
A student of history, Milley saw Trump as a classic authoritarian leader with nothing to lose.
He had earlier described to aides that he kept having a stomach-churning feeling that some of the worrisome early stages of 20th century fascism in Germany were replaying in 21st century America.
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