A New Nation Conceived in Nationalism
There is a new party on the rise in America. The Grand Old Party has been replaced by its MAGA faction, and the MAGA faction is morphing into a party identified by Nationalism and Christian Nationalism.
This new party believes in America as a nation rather than as a country founded on ideas and principles.
Instead of America as the country our forefathers created, “a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,”[i] this new party envisions a new America conceived in Nationalism and dedicated to the proposition that America is a Christian Nation.
Nationalism in America is a political theory that defines America as a nation first – a place whose people are identified by their common culture, language and religion.
Conservative and Christian groups endorse this new party thru their support of Nationalism. This post is an effort to explain the connections between several of the groups, starting with the American branch of National Conservatism[ii] and circling around to the purveyors of Christian Nationalism.
A diagram of the connections between these groups looks like this:
The following people are connected to one another within this circle: J.D. Vance, U.S. Senator and Republican Party Vice Presidential nominee; Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation; Russ Vought, a former Trump Administration official and Founder of the Center for Renewing America; and William Wolfe, a former Trump Administration official and strong proponent of America as a Christian Nation.
National Conservatism is a world-wide political theory that espouses “a commitment to a world of independent nations.”[iii] According to National Conservatism ideology, a rules based liberal order on a global scale comes at the expense of national independence.
The National Conservatism (NatCon) website in the United States describes National Conservatism as “a movement of public figures, journalists, scholars, and students who understand that the past and future of conservatism are inextricably tied to the idea of nation, to the principle of national independence, and to the revival of the unique national traditions that alone have the power to bind a people together and bring about their flourishing.”[iv]
J.D. Vance, the Republican nominee for Vice President, spoke at the NatCon 4 conference in Washington D.C. on July 14, 2024, on his theme America is a Nation.[v] He repeated the exact same language about American being a nation during his acceptance speech July 18, 2024, at the Republican National Convention.[vi] The core of his argument is that Americans will live and die for their nation and not for the ideas, the abstractions, upon which our country was founded.[vii]
The argument that America is a nation reflects a post-constitutional belief that rejects liberalism as the basis for our republic because it no longer finds value in the democratic pursuit of liberty. Instead, Nationalism seeks to become both the guiding principle and the cultural identity of its citizens.
Kevin Roberts, the President of the Heritage Foundation, which prepared Project 2025, a mandate for the next conservative administration, also spoke at the NatCon 4 conference. His speech was titled A Forgotten Nation No More. He explained that “[T]oday’s beltway Republicans see the New Right as just another interest group they have to manage. They think we’re just another sliver of the Republican coalition that they think they lead.”[viii] After denigrating both the “beltway” Republicans and the “vengeful” Left, Roberts concluded that America, the nation, will be forgotten no more because of the noble effort of the National Conservatism movement.
J.D. Vance spoke at the Heritage Foundation’s 50th Anniversary Leadership Summit on April 27, 2023, and began by thanking Kevin Roberts and the Heritage Foundation for their work. He then noted the major role the Heritage Foundation will play in governing if the new conservative majority takes back the White House in 2024.[ix] A year and several months later, Kevin Roberts praised the choice of J.D. Vance for Vice President and, in doing so, connected Vance to the “foundation of the new Republican Party.”[x]
J.D. Vance wrote the Foreword to Kevin Robert’s new book, “Dawn’s Early Light-Taking Back Washington to Save America” (2024). According to a description of the book on Amazon, “Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts announces the arrival of a New Conservative Movement” and a “peaceful Second American Revolution.”[xi]
In his foreword, Vance writes, “Never before has a figure with Roberts’s depth and stature within the American Right tried to articulate a genuinely new future for conservatism. The Heritage Foundation isn’t some random outpost on Capitol Hill; it is and has been the most influential engine of ideas for Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump.”[xii] (Publication of Roberts’ book, which was due out in September, before the 2024 Presidential Election, has been delayed now until November 12th.)
Russ Vought[xiii] served as Acting Director and Director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Trump Administration.
In 2021, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, a conservative think tank with Christian nationalist beliefs.[xiv] On its home page, the Center for Renewing America describes itself as being “For God. For Country. For Community.” The center’s mission “is to renew a consensus of America as a nation under God….”[xv]
The Center for Renewing America is on Project 2025’s Advisory Board. Vought authored Project 2025’s chapter on the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Recently, Vought acted as policy director for the Republican National Committee’s 2024 Platform.
Vought has described our country as being in a post-Constitutional moment that requires Radical Constitutionalism.[xvi] In his article, Statesmanship in a post-Constitutional moment, Vought argues that since the turn of the nineteenth century, “the Left” has created institutional change such that our Constitution’s separation of powers has become useless. Only the Left’s agenda controls what goes on in our country, per Vought. Vought calls on those of us who are conservatives to become “radical constitutionalists.”[xvii]
Because we are living in a post-Constitutional moment, Vought says, Conservatives need “to cast ourselves as dissidents of the current regime and to put on our shoulders the full weight of envisioning, articulating, and defending what a Radical Constitutionalism requires in the late hour that our country finds itself in, and then to do it.”[xviii]
Vought also has written about Christian Nationalism. In a 2021 Opinion piece he wrote for Newsweek titled Is There Anything Actually Wrong With ‘Christian Nationalism’, Vought states that “part of being a nation is a shared religious heritage. And in America, that historical heritage is, of course, Christianity.”[xix] Vought concludes by providing his own definition of Christian Nationalism: “An orientation for engaging in the public square that recognizes America is a Christian nation….”[xx]
William Wolfe is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Baptist Leadership.[xxi] Wolfe served at the Pentagon as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and at the Department of State as a Director of Legislative Affairs in the Trump Administration.[xxii] Prior to those positions, Wolfe worked with Heritage Action of America, a sister organization to the Heritage Foundation.[xxiii] It was after he worked for the Trump Administration that Wolfe founded the Center for Baptist Leadership, an organization dedicated to revitalizing the Southern Baptist Convention.
On September 13, 2022, Wolfe gave a speech at the NatCon Conference in Miami titled A Christian Case for an ‘America First’ Government.[xxiv] In a May 24, 2023, article for the American Mind adapted from the NatCon speech, Wolfe explains that “Borders are a good thing, and God has given them to humanity. Within those borders, we find the rooted nature of community, identity, and home.”[xxv] He goes on to explain that “to reject nationalism is to ultimately embrace political and national gnosticism (sic).” In a concluding paragraph, Wolfe writes that “Christians should unapologetically desire for the Christian heritage of our nation to endure and even be rekindled for the future.”[xxvi]
In a recent post to his X account, Wolfe stated, “This is my political theology….When it comes to moral and political order, the choice is between Christ or chaos – between the “God of the Bible” or the “pit of lawlessness.”[xxvii]
Wolfe is listed as a contributing editor to The Statement on CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM & the GOSPEL, a second draft version that was released May 23, 2023.[xxviii] The Statement defines Christian Nationalism as “a set of governing principles rooted in Scripture’s teaching that Christ rules as supreme Lord and King of all creation, who has ordained civil magistrates with delegated authority to be under Him, over the people, to order their ordained jurisdiction by punishing evil and promoting good for His own glory and the common good of the nation.”[xxix]
The Statement’s Introduction explains that “Christian Nationalism is primarily concerned with the righteous rule of civil authorities, not spiritual matters pertaining to salvation. The desire for a Christian nation is not a distraction from the Gospel but rather an effort to faithfully apply all of Scripture to all of life, including the public square.”[xxx]
The Statement lists 20 articles that contain Affirmations and Denials of each.[xxxi]
Article X: On Nationalism and Policy Priorities affirms that “the specific, short-term priorities of Christian Nationalism in the context of the United States are to call our nation, in her laws, formally to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ…” and continues with policies to be implemented for our country.[xxxii]
Article XI: Big Picture Agenda affirms “that the Christian Nationalist project entails national recognition of essential Christian Orthodoxy (Article II) as a Christian consensus under Jesus Christ, the supreme Lord and King of all creation, and the establishment of the Ten Commandments as the foundational law of the nation.”[xxxiii]
Article IV: The Definition of a Nation embodies the “America is a Nation” theme espoused by J.D. Vance. Article IV affirms “that a nation is not merely an idea, abstract principle, or ideology but tangibly defined by a particular body of people in a particular place. We affirm that a particular people are necessarily bound together by a shared culture, customs, history, and lineage while sharing common interests, virtues, languages, and worship. We affirm, in regards to “place” that a nation is definitively set by both its borders and times physically defined by God (Acts 17:26).” Continuing on, Article IV denies “any efforts to establish a “one world” governmental system before the return of Christ, as such efforts are the reenactment of the Tower of Babel.”[xxxiv]
On January 25, 2023, before this Statement was released that May, Russ Vought wrote on X, “I’m proud to work with @William_E_Wolfe on scoping out a sound Christian Nationalism.”[xxxv]
The Statement on Christian Nationalism & the Gospel circles back to the National Conservatism group in America.
National Conservatism’s A Statement of Principles affirms 10 principles. Principle #4 is titled God and Public Religion. It reads, in part: “No nation can long endure without humility and gratitude before God and fear of his judgment that are found in authentic religious tradition. For millennia, the Bible has been our surest guide, nourishing a fitting orientation toward God, to the political traditions of the nation, to public morals, to the defense of the weak, and to recognition of things rightly regarded as sacred. The Bible should be read as the first among the sources of a shared Western civilization in schools and universities, and as the rightful inheritance of believers and non-believers alike. Where a Christian majority exists, public life should be rooted in Christianity and its moral vision, which should be honored by the state and other institutions both public and private.”[xxxvi]
With the choice of J.D. Vance as the MAGA faction’s Vice Presidential nominee, Nationalism and Christian Nationalism in America have a voice on the national stage. The premise that America is a nation rather than a country based on ideas and principles is on the fast track to becoming the ruling agenda for a new party based on those political theories.
Both Nationalisms want a country with a shared culture, language and religion – with an identity. By its very nature, therefore, Nationalism excludes anyone who does not fit the mold of the model citizen as defined by the new Nationalist party.
America, on the other hand, was founded on something greater than the identity of the nation-state. It was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the principle that we all are created equal. It was founded on universal principles.
No matter how convoluted the story of nation and the nationalist attempt to turn our country into something that it is not become, America’s promise to the world is simple. Everyone, everywhere, is endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. These ideas, these principles, are self-evident truths. They are truths that we as Americans choose to live by. And they exist for all of humankind.
[i] https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm
[ii] National Conservatism also has a foothold in Europe, with Viktor Orbàn, the authoritarian ruler of Hungary, as one of its great proponents. See my March 14, 2024 post titled Hosting a Dictator.
[iii] https://nationalconservatism.org/about/ (From National Conservatism website in United States.)
[iv] Id. Emphasis added.
J.D. Vance speaking at NatCon4, July 10, 2024.
J.D. Vance speaking at Republican National Convention, July 18, 2024.
[vii] See my July 22, 2024 post titled Abstractions.
Kevin Roberts speaking at NatCon4, July 2024. He has quite a lot to say about both the failure of Republicans to protect our country as well as the “vengeful Left.”
J.D. Vance speaks at Heritage Foundation 50th Anniversary Leadership Summit, April 27, 2023. See also my July 26, 2024 post titled I Know Nothing about Project 2025.
[x] https://x.com/KevinRobertsTX/status/1813765993149137172 Roberts on X, July 17, 2024.
[xi] https://www.amazon.com/Dawns-Early-Light-Burning-Washington/dp/B0CQMJQXMC New book by Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, with a Foreword by J.D. Vance. Also see my July 24, 2024, post Bloodless - If the Left Allows it To Be.
[xii] https://newrepublic.com/article/184393/jd-vance-violent-foreword-kevin-roberts-project-2025-leader-book
Alex Shephard of The New Republic did the reporting about and was able to obtain an advance copy of Vance’s foreword to Roberts’ book.
[xiii] Russ Vought was a budget staff member at the Capitol for 12 years. He is a former Heritage Foundation staffer, where he worked for six years building the foundation’s Sentinel Program, which “issued scorecards evaluating legislators’ conservatism and deputized a network of local activists as “sentinels” to enforce a populist agenda.” See https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/07/22/inside-the-trump-plan-for-2025 . Vought also authored Chapter 2, the Executive Office of the President of the United States, of Project 2025-A Mandate for Leadership. Vought was the policy director of the Republican National Convention’s 2024 Platform.
[xiv] https://americarenewing.com/ Center for Renewing America website. Founded by Russ Vought in 2021.
[xv] Id. Home Page.
[xvi] https://americanmind.org/salvo/renewing-american-purpose/ Russ Vought, “Statesmanship in a post-Constitutional moment”
[xvii] Id.
[xviii] Id. for all quotes.
[xix] https://www.newsweek.com/there-anything-actually-wrong-christian-nationalism-opinion-1577519 Opinion by Russ Vought, Newsweek, 2021.
[xx] Id.
[xxi] https://centerforbaptistleadership.org/our-team/
[xxii] https://www.standingforfreedom.com/authors/william-wolfe/
[xxiii] https://heritageaction.com/
William Wolfe speaking at NatCon Conference in Miami, September 13, 2022.
[xxv] https://www.theamericanconservative.com/a-christian-case-for-america-first/ Article titled A Christian Case for America First for The American Conservative by William Wolfe, adapted from Wolfe’s 2022 speech at the NatCon Conference in Miami.
[xxvi] Id. all quotes in this paragraph.
[xxvii] https://x.com/William_E_Wolfe/status/1789760908912193615 William Wolfe on X: This is my political theology.
[xxviii] https://www.statementonchristiannationalism.com/ I could not find the “final version”, which was supposed to be published at a later date.
[xxix] Id. The Statement then provides cites to Biblical passages after this definition of Christian Nationalism.
[xxx] Id.
[xxxi] Id. For example, In Article III: The Standard of Justice, the Statement affirms that “every political thought must be taken captive to the obedience of Christ.” In Article VI: The Identity of Civil Authorities and the Source of Their Authority, the Statement affirms “that civil authorities are God’s servants of justice who must know who their Master is and what He requires of them.” In Article VII: The Duty of Civil Authorities, the Statement says that “regardless of the timeline and circumstances by which one believes Christ will return, full obedience to Christ today is an indisputable obligation of all magistrates.” Please consider reading the entire document.
[xxxii] Id.
[xxxiii] Id.
[xxxiv] Id.
[xxxv] https://x.com/russvought/status/1618352693449494528?lang=en Russ Vought on X about William Wolfe and Christian Nationalism. In his post, Vought also provides a link to his Newsweek Opinion piece cited above in footnote 19.
[xxxvi] https://nationalconservatism.org/national-conservatism-a-statement-of-principles/
Principle #4 continues by stating that “Jews and other religious minorities are to be protected in the observance of their own traditions, in the free governance of their communal institutions, and in all matters pertaining to the rearing and education of their children. Adult individuals should be protected from religious or ideological coercion in their private lives and in their homes.”