'Out of the closet': Former Republican has a theory about white Christian nationalism

Former Republican US Rep. Joe Walsh said his old part is unquestionably outing itself as a white Christian nationalist party now.

“Man, they're out of the closet. They're loud and proud,” said Walsh on his Friday podcast. “Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks about this. Republican members of Congress talk about this. Republican and MAGA thought leaders talk about the fact that America needs to be a Christian country. It needs to be officially designated as a Christian country.”

Walsh pulled a scenario of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ending a press conference “by looking the American people in the eye [and saying] I want every American, every American adult and child to get down on bended knee and pray for our troops in the name of Allah.”

“Imagine the reaction to that. I think the Fox News … corporate headquarters would explode,” said Walsh. “… Can you imagine how upset and p—— off so many Americans would be?”

Hegseth’s actual line before reporters, like many similar lines that preceded it, was “… to the American people, please pray for them every day on bended knee with your family in your schools in your churches in the name of Jesus Christ.”

“He knows that not every American worships Jesus Christ,” Walsh said. “So what's he doing? Here's what he's doing. Pete Hegseth is a white Christian nationalist. Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, is a white Christian nationalist. He wants America to be a white Christian nation.”

“Our founders were very enlightened,” continued Walsh, explaining that many were both Christian and believers, but they understood the importance of separating religion from state.

“We do not have an official state religion,” said Walsh. “The very thought of that, the very notion of that is antithetical to what America is. … Christian nationalism is utterly un-American … as un-American as Islamism is. … Islamism is a radical concept that everybody's got to be Islam. Christian nationalism, same thing. Everybody's got to be Christian. Both are utterly un-American.”

“And I guess what I'm saying right now is, as I close on this, this Un-American, and by the way, un-Christian belief, has overtaken the Republican Party. And we need everybody to wake up to it. Fast. and help all of us, help everyone defeat it.”