'Vessel of Jesus': Expert warns Fox News deifying Trump to 'justify' violence if he loses

25 June 2024

One expert researcher of far-right media is raising red flags about how former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign is being associated with religious overtones heading into November.

During a Tuesday interview with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, Angelo Carusone – who is the president of progressive research group Media Matters for America — warned that conservative media is showing a growing propensity to tie religious themes to Trump. He said that for some of Trump's most diehard followers, this could be later used to foment another insurrection in the event of another Republican loss this fall.

"Every single primetime host at fox News has claimed that Democrats are going to cheat in order to steal the election in 2024," Caruso observed. "They've introduced a lot more religious language. So, they keep referring to Election Day as a 'blessed event.' They keep referring to Trump as somebody who is a vessel of Jesus Christ."

"So the are adding in a layer of holiness and that I think helps sort of justify and rationalize any sort of violence or action that individuals have to take if Donald Trump doesn't win the election," he continued. "It's more than just the political consequences, they have sort of a religious and moral duty to take action."

Carusone bolstered his statement by pointing out how Fox News in particular has falsely framed the 2024 election as a contest in which Trump is so far ahead of Biden in polls that any result that doesn't have Trump winning in a landslide should be seen as corrupt. He noted that primetime hosts like Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld have all baselessly asserted that the 2024 election would be effectively "stolen" if Biden defeated Trump.

Earlier this month, former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade made a similar observation, opining that Trump's supporters are engaged in a "holy war" and even pointed out the similarities between Trump's evangelical base and members of the ISIS terror group.

"I see a lot of parallels between the way Christianity is being bastardized and the way ISIS used Islam as a way to bastardize religion," she said. "And some of the same tactics — you know, preying upon grievance, culture war, the idea that we need to be a Christian nation — is very similar to the way they called for an Islamic caliphate. And when it's a holy war, then anything goes, right? Because the ends justify any means whatsoever."

During the segment, Carusone's warning was echoed by Ben Rhodes, who was Deputy National Security Adviser in former President Barack Obama's administration. Rhodes said that the deification of Trump spoke to the "blending of right-wing populism with Christian nationalism" seen in authoritarian regimes around the world, including in Vladimir Putin's Russia and Viktor Orban's Hungary.

"When you make politics about religion, it becomes more existential," he said. "You're no longer just debating policy... it's really kind of about core identity."

Watch video of Carusone's comments below, or by clicking this link.

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