michigan

Investigators are still scouring the motives that drove Thomas Jacob Sanford to fire on a Mormon church in Michigan, killing four people, but “Daily Blast” podcaster Greg Sargent said President Donald Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt were quick to link the killing to an alleged rash of anti-Christian violence.

“This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians,” Leavitt insisted, amplifying an earlier, similar claim by Trump.

This time, their effort to connect the violence to anti-Trump, non-Christian forces backfired as evidence emerged that the shooter may be a Trump supporter motivated by anti-Mormon bigotry.

Christian nationalism, according to host Greg Sargent and author Sarah Posner, may play a crucial factor in the tragedy.

Christian nationalists, Posner observed, consider non-evangelicals impure — and that includes Mormons.

Posner told Sargent, "To jump to the conclusion that he was motivated either by anti-Christian bias or anti-Mormon bias is premature, notwithstanding the evidence that we have that he did say anti-Mormon things to a candidate for political office who had canvassed at his house. The difference between anti-Christian bias and anti-Mormon bias is sort of an interesting one. For the audience that Trump is trying to reach when he claims that something is evidence of anti-Christian bias, that's largely an evangelical audience. It’s also a right-wing Catholic audience."

Posner continued, "But many in the evangelical world, including many Trump supporters, don’t really consider the LDS church to be Christian. They don’t consider Mormons to be Christian, mainly because of their views of the role of the prophet Joseph Smith in the founding of their faith, and of the use of the Book of Mormon in addition to the Old and New Testaments, and other what they would consider to be extra-biblical teachings of the LDS faith."

Sargent and Posner say the administration is working hard to brew up passion among supporters by fomenting animosity at non-Christians.

“His family is cooperating … [to help police] dig in and get to the bottom of why he committed this heinous act of violence,” Leavitt told reporters over the weekend. “And as the president put in his Truth Social post yesterday this looks like another targeted attack on Christians.”

Posner, who covers right-wing thought and tactics, said she wasn’t surprised at the attempted exploitation. The first thing that enters Trump’s mind in most any given situation is how best to exploit it.

“[Trump] sees the world in black and white,” Posner said. “He sees everything as ‘How can this horrible tragedy help me? It can help me because I can frame it as this thing that I know gets my base excited, reminds my base that I’m on their side, that I am their savior and that is here to save them from these evil elements in America that are trying to destroy Christianity in America.’”

Posner said Trump used the same “us vs Them” tactics to exploit the death of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk. “It’s just more of the same: Trump taking advantage of a horrible tragedy to continue to frame this ‘us vs Them’ mentality.”

Sargent warned that Leavitt’s announcement that the administration was “going to investigate and prosecute these crimes” was highly suggestive language.

“She doesn’t come out and say they’re gonna start using law enforcement to go after people they say are committing anti-Christian crimes but that’s what it sounds like,” Sargent said.

Posner reminded Sargent that Trump promised a task force within the DOJ to combat anti-Christian bias, and has used his avowed crusade against antisemitism to silence freedom of speech on U.S. college campuses, and called it “menacing” to use law enforcement to combat somebody saying something that they think is anti-Christian.

“Remember: they think it’s anti-Christian to disagree with a pastor who’s against same-sex marriage,” Posner said.

“He campaigned on a Christian nationalist platform without outright saying it,” Sargent said. “… [Secretary of Defense] Pete Hegseth said were in a ‘spiritual war.’ Benny Johnson said the Defense Department … is functionally an instrument of God. … Far right influencer Jack Prosobiec called on followers to put on the armor of God and get ready for spiritual warfare.”

Posner pointed out that a lot of their followers “literally think of Democrats and liberals and anyone who disagrees with them as part of a satanic force that’s anti-American,” and that Trump is fomenting their good vs evil, spiritual warfare mindset.

Sargent said Hegseth proclaiming a spiritual war after the death of a very prominent Christian was killed “is highly problematic, particularly when, A) he’s got troops marching into cities, and B) he’s recalling generals from all over the world for some shadowy meeting that’s unknown at this point.”

“Don’t be too naïve about what we’re seeing, is where I’m getting at,” Sargent said.

Hear the podcast at this link.