Weekly Roundup: 9/11, Mamdani, and MAGA's Holy War

This week on The Sunday Interview, Brad revisits a conversation with sociologist of religion Paul Djupe (Denison University) on two ideas shaping the current political moment: the myth of the persecuted Christian and the inverted golden rule. Djupe unpacks the data behind the persecution narrative — a claim that has intensified under the second Trump administration through initiatives like the Anti-Christian Bias Task Force and the White House Faith Office, and that spiked further after Charlie Kirk’s assassination — and explains how it functions to fuel a persecution complex, particularly among white Christians. He also names something Brad argues is missing from most discussions of the right’s turn against empathy: an “inverted golden rule,” where the instinct to preempt perceived aggression — do unto others before they do unto you — replaces the biblical mandate to do unto others as you’d have done to you. If you enjoy our work, please subscribe. Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief. 🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com Books mentioned: 📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/ 📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants Live events: 🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom’s Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09-16/reading-bradley-b-onishi Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour 🔗 axismundi.us www.quo.com/SWAJ - Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! Discussion about this episode Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does God change his mind? CAN God change his mind? The traditional theological answer to both of these questions is “no.” But what if the answer is “yes”? Why would this represent such a threat to high-control religion and traditional Christian teaching? Check out this week’s episode to find out! If you enjoy our work, please subscribe.  Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief.  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/axis-daily-brief/id1896931494 🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com Books mentioned: 📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/ 📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants Live events: 🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom's Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09-16/reading-bradley-b-onishi Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour 🔗 axismundi.us www.quo.com/SWAJ -  Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months  www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew Taylor is joined by historian and former CIA Africa analyst Holly Berkley Fletcher (author of The Missionary Kids) to unpack why the religious left — unlike the ideologically cohesive religious right — has long struggled to translate its diverse coalition into electoral power, and why faith-forward Democratic candidates like Adam Hamilton and James Talarico may be changing that calculus in this year’s midterms. Later, they’re joined by Julia Curlee, a 20-year CIA veteran and former presidential daily briefer who was forced out of the Trump administration after being publicly outed as a “trans Biden holdover,” for a candid and unsparing assessment of the state of the world — from the failing Iran negotiations and a fraying alliance system to Russian influence operations and the dismantling of the national security apparatus meant to guard against them. If you enjoy our work, please subscribe. Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief. If you enjoy our work, please subscribe.  Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief.  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/axis-daily-brief/id1896931494 🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com Books mentioned: 📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/ 📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants Live events: 🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom's Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09-16/reading-bradley-b-onishi Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour 🔗 axismundi.us www.quo.com/SWAJ -  Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months  www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this Sunday interview, Annika Brockschmidt talks with journalist and podcaster Michael Edison Hayden about his new book, Strange People on the Hill, which follows what happened when Peter and Lydia Brimelow, the couple behind the white nationalist site VDARE, bought a castle overlooking the tiny tourist town of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. Hayden explains who the Brimelows are and how VDARE helped push the "great replacement" narrative into mainstream American politics. He also explains why he made the town, not the Brimelows, the center of the book, and how the arrival of VDARE and the national tensions of 2020 fractured neighbors, businesses, and friendships. The two discuss the toll of covering the far right on journalists' health and relationships, the physical and psychological strain of the beat, and Hayden's argument that MAGA is now the dominant ideology in American culture even though it is unpopular. Subscribers get a bonus segment on what comes next for the Brimelows and VDARE, including the New York Attorney General litigation, the mystery of the donors behind the castle purchase, and whether the castle can be sold. You can find Hayden on the Posting Through It podcast with Jared Holt and on Bluesky, and Strange People on the Hill is out now. https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/michael-edison-hayden/strange-people-on-the-hill/9781645030607/ If you enjoy our work, please subscribe.  Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief.  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/axis-daily-brief/id1896931494 🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com Books mentioned: 📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/ 📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants Live events: 🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom's Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09-16/reading-bradley-b-onishi Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour 🔗 axismundi.us www.quo.com/SWAJ -  Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months  www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SCOTUS just blocked Donald Trump's attempt to use the U.S. Postal Service to interfere with mail-in voting ahead of the 2026 midterms — but is the fight over election integrity really over? Brad Onishi and Dan Miller break down the ruling, the dissents from Alito and Thomas, and why Mike Johnson could try to pull a "January 3rd" power grab reminiscent of January 6th. Then: a viral photo from a UT Austin football game reignites controversy over white nationalism in the GOP. Brad and Dan connect the dots between Bo French, the True Texas Project, Christian nationalist pastor CJ Engel, and a pattern of Nazi-adjacent scandals rocking Republican campaigns this week — from a Senate staffer's Nazi military exercises to congressional candidates with white nationalist ties. If you enjoy our work, please subscribe. Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/axis-daily-brief/id1896931494 🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com Books mentioned: 📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/ 📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants Live events: 🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom's Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09-16/reading-bradley-b-onishi Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour 🔗 axismundi.us www.quo.com/SWAJ - Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! 📰 Get 40% off Ground News: groundnews.com/swaj **Keywords:** Straight White American Jesus, SWAJ podcast, Christian nationalism, Brad Onishi, Dan Miller, American Caesar, SCOTUS mail-in voting, USPS ruling, Trump 2026 midterms, Mike Johnson January 3rd, Bo French Texas, True Texas Project, white nationalism GOP, CJ Engel, Christian nationalism podcast, religious right politics, Ed Sheeran Macklemore, ICE agent arrested #StraightWhiteAmericanJesus #ChristianNationalism #SCOTUS #Midterms2026 #MikeJohnson #TrueTexasProject #AmericanCaesar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can God be perfectly good and perfectly just and still send people to hell? What’s at stake with questions like these? How do adherents of high-control religion respond to questions like these? Check out this week’s episode to hear Dan’s discussion of why the doctrine of hell fundamentally calls God’s goodness and justice into question. If you enjoy our work, please subscribe.  Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief.  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/axis-daily-brief/id1896931494 🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com Books mentioned: 📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/ 📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants Live events: 🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom's Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09-16/reading-bradley-b-onishi Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour 🔗 axismundi.us www.quo.com/SWAJ -  Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months  www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad Onishi on "American Caesar": Inside the Movement to End American DemocracyToday is release day for Brad Onishi's new book American Caesar, and Matt Taylor sits down with him for a deep dive into the ideas inside it. Together they trace how three seemingly separate strands of the American right — Protestant Reconstructionism, radical traditionalist Catholicism, and Silicon Valley technocracy — are converging around a shared vision: an end to liberal democracy and the rise of an American strongman, an "American Caesar."If you enjoy our work, please subscribe.Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief.🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.comBooks mentioned:📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/Live events:🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom's Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09-16/reading-bradley-b-onishiFull tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour🔗 axismundi.uswww.quo.com/SWAJ - Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 monthswww.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription!American Caesar is out today — grab a copy and leave a review if you can.Upcoming events with Brad:📍 Sept 16 — Annie Bloom's, Portland, 7 PM📍 Sept 22 — Amherst College📍 Sept 23 — Northeastern University (with Sarah Ricardy Swartz)📍 Oct 1 — NYU Religion and Media Center (with Emma Goldberg, NYT)📍 Oct 11 — Knoxville, TN📍 Oct 12 — Nashville, TN📍 Oct 14 — Memphis, TN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad Onishi previews his new book American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy, out this week, and shares its audiobook introduction. He explains the book's central argument: an unlikely alliance has formed between Protestant reconstructionists, radical traditional Catholics, and Silicon Valley technocrats, united by five shared beliefs — hostility to liberalism, a post-libertarian embrace of strong government, rejection of democracy in favor of a strongman "American Caesar," and a shared rhetoric of "saving Western civilization." He thanks listeners for their support in making the book possible and runs down his upcoming tour stops, including Portland, Amherst, Boston, New York, and several stops in Tennessee. If you enjoy our work, please subscribe.  Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief.  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/axis-daily-brief/id1896931494 🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com Books mentioned: 📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/ 📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants Live events: 🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom's Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09-16/reading-bradley-b-onishi Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour 🔗 axismundi.us www.quo.com/SWAJ -  Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months  www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Brad breaks down Donald Trump's false claims about his experience that day, Rudy Giuliani's attacks on Mayor Zohran Mamdani for attending the memorial as a Muslim, and newly released documents showing NYC officials knew Ground Zero air was toxic but told the public otherwise.Then Brad welcomes former CIA officer Holly Berkley Fletcher to unpack how the "national malaise" of the 1990s — after the Cold War ended and the country turned inward — set the stage for 9/11 to be reframed not as a fight against a terrorist group, but as a civilizational battle against Islam itself. They trace how that shift accelerated Christian nationalism, fractured America's foreign policy consensus, and set the country on a path that runs through the Iraq War, January 6th, and the rise of MAGA Christianity today.📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/e...Live events:🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom's Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09...Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com... 🔗 axismundi.uswww.quo.com/SWAJ - Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 monthswww.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The idea of “hell” is a central focus within conservative, high-control Christianity (with analogues in some other traditions as well). But what, exactly, is the teaching concerning hell? And where does it come from? Does the Bible actually teach what religious conservatives say it does about hell? If not, why do they teach it? Why is hell so central to their understanding of Christianity? And what happens if we ask uncomfortable questions about hell? Join Dan for this week’s episode to find out! If you enjoy our work, please subscribe. Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief. 🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com Books mentioned: 📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/ 📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants Live events: 🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom’s Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09-16/reading-bradley-b-onishi Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour 🔗 axismundi.us www.quo.com/SWAJ - Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices