1. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that if you want to understand the big political stories from January—from faith-infused insurrection to Warnock’s victory to Biden’s inauguration—you really need to understand two things: Christian nationalism and the Religious Left.

2. As for the Religious Left: less has been written on this topic than Christian nationalism, for various reasons.

We’ll come back to this, but Warnock’s victory is part of a modern resurgence of the RL, which (and I’m biased here) I chronicle in my book:

3. I talk about Christian nationalism in my book, but basically: it’s an old tradition, but it’s modern iteration is particularly intense, and particularly centered on Trump.

Here’s an intro, but much smarter people have written way better stuff about it:

4. Much more exhaustive works chronicling the movement’s sociological impact/cultural history/political machinations include this: https://t.co/t7OPhsDy2q

This: https://t.co/6SaOk9Q2S3

This: https://t.co/Zq4UROnxr2

This: https://t.co/jUqNd5cryL

& This:

5. There’s MUCH more, and @sarahposner’s article from today gives insight into why this movement—which has been building for years—was so well represented at the insurrection.

Put another way: they’re a big part of why Trump got elected in the first place