Reign of Error is a weekly podcast hosted by acclaimed journalist and author Sarah Posner, exploring how religious and ideological extremism—especially white Christian nationalism—has become central to U.S. politics in the Trump era and beyond. Bridging investigative journalism and interdisciplinary scholarship, the show unpacks current events, uncovering their historical and ideological roots to illuminate the forces fueling the subversion of democratic norms and institutions.
Each 45-minute episode opens with a major news event and expands into a rich conversation featuring leading scholars from Religious Studies, Political Science, and American Studies. The podcast’s accessible, narrative-driven format offers depth without jargon, appealing to journalists, scholars, policymakers, activists, and politically engaged citizens seeking context and clarity in a chaotic media landscape.
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005: MAGA Catholics, Antisemitism & Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission Implosion
Thursday, February 19, 2026 • Duration 49:12
On this episode of Reign of Error, investigative journalist Sarah Posner unpacks the implosion of Donald Trump’s White House Religious Liberty Commission after a chaotic hearing at the Museum of the Bible exposed deep fractures inside the MAGA coalition. Former beauty queen and recent Catholic convert Carrie Prejean Boller sparked outrage with antisemitic rhetoric tied to right-wing influencer Candace Owens, igniting a public feud with Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and drawing backlash from conservative Catholics and evangelicals alike. Posner and scholar Matthew J. Cressler explore how debates over Zionism, Christian nationalism, and the phrase “Christ is King” reveal a growing split between traditional religious-right leaders and a digitally fueled Catholic far-right operating in Trump’s social media ecosystem.
The conversation traces how figures like Nick Fuentes, Owens, and other MAGA Catholics deploy antisemitic tropes rooted in older Catholic anti-communist and anti-Jewish traditions, now amplified by online platforms and political patronage. From clashes over Vatican teaching and Christian Zionism to tensions with evangelical allies, this episode examines whether the MAGA movement’s Catholic wing is on a collision course with both the broader GOP and the institutional Church. Plus, in this week’s “Anti-Doom,” Posner highlights a federal court ruling restoring a slavery exhibit removed under Trump’s executive order—an important victory in the ongoing fight over American history and truth.
Matthew J. Cressler, Ph.D. is a writer, independent scholar, and chief of staff of the Corporation for Public Interest Technology. He is the author ofAuthentically Black and Truly Catholic: The Rise of Black Catholicism in the Great Migrations and creator ofBad Catholics, Good Trouble, the educational webcomic series. He’s written for America, The Atlantic, National Catholic Reporter, The Revealer, Slate, U.S. Catholic, and numerous academic journals. He co-reported the Religion News Service series “Beyond the Most Segregated Hour,” which won a Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council. He has two forthcoming books under contract: the co-authored Body & Blood: Catholic Horror in America, due out from NYU Press this Halloween, and Catholics and the Making of MAGA: How an Immigrant Church Became America’s Law and Order Faith, which is set to be published by HarperCollins in fall 2027.
Generous funding provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
004: DHS, Nazi Propaganda & the MAGA New Right: Inside Trump’s Intellectual Takeover
Thursday, February 12, 2026 • Duration 36:46
This week on Reign of Error, host Sarah Posner examines the Department of Homeland Security’s use of neo-Nazi and white nationalist imagery in ICE recruitment ads—and what it reveals about the deeper ideological currents shaping Trump’s second term. In conversation with political theorist Laura K. Field, author of Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right, Posner traces how once-fringe intellectual movements have consolidated power inside elite conservative institutions, from the Heritage Foundation to Project 2025. Together they unpack the factions driving this transformation—national conservatives, post-liberals, Claremont theorists, and the hard-right underbelly—and explore how their rejection of liberal democracy, embrace of nativism, and intellectualized misogyny are reshaping federal policy and political culture.
The episode also probes fractures within the movement, including rising antisemitism, tensions with Christian Zionists, and the growing influence of t “groyper” networks inside government ranks. As Trump attacks universities and doubles down on culture war politics, Posner and Field consider whether the MAGA intellectual project has reached its limits—or is simply playing a longer game.
Plus, this week’s “Anti-Doom” highlights the MAGA backlash to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show as evidence that, for all its institutional power, the movement may be losing its grip on American culture.
Laura K. Field is an associate with the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution, and visiting scholar in residence at American University. A political theorist by training, she holds a PhD in government from the University of Texas at Austin, and has held faculty positions at Rhodes College in Memphis, Georgetown University, and American University in Washington, DC. In addition to her academic work she has written for The New Republic, Politico, The Bulwark, Le Monde, and The New York Times. Her book Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right is now out with Princeton University Press. She lives in Washington, DC.
003: Weaponizing “Religious Freedom”: Trump’s DOJ, "Religious Liberty," and the Attack on a Free Press
Thursday, February 5, 2026 • Duration 51:17
Last week, the Department of Justice escalated its prosecution of anti-ICE activists at a St. Paul, Minnesota church by arresting two journalists who were covering the protest: Emmy Award–winning independent reporter Georgia Fort, vice president of the local chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, and Don Lemon, a former CNN host now reporting independently. Charging journalists with conspiring to violate worshipers’ religious freedom simply for documenting a newsworthy protest is a blatant assault on press freedom and the First Amendment. The DOJ’s unprecedented use of the 1994 FACE Act—long applied to physical blockades of abortion clinics—to criminalize peaceful protest and journalistic coverage inside a church marks a dangerous expansion of state power.
This episode examines how the case reveals the Trump administration’s broader project: recasting Christian nationalist grievance as “religious freedom” while weaponizing the law against dissenters.
Host Sarah Posner speaks with Brian Kaylor, a Baptist minister, political communication scholar, and author of A Public Witness, about the myth of “anti-Christian bias,” the selective enforcement of the FACE Act, the criminalization of opposition to ICE, and why white evangelicals remain Trump’s most loyal base even as public backlash grows. As protests against immigration enforcement spread nationwide, the administration is once again leaning into persecution narratives to shore up political support—at the direct expense of civil liberties, democratic norms, and the Constitution itself.
002: Pete Hegseth, Doug Wilson, and the God of War
Thursday, January 29, 2026 • Duration 40:23
Host Sarah Posner examines Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s escalating campaign to remake the Pentagon in the image of a militant, hyper-masculine Christian nationalism—from dismantling small-business contracting as “DEI,” to purging diversity programs, hosting monthly Christian prayer meetings inside the Pentagon, and framing U.S. military power as divinely sanctioned. As Trump rattles the global order with threats against NATO allies and Greenland, Posner traces how Hegseth’s theology and politics blur the lines among biblical law, domestic authority, and international norms—raising urgent questions about religion, war, and state power.
Posner is joined by Dr. Julie Ingersoll, professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Florida and author of Building God’s Kingdom, for a deep dive into the radical Christian Reconstructionist movement shaping Hegseth’s worldview. They unpack the influence of Doug Wilson and the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, including beliefs about biblical law, patriarchy, Christian dominion, and a “God of war” theology that legitimizes violence and conquest. The conversation explores how once-fringe theocratic ideas have quietly moved into the corridors of power—and what it means when U.S. military leaders see themselves as carrying out God’s will, at home and abroad.
Julie Ingersoll is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, where she teaches and writes about religion in American culture, with a particular focus on religion and politics and the religious right.
Originally from Maine, she earned a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, along with degrees in history from George Washington University and political science from Rutgers College. She began studying religion as an undergraduate because of her interest in politics, which she saw as deeply intertwined with religious life—an understanding that only deepened as her studies continued.
001: Trump Year One: The War on Civil Rights - w/ Anthea Butler
Season 1 · Episode 1
Thursday, January 22, 2026 • Duration 43:55
One year into Donald Trump’s second term, his administration is openly reframing civil rights as a threat to white Americans. From attacks on DEI to the gutting of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Trump has moved to turn the federal government away from protecting equality and toward enforcing white grievance—under the banner of combating “anti-Christian bias,” “woke ideology,” and defending gun rights. This episode examines how those changes are playing out in real time, including the DOJ’s criminal investigation of anti-ICE protesters in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Trump’s push to rewrite American history through schools, museums, and the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary.
Host Sarah Posneris joined by Anthea Butler, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania and author of White Evangelical Racism. Together they unpack how Trump’s agenda fulfills decades-long white evangelical resentment toward racial justice, why many white Christians actively support the dismantling of civil rights enforcement, and how Christian nationalism underpins efforts to re-segregate American life. From immigration crackdowns to historical revisionism, this conversation connects today’s headlines to a longer history of religious opposition to civil rights—and why resistance, public pressure, and historical memory still matter.
Reign of Error is a weekly podcast hosted by acclaimed journalist and author Sarah Posner, exploring how religious and ideological extremism—especially white Christian nationalism—has become central to U.S. politics in the Trump era and beyond. Bridging investigative journalism and interdisciplinary scholarship, the show unpacks current events, uncovering their historical and ideological roots to illuminate the forces fueling the subversion of democratic norms and institutions.
006: Trump, the New Apostolic Reformation & the Battle for the Midterms
Thursday, February 26, 2026 • Duration 46:18
In this episode of Reign of Error, host Sarah Posner speaks with Matthew D. Taylor, visiting scholar at Georgetown University and author of The Violent Take It by Force, about the growing influence of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and charismatic Christian nationalism within Trump’s political machine. The conversation traces how figures like Paula White, Lance Wallnau, and Ché Ahn are mobilizing spiritual warfare theology, modern-day prophecy, and dominionist ideas to energize evangelical voters ahead of the midterms. Taylor explains how the National Faith Advisory Board functions as a bridge between Trump and charismatic Christian leaders, advancing a vision in which apostles and prophets “disciple nations” by taking positions of political power. From election denialism to aggressive Christian Zionism and support for confrontation with Iran, this movement frames American politics as a literal battle against demonic forces.
The episode also examines how this rhetoric translates into concrete political strategy — from mobilizing swing-state revival tours to backing legislation like the SAVE Act and portraying immigration enforcement as a form of spiritual exorcism. Posner and Taylor unpack the theological logic that casts political opponents, immigrants, and protestors as agents of demonic power, a framework that undermines democratic pluralism and normalizes authoritarian tactics in the name of divine mandate. The show concludes with Posner’s “Anti-Doom” segment, highlighting acts of resistance — including whistleblower testimony exposing unconstitutional ICE training practices — as reminders that accountability and courage persist even amid escalating Christian nationalist activism.
Matthew D. Taylor is a visiting scholar at the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University. He is the author of Scripture People, The Violent Take It by Force, and the forthcoming book Defying Tyrants, which will be published in October. His work has appeared or been featured in the New York Times, Weekend Edition, On the Media, Rolling Stone, The Bulwark, Politico, Sojourners, and Religion News Service. A theologian and religious studies scholar who specializes in American Islam, Christian nationalism, and Christian extremism, he is also the creator of two limited podcast series–American Unexceptionalism and Charismatic Revival Fury. Taylor holds a PhD from Georgetown University and an MA from Fuller Theological Seminary.
007: The Escalating War on Gender and Reproduction: Birth Control, Bathrooms & Biblical Patriarchy
Thursday, March 5, 2026 • Duration 46:43
Sarah Posner sits down with New York Magazine senior writer Sarah Jones to unpack the accelerating assault on transgender rights in Kansas and beyond. They trace how a new Kansas law retroactively invalidating updated gender markers on driver’s licenses fits into a broader, decades-long Christian right strategy—one that cloaks theological convictions in the language of “common sense” and “biology.” From spiritual warfare rhetoric in statehouses to Supreme Court signals about religious motivation, Posner and Jones explore how anti-trans legislation operates as both a wedge issue and a cornerstone of a hierarchical gender ideology rooted in patriarchy, biblical literalism, and political calculation. They connect these state-level efforts to federal actions under Trump—from executive orders to agency guidance on bathroom bans—and examine how figures like Pete Hegseth and his mentor Doug Wilson frame masculinity, authority, and power.
The conversation widens to consider how anti-trans politics intersects with abortion criminalization, punitive theology, and the rise of pronatalism across MAGA and NatCon spaces. They analyze the confirmation hearing of Surgeon General nominee Casey Means, whose blend of anti–birth control rhetoric, “sacred fertility” language, and pseudoscientific wellness ideology has sparked backlash—even from Christian right influencers like Erick Erickson, who denounced her as dabbling in witchcraft. Posner and Jones probe the uneasy coalition between evangelical patriarchy and MAHA-style new age conspiracism, asking whether this radicalized right-wing alignment can outlast Trump—or simply mutate into something more extreme.
The episode closes with Posner’s Anti-Doom segment, highlighting federal judges—some Trump-appointed—who are forcefully pushing back against unlawful immigration enforcement, reminding listeners that the constitutional order still has defenders.
Sarah Jones is an award-winning senior writer for New York Magazine, where she covers religion and national politics. She serves on the editorial board of Dissent Magazine, and was previously a staff writer for The New Republic. Her first book, Disposable: America's Contempt for the Underclass, is available now from Avid Reader Press. She is based in Brooklyn.
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Drew Harwell and Joyce Sohyun Lee, “ICE plans $100 million ‘wartime recruitment’ push targeting gun shows, military fans for hires,” Washington Post, December 31, 2025,
Dan Balz and Scott Clement, “60% disapprove of Trump ahead of State of the Union, Post-ABC-Ipsos poll finds,” Washington Post, February 22, 2026, https://wapo.st/4tQBNyk
