The Christian Right’s Playbook to Elect Donald Trump in November

Paradoxically, they have been remarkably open about their political strategy. This is the story of one key strategic initiative and how to counter it.

In March, Lance Wallnau, a leading strategist on the Christian Right who many consider to be a prophet and an apostle, told an audience of prospective activists at an Arizona church, “there are 3,143 counties in the United States and the Lord showed us that 19 are going to determine the future of America.” (Last year he said it was 14, but apparently the Lord’s plans changed.)

For more than a year, Apostle Wallnau and the America First Policy Institute, a think tank staffed primarily by figures from the Trump administration and his past election campaigns, have targeted these 19 counties, located in nine battleground states. Their “Project 19” campaign has triaged the target states into two tiers.

Their focus is on blue suburban counties where evangelical voter participation was proportionately less than elsewhere in 2020, and where the margin was only a few thousand votes. They are especially focused on ethnic and racial minority outreach to help make up the difference.

This summer, Wallnau organized multi-day events in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin, that mixed old time summer tent revivalism with political indoctrination and training. Branded The Courage Tour, the events were aimed at making thousands of people at each venue feel part of a political and religious cause far greater than themselves. In Arizona, Wallnau trained activists in early voter engagement and targeted unregistered and infrequent conservative evangelical voters in Spanish-speaking precincts in Maricopa County.

By the time the tour got to Wisconsin in August, Wallnau and his allies had also begun recruiting and training election workers and poll watchers. The tour had also caught the attention of CBS Evening News, which aired a two-part profile of Wallnau in Wisconsin. Matthew D. Taylor, author of the forthcoming book, The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy, reported that 2,500 people attended the Wisconsin event and 50,000 others watched the live stream on Facebook.

“If at the end of the day,” Wallnau said under a circus-sized revival tent, “we haven’t activated you to either be a poll watcher, a poll worker, somebody involved in election integrity, or someone who can help someone else get out a vote—I’m not sure we have done what we have to do.”

The Tour’s election integrity expert, Joshua Caleb Standifer, who founded the 501(c)(4) organization Lion of Judah in January 2024, sounded more ominous. He says he wants “Christian Patriots” to be a “Trojan Horse” in the electoral system and reform “the mountain of government.”

Wallnau told the crowd in Wisconsin “January 6th was not an insurrection. It was an election fraud intervention.”

The Courage Tour moves to Pennsylvania next, with a revival in Monroeville, in Allegheny County near Pittsburgh on September 27-28. The lineup of speakers has not been announced as of this writing. But past events have featured speakers Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Turning Point USA leader Charlie Kirk, and other Christian Nationalist luminaries.

The American First Policy Institute, which is kind of a silent partner on the tour, publicly claims  several dozen “movement partners“ that are also engaged in on the ground election work, including, Early Vote Action, the libertarian Club for Growth, and such well known Christian Right organizations as Turning Point USA (TPUSA), Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, the Family Research Council, American Principles Project and the Family Policy Alliance.

New Horizons

One religious formation on the cutting edge of contemporary Christian Right politics is the New Apostolic Reformation—of which Apostle Lance Wallnau is one of its leading exponents.

The term “New Apostolic Reformation” was coined in the 1990s by the late C. Peter Wagner, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary. He observed that Pentecostal and charismatic churches that operate outside of denominational structures, were the fastest growing sector of Christianity in the United States and worldwide. In this movement, Wagner saw an emerging new paradigm that he and his close associates eventually sought to shape, organize and lead.

The movement comprises loosely organized, often international networks of independent or nondenominational churches and ministries. New Apostolic Reformation leaders believe that Christian institutions have mostly gotten it wrong for the last 2,000 years. They have sought to replace historically democratic church governance in Protestant churches with what they call “apostolic governance.”

To achieve this, they seek the restoration of modern-day apostles and prophets and the Church of the First Century, as they imagine it. The New Apostolic Reformation vision also draws on beliefs and practices from earlier religious movements, such as the post-World War II era Latter Rain movement in Pentecostalism—which popularized the idea, drawn from the Book of Ephesians, that the only legitimate church offices were apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher, known as the “five-fold ministry”—and Christian Reconstructionism, which emerged from Calvinism and helped shape the theocratic trend of the Christian Right in the 1980s and 1990s.

Pentecostal and charismatic Christians possess a range of what they call spiritual gifts, including speaking in tongues and healing by the laying on of hands. Apostles and prophets are said to be in direct communication with God.

The New Apostolic Reformation is spearheading an increasingly politicized movement that seeks religious and political “dominion“ in a biblically prophesied End Times, in which they believe themselves to be living. Their mission is to overcome the largely Satanically-controlled world via corporate prayer, political action, and very possibly become a supernatural army along with angels to sweep away all things demonic, and emerge as the ruling body in the U.S and the world.

In recent years, this variable movement has become overtly political, epitomized by the “Seven Mountain Mandate.” This is the idea that Christians—of the right sort—are supposed to take dominion over society by conquering “the seven mountains” of influence, or culture: government, religion, the family, education, arts and entertainment, business and the media. The seven mountain metaphor packages a lot of once complicated theology into a religious and political vision easily accessible to wide audiences—many of whom may never have heard of Wagner or the New Apostolic Reformation.

The notion of the seven mountains has, according to one 2024 scholarly poll, been spreading rapidly and “now dominate[s] evangelical Christianity even beyond the portion of evangelicals in the charismatic/pentecostal camp” with 41% of American Christian adults believing “God wants Christians to stand atop the ‘7 mountains of society,’ including the government, education, media, and others.” The Seven Mountain Mandate has thus become a central theme in right-wing political organizing around the nation.

‘By their deeds you will know them’

The New Apostolic Reformation has been in the news this year because of its evident proximity to power. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who flies the movement’s Appeal to Heaven flag featuring a green pine tree outside of his Washington office. The New Apostolic Reformation flag was also flown outside the New Jersey summer home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Tom Parker, the Republican Alabama Chief Justice who cited biblical texts and Christian thinkers in his February ruling on in vitro fertilization, has publicly discussed his support of the Seven Mountain Mandate.

Another prominent New Apostolic Reformation leader is Donald Trump’s spiritual advisor, televangelist Apostle Paula White-Cain. In 2017, she delivered the invocation at his inauguration and is currently head of the Trump campaign’s National Faith Advisory Board and active in Project 19 as one of the chairs of America First Policy Institute.

In January, at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference in Washington, White-Cain claimed to have prophesied his 2016 election in 2011, when he first approached her about running for president. According to White-Cain, Trump asked, “Well, what does God say?” After praying with dozens of pastors, she told him, “Sir, you’re going to be president someday.” 

According to the New Apostolic Reformation, standing in the way of Trump’s reelection are demons.

In March, Lance Wallnau said on Flash Point “the left is loaded with demons.” “I don’t think it’s people anymore ... I think you’re dealing with demons talking through people.”

Kamala Harris as Jezebel

Shortly after President Joe Biden announced in July that he would not seek reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Wallnau posted videos in which he warned that Harris represents “the spirit of Jezebel” and declared she is “the devil’s choice” for president.

The biblical figure Jezebel was the wife of Ahab, King of Israel who, according to the Book of Kings, used her powers to seduce her enemies and had several Hebrew leaders put to death. Casting Harris as a “Jezebel” continues a long history of racist tropes.

What’s more, casting anyone as controlled by demons makes them potential targets of violence. That Wallnau and other Christian Right figures, past and present, have had the gall to characterize Harris as demonic, may not bode well for those who follow her leadership.

After the September 10 debate, Wallnau blamed Trump’s lackluster performance on “witchcraft.” Appearing on FirePower, a Youtube show hosted by his allies Mario Murillo and Todd Coconato, Wallnau said:

She can look presidential, that’s the seduction of what I would say is witchcraft. That’s the manipulation of imagery that creates an impression contrary to the truth, but it seduces you into seeing it. So that spirit, that occult spirit, I believe is operating on her and through her.

‘Chasing the vote’

In some states it is legal for someone to collect absentee ballots from individuals and cast them as a group at election offices or drop boxes. This is sometimes called ballot harvesting. The focus is usually on helping elderly voters or people who live in remote areas ensure their ballot gets in on time. But in some states there is greater flexibility, and ballots may be collected from any group of people.

Since the Covid crisis made in-person voting risky, policies expanding early voting by mail, access to absentee ballots and ballot harvesting have spread widely in the states, even as the pandemic has receded. Twenty-four states and D.C. now allow someone chosen by the voter to return their ballot, and 15 states specify who may return ballots on behalf of voters (such as a family member or caregiver), according to Ballotpedia.

During the 2020 election (and sometimes since) proponents of the Big Lie claimed these methods contributed to voter fraud. Not only was this not true, but Christian Right groups had been using these methods since at least 2020. The Washington Post reported that Christian Right activist Ralph Reed told a meeting of the secretive conservative leadership group Council for National Policy in February 2020, that his Faith and Freedom Coalition “is going to be harvesting ballots in churches.” He said, “We’re going to be specifically going in not only to White evangelical churches, but into Hispanic and Asian churches, and collecting those ballots.”

The folks behind Project 19 call this strategy “chasing the vote” by which they mean organizing voters to vote early and by whatever means the law allows. TPUSA claims to have employed a “ballot chasing army” in 6 states: Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. This is significant because, according to the Wall Street Journal and CNN, the Trump campaign appears to have largely outsourced their get out the vote efforts to allied nonprofit organizations like TPUSA. (Concerns have been raised, however, about ineffectiveness and corruption on the part of TPUSA in past elections.)

Opportunity knocking

As disturbing as all this may sound to people who are concerned about the Make America Great Again and New Apostolic Reformation movements, the same electioneering options being deployed by Apostle Wallnau and his allies can be used by everyone else. And while they are not a panacea, they provide potentially powerful and empowering tools for those opposed to the Christian Nationalist political agenda.

Campaigns to counter the Christian Right’s 19-county strategy might also help citizens build the knowledge and skills needed to participate more fully in our democracy. Such campaigns help citizens build the knowledge and skills needed to participate more fully in our democracy.

Early voting typically means that wait times and lines are shorter, and voters need not worry about extreme weather events that are due to climate change. For community organizers, the longer voting periods provide an opportunity to bank early votes rather than rely on last-minute get-out-the-vote efforts.

To underscore how much of an advantage this can be, let’s look at when early voting begins in just the Tier 1 states.

In Pennsylvania, early voting by way of mail-in ballots, cast in-person or at drop boxes, begins on September 16—50 days before the election. One can apply for absentee or mail in ballots as early as April. However, implementation of when you can receive and cast them, varies greatly by county. In the four counties targeted by the Christian Right, “absentee or mail in” ballots will be available in Bucks County, Montgomery County, Allegheny County early to mid-October. In Chester Country, “Mail-in ballot drop boxes open: October 22.”

Other states are less complicated. In Wisconsin, early voting begins 14 days preceding the election and ends the Sunday before the Tuesday election, but that  may also depend on where you live. Nevada early voting, begins Saturday, October 19, and runs through Friday, November 1. In Arizona, early voting begins 27 days before the election, and ends the Friday before the election.

While many nonprofit organizations and government agencies provide generally excellent voter information, those that mention early voting may tell you when it ends, but few say when it begins. New Georgia Project stands out as one that does. Early voting in Georgia begins on October 15 and ends on November 1.

In most states, you may not need an excuse to vote early, although in some states you do and in others you may need to request an absentee or “mail in” ballot well in advance. 

Looking ahead, expanded voting options will need to be woven more deeply into our political culture in order to sustain and increase democratic participation and accessibility.

Caveat emptor!

Voting laws, rules and practices sometimes unexpectedly change, and unfortunately, dirty politics can invade even the most basic of civic activities from voter registration to casting a ballot.

Alabama has made ballot harvesting a crime. The law is being challenged in court as a violation of the Voting Rights Act. Voting and disability rights advocates say that the ban is a restriction of free speech and makes the ballot less accessible to those who are unable to visit polling places in person. The state’s GOP officials maintain they are protecting “election integrity.” Moreover, in some states registered voters have been purged from the rolls without their knowledge. It is wise to check your voter registration status from such authoritative sources as Vote411.org or Vote.gov. And if you believe you have been improperly removed from the voter roll, you can file a complaint with the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

What’s more, the hacking of personal information has invaded this civic space. One such hack was led by none other than Elon Musk, the owner of the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. CNBC reported that the Musk-founded America PAC is collecting personal data from people in swing states under the guise of helping them register to vote online. This scheme is under criminal investigation in Michigan. America PAC’s main purpose is to promote the candidacy of Donald Trump.

The opportunity here is that people can do these things without having to wait for permission or leadership from political parties or interest groups. They can educate themselves and their close associates, as well as encourage organizations to figure out how to incorporate these expanded methods of voter engagement into organizational culture.

Swing Left is an activist group with ties to 400 local organizations around the country that seek to have electoral impact in opposition to the MAGA movement.

“We know that the elections up and down ballot will be very close and likely come down to a few thousand votes in a few key states and districts,” Swing Left executive director Yasmin Radjy, told Salon.com in July. “But we have a fighting chance … There is just too much at stake to do anything but lean in as hard as we can to take action.”

The good news is that there is a lot of democratic spirit among us—even among those who disagree on matters of party and policy. And there are many more who believe in the values of a pluralistic society than those who yearn for a more conservative Christian and authoritarian society. It is a historic struggle that will continue. The Christian Right of the 18th century didn’t like (and actively opposed) the Constitution when it was written. They dislike it even more now, in light of the many advances in civil and human rights we have achieved since then. They lost in the 18th century and there is every reason to believe that they will lose again. But only if we decide to make it so.

Here are some reliable voter resources:

• The United States Election Assistance Commission links to official state and county election sites, which in turn provide comprehensive information about such matters as voter eligibility, registration, absentee ballots, and early voting. You can also find out about how to become an election worker.
• The National Conference of State Legislatures has resources on online voter registration, the state by state rules for in person early voting and drop boxes. 
• Vote411.org, a project of the League of Women Voters, has a state by state chart of the rules on voter eligibility, registration, absentee ballots, and early voting. It does not have this information on ballot harvesting—but Ballotpedia does.
• Campus Vote Project has a guide for student voters. VoteRider helps eligible voters to get the appropriate ID they need to vote. The National Coalition for the Homeless explains how you do not have to be housed to be able to vote. The Federal Voter Assistance program assists overseas citizens and military service members and their families.
• Accessible Voting is an excellent and reliable non-partisans resource intended to aid people with disabilities find accessible voting options. U.S. Vote Foundation also has a guide to voting access for people with disabilities.
• NonProfit Votes has the do’s and don’ts for non-profit tax-exempt organizations that want to engage in voter education and mobilization. The National Council of Churches has published a Voting Matters 2024 Empowerment Guide. The guide includes theological grounds for voting, scriptures, critical IRS information for churches, outreach activities and tips for navigating conversations about elections.

This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit usdemocracyday.org.

Frederick Clarkson

Frederick Clarkson is a Senior Research Analyst at Political Research Associates in Somerville, Massachusetts. He has written about politics and religion for four decades and is the author of Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy and editor of Dispatches from the Religious Left: The Future of Faith and Politics in America.