There is a surprising country at the heart of a new kind of terrorism

TL;DR....it's us.

I learn things too

One of my favorite parts of doing my podcast over the last year and a half or so has been meeting incredibly smart people and learning things from them I hadn’t thought of before. This week was no exception and one of the most startling moments passed in the middle of the conversation that I was stunned and speechless for a moment.

My guest this week is Elizabeth Neumann the former Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the Trump Administration. She just published a book called Kingdom of Rage: The Rise of Christian Extremism and the Path Back to Peace where she examines the roots of growing extremism in the Evangelical churches and how to stop it.

She left the Trump Administration after being stymied in attempting to analyze and counter the growing threat of far-right and Christian extremism and terrorism in the United States. The Unite the Right events had shocked the domestic security services as it represented a clear escalation in the blending of neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and extremist Christian actors and organizations. They simply had not been equipped to examine the threats or stop them.

Christchurch New Zealand White Supremacist Murderer

It’s Us

Many attacks followed in the U.S. but what shocked me in our discussion was when she mentioned the Christchurch Mosque shooting and the manifesto written by the white supremacist killer. His writings and motivations were almost identical to far-right actors here in the United States. They realized that we…the United States of America…had become an exporter of far-right terror.

As a veteran of the Global War on Terror who had been mobilized into the Army on 9/11 after Saudi Arabians and other terrorists attacked our homeland, it was a shocking tidbit in a short sentence. My home country that I saw as the beacon of freedom in the world was becoming an exporter of extremism.

We must take a hard look at what is truly happening in our country as this toxic mix of radical Evangelical Christianity blends with far-right politics and creates an atmosphere that is ripe for increased violence. I open the show with clips from two so called MAGA prophets that are easy to mock but when you realize that thousands are listening to them and hearing Donald Trump tell them to “get in the fight” you realize it only takes a few people to kill many…

For God.

It’s up to us to stop it. It takes talking to our friends and family that are sliding down the path to radicalism. It means we can’t hide our heads in the sand or accuse our security agencies of discrimination when they have to investigate real threats from actual churches right here at home. We have to be honest about what is happening and it doesn’t feel like we are there yet.

As Elizabeth points out. This isn’t just a threat to our nation and democracy. The Christian church is in danger as well as they drive away believers and undermine the very foundations of the faith. This was a fascinating conversation.

The Show

Elizabeth Neumann

In her gripping new book, Kingdom of Rage: The Rise of Christian Extremism and the Path Back to Peace former senior counterterrorism official, Elizabeth Neumann, delves into the alarming intermingling of modern evangelicalism, right-wing conservatism, and violent extremist movements. This dangerous convergence, Neumann argues, was a driving force behind the January 6 attacks on the Capitol and continues to threaten both the Church and American democracy. With the election year in full swing and rising extremism Fred sits down with Elizabeth to discuss the moment and what we can do on both sides to slow this dangerous movement. Elizabeth Neumann served as the Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Neumann is an ABC News contributor and the Chief Strategy Officer at Moonshot. She is based in the Denver, CO area.

You can learn more about her work and the book at https://elizabethneumann.org/ and find her on Threads, X, Facebook, and Instagram: (@)NeuSummits.

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