Filmmaker Rob Reiner said Monday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that former President Donald Trump was the “mouthpiece” for the Christian nationalist movement.
Reiner said, “They’re not right-wing, they’re not left wing, they’re not anything except Donald Trump.”
He continued, “There are very conservative Christian evangelicals, pastors, very respected people in the Christian community, that are frightened of this Christian nationalist movement. They are not only frightened about it hurting democracy, but Christianity itself. And we show in the film that this movement was the foundation for January 6. They were the moving elements that made January 6 and the insurrection happened. Now, we have a Speaker of the House who is an avowed Christian nationalist.”
Reiner said, “Donald Trump is more than happy to be there mouthpiece. We see this connection.”
He added, “We can slip into an autocracy very easily. You hear this all the time on your show and many other shows, but the fight right now as between whether or not we preserve our democracy or we slip into a theocratic autocracy. That’s what this movement wants. They believe that this is a white Christian nation. That’s what it should be. And that’s what we bring out in the film. And they’re not only poisoning democracy, they’re also poisoning Christianity.”
Reiner concluded, “This is not a religious movement. this is a political movement that is after sheer power. That’s the fear that they have this mouthpiece, and he is going to ride this or he’s going to try to ride this all the way to the White House.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN