Media Reports Highlight “the Christian Nationalist Alliance”

From Newsbusters, and syndicated to Charisma News:

Last weekend, a group of witches assembled their tarot cards, Trump photos and orange candle stubs and cast a “binding spell” over the president. After a long incantation, many concluded with “so mote it be,” while others simply said “you’re fired!”

…On February 24, the Christian Nationalist Alliance organized a Day of Prayer in response to the mass ritual. “We beseech all Christian soldiers,” wrote CNA’s April Lavalle, “to join us in praying for the strength of our nation, our elected representatives and for the souls of the lost who would take up Satanic arms against us.”

Newsbusters headed the article “Witches Brew #MagicResistance: Cast Spells Against Trump”, which Charisma News has changed to “Don’t Stop Praying: Witches’ #MagicResistance Against Trump Is Growing”.

Journalistic interest in story achieved a great deal free publicity for both the witches and their Christian opponents last week, with Rolling Stone referring to the Christian Nationalist Alliance as a “right-wing group”. However, details of this supposed group are scarce, and contrary to the above April Lavalle is not in fact associated with it: Lavelle is a journalist, and it seems that confusion has slipped in because she wrote an article on the subject for Some which was then screencaptured by a website associated with the Christian Nationalist Alliance. Lavelle actually enthused over the witches’ plan, offering a guide on “how to cast a spell on Donald Trump”.

The public face of the CNA is a certain Kevin Ambrose, who set up his Twitter account in February; there is also a Twitter account in the name of the CNA, and websites called Christian Nationalism and the Christian Nationalist Alliance were registered via a privacy service in January. The former site carries articles by Ambrose, while the latter consists of the CNA logo and a promise of content “coming soon”.

Julia Reinstein of Buzzfeed reached out to Ambrose on Twitter ahead of her own article about the witches’ Trump protest, but was rebuffed because the CNA “has no time for #fakenews”; however, Ambrose did provide one quote for the media, explaining that

“This instance stands out to me because they are attempting to enlist the aid of non-religious liberals. 

“These people, mostly young, who may be riled up by the non-stop media attacks on President Trump are a fertile recruiting ground for Satanic groups.”

According to the Christian Nationalism website, the CNA is “a for-profit entity that is the definitive voice on Christian Nationalism in the United States”. Those who sign up will receive a journal, an email address, preferred caller access to a podcast, and “premium access to the American Prayer Network project”. It describes itself as “anti-Islam” and “anti-communist”, and its positions emphasize capitalism, the right to bear arms, and the importance of Christianity in public life. On Twitter, Ambrose has referred to dominion theology, citing the Christian Reconstructionist George Grant. Ambrose also says that the CNA “stands with” the Front National, and he enthuses over Marion Le Pen in particular as “a modern day Joan of Arc”.