Thanks for joining us this week as we talk to Tim Alberta about his new book, The Kingdom, The Power and the Glory, and the ideology of the evangelical right in the United States. Removed from the Colorado ballot, Trump has surged past his competitors in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and now faces legal challenges to his run. But he retains an incredibly loyal, often highly devout base of far-right Christian supporters who helped bring him into office in 2016. Where did this base come from? That’s what Tim is here to help us answer.

A confluence of powerful figureheads and institutions come together in the story of the religious far right’s rise, bookended by the popularity of televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr. in the ‘70s and, in our own time, his son Jerry Falwell Jr. Founded by Jerry senior, Liberty University joined Baptist church and austerity state, drawing in young conservatives, preparing the next generation of the Republican Party, and supporting various party initiatives. Tim describes it as a “fortress of evangelical culture [war],” providing Falwell with a platform as he attacked Jimmy Carter for a Playboy interview in a successful bid to rally the “moral majority.”

Fifty years later, Falwell junior vouches for Trump at a 2016 meeting with Republican Party top brass in New York, taking his authority from this storied family legacy of evangelical cultural warfare. He can be seen posing with Trump in front of a framed copy of Playboy featuring the future president — so much for the moral majority. The story of the Falwells is an essential case study in the larger story of the religious far right. How did religious fervor morph into political fervor for a man who is the antithesis of the morals they claim to support?

We hope you enjoy the conversation. You can tune in tomorrow through Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.