We all know about the Big Lie. And we all know about the efforts among Trump associates in Washington and in state capitals to try to arrange matters to pull off a second Big Lie in 2024 if need be—the voter-suppression laws, attempts to transfer election-certification authority to pro-Trump politicians, and more.
Less examined is another crucial part of the story: the ground troops Donald Trump and his people are counting on to help influence the results of the 2024 presidential election—by voting en masse, of course, but then by carrying the message of a stolen election (if events warrant) to the broader public. They’re “The Shock Troops of the Next Big Lie,” as Katherine Stewart described in her important New Republic feature article for the January/February issue of the magazine.
On February 1, Stewart, who has reported on the religious right and Christian nationalist movement for years, spoke with me for a Zoom discussion to discuss her article and the right’s plans for the 2024 election more broadly. We were joined by Adele Stan, an independent journalist who has also long chronicled the religious right for various publications, including TNR; and by David Daley, who reports on the broader political right’s efforts to rig the political process through aggressive gerrymandering and other means. These three experts know a great deal about the plans the right is laying for 2022, 2024, and beyond—things you need to know.
