Expert has 'ominous' warning about J.D. Vance endorsing 'spiritual propagandist' of Jan. 6

J.D. Vance is being criticized for being a featured guest at a Town Hall that is part of an event hosted by Lance Wallnau, a Christian nationalist pastor who organized the "Courage Tour," a revival-style political rally in seven key swing states.

Donald Trump's campaign website reported that Vance "will be a featured guest at a Town Hall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, September 28, 2024, at 1:00 PM EDT."

"This Town Hall event, part of the Courage Tour, is hosted by The Lance Wallnau Show," it says.

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Matthew D. Taylor, an expert in religious extremism, flagged the news on social media.

"Very important news: J.D. Vance is planning a town hall on Saturday, hosted by the Lance Wallnau Show at the Courage Tour," Taylor wrote late Thursday night. "This is Vance's endorsement of one of the worst, most conspiratorial, Christian supremacist spectacles in the country."

Taylor continued, saying that "the Courage Tour is a 2020-election-denying, Christian nationalist, conspiracy propagation machine masquerading as a Pentecostal-style Christian revival."

"I witnessed this reality distortion field up close at their Eau Claire, WI stop," the expert added.

"At the helm is Donald Trump's most servile theologian and spiritual propagandist, Lance Wallnau," he said. "Wallnau was a key player in galvanizing and mobilizing Christians be in DC for [January 6th] and was there himself."

Taylor had an additional warning about Wallnau's work with the Trump campaign.

"Even more ominous, Wallnau's Courage Tour is operating hand-in-glove as a functional Trump campaign tour under the guise of a Christian ministry," he added. "Trumpist think tank America First Policy Institute is feeding Wallnau county-by-county voter data."

Finally, Taylor said, "This Pennsylvania stop of the Courage Tour has had extra build-up and hype, because they're staging it just a few miles from Butler, PA, the site of Trump's 1st assassination attempt. They believe Trump's survival is a miracle presaging his divinely mandated electoral victory."

"If we pay [attention] to the ramp-up of rhetoric and protests that led to January 6th, the Courage Tour very much fits the pattern of partisan-spiritual-warfare, conspiratorial prophesying, and demonization of opponents that fed directly into the Capitol Riot," the scholar then concluded.