AVC's Top 10 Posts of 2024
Thank you for reading the American Values Coalition newsletter.
We focus on news related to right-wing extremism and misinformation, and unfortunately, there was no shortage of news to share in 2024. Here, in descending order, are our most read posts this year.
10. (tie) “Covid Hucksters Made a Killing” February 22
Covid was a financial boon for the four most prominent nonprofits that spread misinformation.
A 2020-2022 tax record analysis by The Washington Post found a significant increase in donations, $118 million in total, for Children's Health Defense, Informed Consent Action Network, Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance, and America's Frontline Doctors.
10. (tie) “Where Trump Supporters Get Their News” May 9
A majority of those who don't follow political news at all, and few newspaper readers, support former President Donald Trump.
Fifty-three percent of those who don't follow political news support Trump, compared to 27 percent for President Joe Biden, according to a new NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters conducted last month. Newspaper readers, however, support Biden over Trump, 70% to 21%.
9. (tie) “Why Are Democrats Losing Non-White Voters?” March 15
Democrats have seen big drops in support among non-white voters since the last presidential election, according to new research.
Among the findings:
In 2020, Biden won non-whites by 50 points, but in recent polling, he's only leading Trump 12 points, 56-44.
Among Blacks, the Democrat lead has shrunk 20 points in three years.
Among Hispanics aged 18-29, the Democrat lead has shrunk nearly as much.
9. (tie) “What Trump's Election Means for America and American Values Coalition” November 7
American Values Coalition was founded three years ago to address the problems of political extremism and misinformation on the right side of American politics. We founded AVC as a 501c3 organization because we understood that the problems we're addressing are deeply ingrained and won't be solved by winning elections. As I often say when asked about the work of AVC, this is a generational project.
7. “Humanizing Trump Supporters” May 1
A new documentary on CNN sought to understand why supporters of former President Donald Trump believe so many things that aren't true.
6. “Christian Nationalism Isn't the Same as Conservative Christian” March 7
For some on the Right, "woke" can be used to encompass many ideas they disagree with. Something similar is happening on the Left with "Christian Nationalist." The term has been used for so many things that progressives don't like, it's in danger of becoming a meaningless buzzword, like woke. In some cases, it's being confused with those who are simply politically conservative Christians.
5. “Trump Is Right, 'Christians Are Under Siege'" March 28
"Christians are under siege," former President Trump claimed this week. Turns out he is correct, but not in the way he meant. Christians are under siege by Trump supporters.
4. “How We Could Lose Our Democracy” January 25
Our democracy is under threat. It's hard to imagine, but imagine we must if we are to prevent it.
This is why I recommend you take some time to read "The Authoritarian Playbook for 2025: How an authoritarian president will dismantle our democracy and what we can do to protect it," a report released this month by Protect Democracy.
3. “About Those Trumpvangelicals Who Don't Go To Church” January 12
Evangelical identification has become associated with support for former President Donald Trump in the minds of many. I've been told more times than I can count that I can't be a Christian if I don't support Trump. So, it's no surprise that as the evangelical label becomes tied to a political leader rather than religious movement, religious behaviors, such as going to church, become optional.
2. “3 Things to Know About the Springfield Lie” September 21
For last week's newsletter, I wrote about former president Donald Trump's false claim during the presidential debate that Haitian immigrants were stealing pets and eating them. Here is more information that we've learned since then.
1. “Taylor Swift and the New Conspiracism” February 1
According to the newest MAGA conspiracy theory, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, the NFL, and the Biden administration are in cahoots with a psy-ops campaign to win the next presidential election. Depending on which version of this conspiracy you listen to (there are many), Swift and Kelce's romance is fake, the NFL is rigging games so Kelce's Kansas City Chief's win, and Swift is possessed by a demon.
Donate Today!
Have you been blessed by AVC’s work in 2024? Please consider helping us continue in 2025. American Values Coalition is a tax-deductible 501c3 organization.
Applications Open: J29 for 2025!
Pastors,
Have you seen your community and congregation divided over politics? We understand the struggles you face and are here to help. In today's hyper-polarized world, guiding your congregation through the complexities of politics while keeping Jesus at the center feels like an uphill battle. J29 Coalition is here to help.
We are now taking applications for next year’s J29 cohort, a 3-month program starting in February. This cohort provides encouragement, support, and a vision for your congregation’s future as you navigate the choppy waters of 2025 and beyond. You’ll gain practical tools, a community of trusted leaders, and a renewed confidence to faithfully disciple your church in kingdom-shaped politics—putting Jesus above partisanship.
Join us in Ohio!
On January 18, AVC will co-sponsor the “Summit on Immigration, Springfield, and the Church” in Columbus, OH.
Jesus was asked the question, "Who is my neighbor?" He went on to tell the story of the Good Samaritan. This summit is designed to equip Christians with the tools to care for and advocate on behalf of their immigrant neighbors. Through informative sessions, personal stories, and collaborative discussions, participants will hear from
Director of The Haitian Support Center, Vilés Dorsainvil and other Haitian leaders from Springfield Ohio
Assemblies of God Pastor Dr. Gabriel Salguero director of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition
Myal Greene President of World Relief
Justin Giboney Founder of the AND Campaign
and more as we explore how the Church can play a transformative role in supporting immigrant communities and consider how the gospel frames how we think about our neighbor.
Some New News
NewsChannel 5 Nashville: “Phil Williams: In reporting on hate and extremism, 'while the attacks are personal, so is the cause’”
Rarely in my nearly 40-year career as a journalist have I felt the target on my back as continuously and intensely as I have in the last 15 months.
Frankly, those are words that I hesitated to type. After all, we live in a time when some of the subjects of my investigations want me to feel that pressure. They want me to be intimidated. They want me to be afraid.
But you — as people who trust me to be a truth-teller in an age when truth can be elusive, as people I call my neighbors and friends — deserve to know what it is like to be in my shoes.
To be clear, this is not a plea for sympathy – far from it. I made a conscious decision to confront white supremacists, QAnon conspiracy theorists and other forms of political extremism. That was my choice — no one ordered me to do it — and I would make the same choice again because, in my view, it is important work for our democracy.
France 24: “US agency focused on foreign disinformation shuts down”
The Global Engagement Center, a State Department unit established in 2016, shuttered on Monday at a time when officials and experts tracking propaganda have been warning of the risk of disinformation campaigns from US adversaries such as Russia and China.
"The State Department has consulted with Congress regarding next steps," it said in a statement when asked what would happen to the GEC's staff and its ongoing projects following the shutdown.
The GEC had an annual budget of $61 million and a staff of around 120. Its closing leaves the State Department without a dedicated office for tracking and countering disinformation from US rivals for the first time in eight years.
A measure to extend funding for the center was stripped out of the final version of the bipartisan federal spending bill that passed through the US Congress last week.
WaPo: “This company rates news sites’ credibility. The right wants it stopped.”
Some First Amendment experts say Carr leaning on tech companies to distance themselves from NewsGuard is closer to censorship than anything NewsGuard does.
Offering opinions as to news sites’ credibility, as NewsGuard does, “is emphatically speech,” said Ari Cohn, senior tech policy counsel at the nonpartisan Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
“For Carr to write to the platforms and basically threaten them that if they utilize this protected expression he’s going to go after them is just First Amendment problem upon First Amendment problem,” Cohn said.
The irony, he added, is that it comes after four years in which Republican leaders criticized and even sued the Biden administration over allegations of “jawboning,” or applying undue government pressure to private entities to suppress speech. That’s exactly what Carr is doing now, Cohn argued.
WaPo: “For some Latinos, ‘prosperity gospel’ led them to Trump”
The mix of hope, drive for success and belief in a God who rewards faith, sometimes with financial accomplishments, has become dominant across the United States and Latin America, experts on Latino religion say. The belief system is sometimes called “seed faith,” “health and wealth gospel,” or “prosperity gospel.”
In the past half-century, driven by larger-than-life pastors, it has overtaken other more traditional theologies centered on God’s priority being poor and disenfranchised people, some experts said. This belief system, they said, helps explain what exit polls showed was a significant shift among Latino Christian voters to Trump, who they see as an uber-successful, strong and God-focused striver.
“If you take Trump and all his characteristics, it’s almost exactly as any prosperity gospel preacher,” said Tony Tian-Ren Lin, an Asian-Latino pastor in New York who wrote a book on Latino Americans and the prosperity gospel. “The big personality, talking a big game, saying things like ‘no one can do it’ but him … If for years you’ve been listening to someone like that, you’re not surprised when a political leader says those things.”
CBN News: “Trump's Mass Deportation Plan Has Some Latino Churches on Edge”
CBS Evening News: “In show of unity, 4 Texas pastors swap congregations”
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