Kathleen Kauth, Robert Clements, Linda Vermooten, and the Christian Nationalist movement stoking political violence across the country

Last Saturday, Christian Nationalist Sean Feucht held a rally at the fountain across the street from the Capitol in Lincoln and not a single local official spoke out against it. Making the highlight reel on Sean Feucht’s facebook page were lots of shots of both children and adults crying, several disturbing shots of a group of adults and children holding down a crying child (you’ve seen Jesus Camp, right? Same people), and footage of a few folks we assume are not Jewish (given they are members of a Christian Nationalist movement) playing shofars on stage.

Although we do not know for sure if Senator Clements was there, he seems to be subscribing to the same Christian Nationalist beliefs based on his recent affinity for playing the shofar despite being very much not Jewish. The first time (that we know of) was during a Legislative session, which Governor Pete Ricke— I mean Jim Pillen tweeted about.

The most recent incident was at an event for State Board of Education candidate Linda Vermooten, as noted by racist rightwing extremist and official campaign photographer for Don Bacon and Deb Fischer, Matt Johnson.

I checked with our resident Extremely Jewish person Ari Kohen and he let me know that the shofar is used by the Jewish community for religious ritual purposes. It is blown only at certain times.

It is blown only with certain notes.

It is expressly NOT blown at other times (never on Shabbat, for example, even if Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbat). As Ari said on Twitter, “Let’s think seriously together for a moment about the reaction we’d witness if people randomly appropriated for their own political ends the religious ritual objects of any other group.”

You can learn more about the shofar and its history and uses here: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4837/jewish/Shofar.htm

The Christian Nationalists in the New Apostolic Reformation movement have culturally appropriated the shofar as part of their “spiritual warfare”, most notably at the January 6 insurrection.

As we have learned by watching the extremists in our own communities, the New Apostolic Reformation movement may have once been a fringe movement, but no longer. It now appears to have completely taken over today’s Republican party, and that is very much the case with the NEGOP. It’s not hard to see why extremists like Senator Kathleen Kauth, NEGOP Committee Chairwoman Fanchon Blythe, and countless NEGOP aides and staff members have embraced the NAR movement. As reported by Mark Clatterbuck, who has spent his entire life immersed in New Apostolic Reformation circles and who attended the “ReAwaken America” tour last year, their rallies feature “plenty of repugnant elements—from the relentless attacks on transgender youth consistent with fascist scapegoating, to the steady drumbeat of election fraud claims, to accusations that Dr. Fauci engineered Covid-19 in a Chinese lab to help a demonic cabal in Davos to impose a one-world government over freedom-loving Americans like themselves. Emboldened by their movement’s surging popularity, speakers repeatedly embraced the once-toxic label of “Christian nationalist” to thunderous applause.” (Read full article here: FROM SHOFARS TO HAMMERS: THE SPIRITUAL WARRIORS OF MAGA ARE ‘REAWAKENING’ TO POLITICAL VIOLENCE )

Local Hitler-quoting hate group Nebraskans for Founders Values, who helped promote the Sean Feucht rally, partnered with Omaha Liberty Ladies (whose “speakers” are almost all men, including Mike Hilgers, Ben Sasse, and Pete Ricketts) to bring self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist Virgil Walker to Omaha last October to raise money for Protect Nebraska Children-backed candidate for State Board of Education Marni Hodgen. Luckily Marni did not win that seat, but three other extremists connected to these hate groups did, which caught the attention of the national hate groups watchdog org Southern Poverty Law Center. You can read their article about it here: NEBRASKA PAC TIED TO HATE GROUP FUNDED THREE VICTORIOUS CAMPAIGNS

The extremist groups associated with the NAR (including the NEGOP) are running extremist candidates up and down the ballot in 2024, including Linda Vermooten and Lisa Schonhoff running for the State Board of Education. There are already three extremists on the State Board of Ed - Kirk Penner, Sherry Jones, and Elizabeth Tegtmeier. If the Board of Ed is taken over by these hateful extremists, our public schools will not be a safe place for children.

Democracy is quickly dying in the light as journalists continue to give friendly interviews to fascists, refuse to report on elected officials’ connections to hate groups, and just straight up print police press releases as news. We must fight back against the extremists. If you have the means, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our substack. For six years we have been unpaid volunteers, writing in our “spare” time. If we can get enough paid subscribers (only $5 per month!) to pay a couple writers to investigate and write full-time, it will only help everyone (except the fascists).