About this episode

Julie Carr interviews Katherine Stewart about her book on the movement to undermine American democracy.

In episode #31 I speak with author and investigative journalist Katherine Stewart about her new book, Money Lies and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy . What is Christian Nationalism (and what is it not)? What are the true anti-democratic goals of the “new right” and what are their strategies? How do misogyny and anti-trans rhetoric/policy serve these goals? And are they really trying to take away women’s right to vote? Katherine delineates five categories of actors in the nihilistic war against democracy: the funders, the thinkers, the sergeants, the power-players, and the foot soldiers. She exposes how “the thinkers” frequently rely on the ideas of Nazi political theorist Carl Schmitt, and Julie dips into “the thinkers” who have worked towards these goals on her own campus (remember John Eastman?). A note: This conversation is shorter than many. Because of time constraints we were not able to talk about all of the major topics in this book. I highly recommend listeners read the book to learn more. Texts, institutes, and people mentioned and discussed: Katherine Stewart, Money Lies and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy Katherine Stewart…

People in this episode

Host: Julie Carr

Guest: Katherine Stewart

Topics covered

• Christian Nationalism
• anti-democratic goals
• misogyny
• anti-trans rhetoric
• democracy
• investigative journalism

Keywords

• Christian Nationalism
• democracy
• Katherine Stewart
• Money Lies and God
• anti-democratic
• misogyny
• anti-trans

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The April Institute

Books & works: Money Lies and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, The Good News Club: The Religious Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children, God and Country

More episodes of Return the Key: Jewish Questions for Everyone

• Episode 36: My Country is the Page: Moudi Sbeity on the generative power of language · May 28, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Episode 35: “What exactly are we doing here”?: Nishant Upadhyay on settler colonialism and its complexities · May 21, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Episode 33: Neighbor: Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg on Collapse, Entanglement, Spiral Time & Minneapolis 2026 · March 19, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Episode 32: A Passenger on the Bus: Rob Fitterman · March 1, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Episode 30: “Memory of a Larger Mind” with Daniela Naomi Molnar · January 25, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Episode 29: Thresholds: Ava Aviva Avnisan · January 17, 2026 · 1h 4m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Return the Key: Jewish Questions for Everyone podcast page.