On this episode of Reign of Error, investigative journalist Sarah Posner unpacks the implosion of Donald Trump’s White House Religious Liberty Commission after a chaotic hearing at the Museum of the Bible exposed deep fractures inside the MAGA coalition. Former beauty queen and recent Catholic convert Carrie Prejean Boller sparked outrage with antisemitic rhetoric tied to right-wing influencer Candace Owens, igniting a public feud with Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and drawing backlash from conservative Catholics and evangelicals alike. Posner and scholar Matthew J. Cressler explore how debates over Zionism, Christian nationalism, and the phrase “Christ is King” reveal a growing split between traditional religious-right leaders and a digitally fueled Catholic far-right operating in Trump’s social media ecosystem.
The conversation traces how figures like Nick Fuentes, Owens, and other MAGA Catholics deploy antisemitic tropes rooted in older Catholic anti-communist and anti-Jewish traditions, now amplified by online platforms and political patronage. From clashes over Vatican teaching and Christian Zionism to tensions with evangelical allies, this episode examines whether the MAGA movement’s Catholic wing is on a collision course with both the broader GOP and the institutional Church. Plus, in this week’s “Anti-Doom,” Posner highlights a federal court ruling restoring a slavery exhibit removed under Trump’s executive order—an important victory in the ongoing fight over American history and truth.
Matthew J. Cressler, Ph.D. is a writer, independent scholar, and chief of staff of the Corporation for Public Interest Technology. He is the author of Authentically Black and Truly Catholic: The Rise of Black Catholicism in the Great Migrations and creator of Bad Catholics, Good Trouble, the educational webcomic series. He’s written for America, The Atlantic, National Catholic Reporter, The Revealer, Slate, U.S. Catholic, and numerous academic journals. He co-reported the Religion News Service series “Beyond the Most Segregated Hour,” which won a Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council. He has two forthcoming books under contract: the co-authored Body & Blood: Catholic Horror in America, due out from NYU Press this Halloween, and Catholics and the Making of MAGA: How an Immigrant Church Became America’s Law and Order Faith, which is set to be published by HarperCollins in fall 2027.
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