MONROEVILLE, Pa. — Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance appeared Saturday at a town hall event organized by top Christian nationalist leaders who promote election denialism and portray Vice President Kamala Harris as a “demon.”
The event’s host, Lance Wallnau, who emceed the live event and introduced Vance’s first town hall on the campaign trail, is a leading figure in the fast-growing New Apostolic Reformation, a movement that preaches Christian supremacy through a blend of prophecy and hard-right politics.
Though a campaign official said Vance and Wallnau didn’t speak to each other, Vance’s appearance at Saturday’s event was the latest example of the Trump campaign intersecting with once-fringe figures who now have wide followings.
On Saturday, Vance sat down with Pastor Jason Howard to talk about drug addiction and answer questions from pre-selected audience members. He described his faith journey and political beliefs as he courted the crowd in western Pennsylvania, promising the audience that the Trump administration would enact policies guaranteeing that if they “work hard and play by the rules, you can afford a good life in this country.” Polls show former president Donald Trump and Harris neck and neck in the crucial swing state.
Vance spokesman Luke Schroeder sidestepped questions about Wallnau’s extremism, saying instead that Vance and his mother, Beverly, who was with him at the event, “were thankful for the opportunity to call attention to the millions of Americans who are struggling with addiction.” Schroeder also said it was “a disgrace that the media would rather distract Americans from Kamala’s failures than give struggling Americans the spotlight they deserve.”
Last weekend, Vance appeared on the “Tucker Carlson Live” show after Carlson praised Holocaust revisionist Darryl Cooper, who falsely claimed that the Nazis’ genocide of Jewish people was a logistical error. Vance said at the time that he supported free speech.
“The Holocaust was a terrible tragedy, and it’s something that we have to make sure never gets repeated again in this country,” Vance told reporters ahead of his Carlson event. “The best way to ensure that doesn’t happen is to debate and push back against bad ideas. It’s not to try to censor and suppress them.”
For his part, Wallnau has previously cast Harris as both a demon and Jezebel, the biblical symbol of womanly wickedness. He has said on his podcast that Harris represents “the spirit of Jezebel in a way that will be even more ominous than Hillary [Clinton] because she’ll bring a racial component, and she’s younger.”
Vance’s appearances with Carlson and on Wallnau’s live show Saturday have brought condemnation from Democrats, who criticize him for aligning with conspiracy theorists.
“While Vance and Donald Trump are peddling lies, stoking division, and clinging to the past because they have no solutions to lead us forward, Kamala Harris is leading us into a future of opportunity for all Americans,” Harris campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.
Faithful America, a Christian group focused on social justice, said in its petition that Wallnau is a “false prophet” who was “spewing fear and hate in the name of Jesus.”
In a Facebook video Friday, Wallnau filmed himself promoting Vance’s appearance and claiming that 15,000 people had signed a petition against his event, called the Courage Tour.
“They’ve got this crazy narrative, the left,” Wallnau said in the video. “Why is the left adversarial to Christians, and why are pastors and churches actually voting with the left? They’re attacking Christians.”
Wallnau is known for advocating Christian dominion over the “seven mountains” of society: religion, family, government, education, business, media, and arts and entertainment.
MAGA ideology is woven throughout the movement, with prophets and apostles sharing pro-Trump visions and declaring “spiritual warfare” against his opponents — sometimes invoking biblical language that extremism researchers say masks violent or racist messaging. Video footage documents the movement’s presence among the crowds that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“It’s a conquest narrative. That, combined with the election denialism, is concerning,” said Karrie Gaspard-Hogewood, a sociologist at Tulane University who studies Christian nationalism.
She said it’s hard to imagine that Vance would be unaware of Wallnau’s well-documented views, which were featured in a CBS Evening News segment this month. That includes election denialism, warning of an impending “fiery trial” over ideologies and disparaging Harris.
Gaspard-Hogewood said Vance’s appearance at the Courage Tour lends credence to Wallnau’s extremist views.
“The message it sends is that Vance is not against what Lance Wallnau is saying and preaching,” Gaspard-Hogewood said.
Allam reported from Washington. Michelle Boorstein in Washington contributed to this report.