5:59 v originále: How the far-right is infiltrating American politics

The race for the White House between two presidential candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, brings into sharp contrast two very different visions for America. While Harris wants to be a „happy warrior”, Trump often invokes the darkest scenarios for America if he is not elected.

Donald Trump, the official Republican nominee for president, is slightly behind his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the polls. But there is one voting bloc that seems to be firmly in his column - Christian nationalists and members of right-wing militias.

These two groups of Americans are ideologically close and mutually supportive. „Not all militia members are Christian nationalists and not all Christian nationalists are militia members. But I would say that most Christian nationalists at least support militia's right to exist and operate like they do. And a lot of folks in the militia movement do have Christian nationalist views,” says Idaho-based journalist Heath Druzin in an interview for a 5:59 news podcast.

Listen to the full interview with Heath Druzin for the 5:59 news podcast in the English version:

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According to Druzin who reports on right-wing extremism, gun culture in the U.S. and other topics, these groups are much more visible now than they were some 10 years ago. And he believes they feel emboldened by Donald Trump.

„When he came on the scene in 2016, he started saying a lot of things that far right groups had been saying for a number of years, but he obviously set it on a much bigger stage as a presidential nominee and then the president. A lot of these far right ideas that before were not touted by mainstream politicians in general, all of a sudden you had Donald Trump sort of voicing them,” notes Druzin who is also an author and host of the Extremely American podcast.

It does not end there. Heath Druzin is convinced that Christian nationalists see a possible second Trump presidency as their „best chance to get their policies implemented“.

And what kind of America do they dream of? What is their vision for the country? Druzin has no doubt that Christian nationalists seek a system of theocracy. „These guys want America to be a Christian nation in the most explicit way possible where they want only Christians to be in positions of power. And they want their interpretation of the Bible to be the foundation for every law in America,” Druzin says. He has interviewed a number of Christian nationalists who have been open about their extreme vision for the country.

Christian nationalists and militia members share a common love for guns, calling any restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms as unconstitutional. Many militia members belong to groups like the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers, who participated in the January 6, 2021 riots in Washington D.C., where hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, ransacked it, and came close to harming elected officials.

„That was a real warning that some of these groups could be very dangerous if they wanted to. And I guess that might have been the moment for a lot of people where they were like: You know what? This isn't just a bunch of guys dressing up as soldiers, playing around in the woods. Some of these guys actually mean what they say and could be a real threat,” Druzin says.

But he insists that America is not a country of „a bunch of cowboys carrying guns”. „It is not true that everybody in America is obsessed with guns. There is a pretty wide agreement in America that there should be some gun rights. But what surprises some people - even within America - is that having some sort of basic restrictions on guns is extremely popular,” he says, adding that the idea of the so-called background checks is supported by up to 70 percent of Americans.

Still, stricter gun laws are not on the horizon, he says, adding that it has a lot to do with politics. „What you have is - especially in the Republican Party when it comes to guns, you've got a party that's really pretty far to the right of America on gun issues. And that's in part because they get a lot of money from gun lobbyists. And to them - at least right now - the calculation is that it is more important to win elections than appeal to a broad general audience,” Druzin concludes.

Why is America an outlier in the Western world when it comes to gun ownership? How many guns are in circulation in the U.S. right now? And what other goals do Christian nationalists want to achieve with the help of Donald Trump if he is elected as the new president? Listen to the full interview using the audio player at the top of the article.