Conspirituality

JD Vance calls Catholic Social Teaching (CST) a "fully integrated theory of a good human life" — and he's not wrong that it sounds good. So how’s he going to weaponize it?

Matthew traces why CST's moral critique of capitalism, innovated by Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum (1891), is tailor-made for Vance's political project. CST may be sincere about human dignity, but it actively suppresses structural analysis, while opening two dangerous doors of moralism: scapegoating powerful enemies above, and blaming the poor for their own immiseration below. 

Show Notes

Rerum Novarum, Leo XIII (1891)

Humanum Genus, Leo XIII (1884)

Purusha Sukta, Rigveda 10.90

B.R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste (1936)

JD Vance, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith

David Kertzer, The Popes Against the Jews

Canadian Food for Children
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Has former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s career been scripted and controlled by the strange leader of a breakaway Hare Krishna group? Chris Butler formed the Science of Identity organization in the seventies. Gabbard’s parents joined when she was two years old.

Gabbard claims Butler has no influence on her political life, yet bombshell reporting by the Washington Post piece unearths 25,000 leaked documents to reveal that her guru may have been pulling the strings all along. The kicker? Gabbard resigned two days after journalist Jon Swaine let her team know the article would be published.

Meanwhile, another cult-leader story concerns American-born Abdullah Hashem. Claiming to be the “true and only legitimate pope” (as well as successor of Jesus, Saint Peter, and Mohammed), Hashem and 150 followers took over a former orphanage in England—and have been building a significant online following ever since. On April 29, hundreds of police raided Hashem’s headquarters, charging the holy man and eight others with human trafficking, sex crimes, and forced marriage.

This is the story of how these two cult operators are influencing minds across the pond.

Show Notes

British Police Raid Abdullah Hashem’s Compound

Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders Granted in AROPL Case

Religious Sect Immigration Visas Investigated

Patreon Bonus: The New Age Muslim Apocalyptic Prophet

WaPo Piece on Tulsi Gabbard’s Mysterious Guru’s Influence on her Political Career

Hare Krishna Guru Sought Political Power Starting in the 1970s

New Yorker: What Does Tulsi Gabbard Believe?
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Recent reporting in the Washington Post found that Tulsi Gabbard has been taking policy guidance from her guru. We revisit our episode from May 2023, where we lay out Gabbard's lifelong involvement in this cult:

What does it mean for a prominent American politician to come into power as the sleeper cell of an eccentric Hindu-American cult? Does she act independently, or has her God-man got her on speed-dial? Can she bridge the divide between left and right with the radiant glow of Krishna consciousness?

Joining us today to help answer these questions is Nitai Joseph. He shares some heritage with Gabbard, because he also grew up in a Hare Krishna sect. He holds an MSc. in the Psychology of Coercive Control and has worked across a range of issues connected to ideology and manipulation, including cultic awareness, child sexual abuse prevention, adverse meditation experiences, and organizational ethics and accountability. 

Show Notes

Tulsi Gabbard, her guru and the mysterious messages that helped shape her political career

Gopala Govinda Rama Chant by Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa Chris Butler

QAnon Anonymous Episode 211: Tulsi Gabbard P1 (The Cult) feat Mike Prysner

QAnon Anonymous Episode 212: Tulsi Gabbard P2 (The Fascist Turn) feat Mike Prysner 

Tulsi Gabbard Had a Very Strange Childhood

What Does Tulsi Gabbard Believe? | The New Yorker

Chris Butler Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa: on “freedom”

An Insiders Perspective on Tulsi Gabbard and her Guru | by Lalita | Medium 

Tulsi Gabbard 2016 Janmashtami Message 

ISKCON Abuse Timeline

Definition of Betrayal Trauma Theory

Archived ex-Hare Krishna message board

Nitai can be reached via LinkedIn

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As the gases slowly leak from Trump’s orifices and IV holes, the bright flame of his inspiration to MAGA Christians is fading. Did he drain the swamp? Prosecute the pedophiles? Save the Holy Land? Lower gas prices? Give all the grill dads better health care? What was all the speaking in tongues for?

JD Vance has an answer for the MAGA faithful: another memoir, another rebrand that turns to the device that made Hillbilly Elegy a smash hit, and the worst book ever: the gall to turn his personal and familial despair into the diagnosis of an entire culture, in Appalachia. 

With Communion: Finding my Way back to Faith, Vance plays the same narcissistic trick: turning his lifelong journey through rightwing American Chrisitianity—with a short and shameful detour into New Atheism—to land in the Catholic faith of Leonard Leo, sketching out a redemption plan for every bro seeking their way home. 

Show Notes

Rerum Novarum (1891) — Pope Leo XIII

Elizabeth Catte, What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia

Appalachian Reckoning — Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll, eds.

Battle of Blair Mountain — West Virginia Encyclopedia

Hurricane Helene federal aid gap — Associated Press

PolitiFact — Springfield "Lie of the Year" 2024

Institut Montaigne — JD Vance analysis

Randall Balmer, "The Real Origins of the Religious Right" — Politico

Know Your Enemy podcast — episode on René Girard with John Ganz

Laudato Si' — Pope Francis

Magnifica Humanitas — Pope Leo XIV

Mike Fox, "JD Vance's Memoir Communion Performs Catholicism for Evangelicals"
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RFK Jr has been one of the loudest champions of the Trump's work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP recipients. While he frames it in the language of health, he's really just reviving a generations-old argument first made by Ronald Reagan.

Derek digs into the archival tapes to deliver the goods.
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