Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The co-host of the popular “I’ve Had It” podcast lays into MAGA, Christian nationalism, and the president. Welch grew up in rural Oklahoma, land of Hobby Lobby and Oral Roberts. As she notes early on, “I sat down to write this book because I wanted to trace how the Evangelical culture in which I came of age led us directly into a fascist state.” That state is built on fear, hatred, and violence, she avers. It’s hierarchical, race-based, misogynist. It operates outside of norms and laws, and it knows no hypocrisy. Much of it, she argues, has to do with a powerful system of authoritarian churches driven by the so-called prosperity gospel. That gospel, as she lays out in detail, is built on greed and a happy willingness to victimize even fellow fundamentalists. The author is as tough on the Democrats as she is on MAGA and company, though. She comes down hard on the anointment of Kamala Harris as a “pro--police, pro--Israel, and pro-business” establishment candidate who wasn’t equal to fighting Donald Trump. Welch is even more scornful of former Attorney General Merrick Garland, who “hemmed and hawed about staying impartial, objective, and neutral in the face of violent authoritarianism.” She vows that she’ll criticize the Democratic Party “until it meets the needs of the people”; she also demands that it become a true foe of predatory capitalism and fascism, opposing “corporate exploitation brought to you by Republicans.” In the end, Welch maintains, the only way to dismantle fascism is with an opposition party that is as different from its present self, as the GOP of 10 years ago is from the GOP of today, adding, “It’s that fucking simple.” Tough-as-nails manifesto for a meaningful resistance. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.