The Family Research Council’s news outlet, The Washington Stand, posted a June 3 commentary claiming “the Left” used witchcraft and ancient spiritual warfare tactics to secure 34 guilty verdicts in former President Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial last week. FRC, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its anti-LGBTQ activism, is a partner of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a large-scale effort to provide staff and policy proposals for the next GOP presidential administration.
The blog titled “The Spiritual Warfare behind the Trump Conviction” was written by senior reporter and editor Ben Johnson, who opens by claiming he is a “prophet” for predicting in 2021 that “the Left” would go after Trump with lawfare in the Southern District of New York.
Johnson explains his view on how witchcraft factored into the prosecution and conviction of Trump in his New York City trial, claiming Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “pulled off an act of voodoo jurisprudence”:
Johnson also describes the ways that “spiritual warfare of our age manifests itself.” The first is apparently related to the “dark arts” of “ancient Egypt, where Pharaoh imposed the dictates of his hardened heart on God’s people with the help of his official advisors, the ‘wise men and sorcerers’ and magicians.” Johnson concluded this “gaudy occultism” has returned, as seen by pro-abortion and pro-LGBTQ protesters yelling “Hail Satan” and using other satanic references.
Johnson also refers to a period when “self-described witches attempted to place a ‘hex’” on Trump, adding: “Wiccan practitioners on TikTok — which they have aptly dubbed ‘WitchTok’ — also exerted their spiritual energies against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.” Johnson later claims that “Christians consistently living out their faith have little to fear from demonic attacks” but infers that American Christians are likely at risk due to their acceptance of sex outside of marriage, linking to a Pew Research Center study on religious attitudes toward casual sex.
Johnson also cites ancient Babylon to support his argument, recounting a story about an alleged spiritual weakness during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar that left the public vulnerable to a “battle against God’s people through the instrumentality of government.”
Echoing Christian nationalist rhetoric used by Trump allies and other Project 2025 partners, Johnson concludes that Christians are in danger from the left's spiritual warfare and should “consecrate their political action” around removing such dangers from society, telling readers:
