Sean JamesMay 17th, 2026, 6:59 pm
CNN Senior Writer John Blake said the Rededicate 250 prayer event in Washington, D.C. was a clear symbol of how President Donald Trump’s administration is “pushing” what he called “white Christian nationalism.”
Blake made the claim during a conversation with CNN host Fredricka Whitfield on Sunday afternoon, right as the CNN broadcast was showing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) giving a speech at the event. The day-long prayer rally at the National Mall also featured video addresses from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as speakers like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“I think what you’re seeing is that there’s a certain kind of movement called white Christian nationalism,” Blake said when Whitfield asked what he made of the event. “It’s been around for centuries in this country. It’s mutated, become certain things, but white Christian nationalism has never had this access to political power. It now has it with President Trump.”
He said others in the administration “subscribe to these beliefs” as well, “and because of that, it’s now front and center. He’s pushing this.”
Blake added there have been presidents in the past like Jimmy Carter who were open about their faith. But he said “No one has ever pushed explicitly this Christian nationalism, and that’s whaat President Trump is doing.”
Trump read a Bible passage during his speech on Sunday. Watch below via Fox News:
President Trump recited a passage from 2 Chronicles 7 during Sunday’s “Rededicate 250” celebration on the National Mall, including the well-known verse urging people to “humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways.”
The verse is often cited by… pic.twitter.com/9UPr7vBao0
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 17, 2026
And Vance celebrated that a “wave” of young Americans are returning to church in his address to the crowd, which also gave a shout out to Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
Evangelical preacher Franklin Graham was a bit less optimistic in his speech to the crowd, though. Graham lamented that America was “morally rotten” and “completely sick with sin” because it had embraced transgenderism and gay marriage.
Watch Blake’s comments above via CNN.
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