From conspiracy theories to baptisms to Trump bobbleheads, AP journalists tell the story of this rising right-wing movement and its calls to action.
Michael Flynn’s ReAwaken America cross-country tour has attracted lots of media attention, but journalists trying to cover it have had trouble getting in or found their access severely restricted once inside. Some that have attended have been ejected from the event, which whips up a hostile environment toward journalists.
So when correspondent Michelle Smith and photographer Carolyn Kaster started planning to attend its stop in upstate New York, they didn’t bother getting credentialed. Smith simply bought tickets.
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The decision to go as attendees made all the difference: The two were fully engaged in Flynn’s world for two days, documenting an event that is at the heart of an ascendent movement.
Working with just an iPhone, Kaster captured exclusive images showing the event’s political, religious and commercial overtones — including immersion baptisms. Meanwhile, investigative reporter Richard Lardner monitored the event’s stage on a livestream and provided reporting support from Washington.
The decision to go as attendees made all the difference: AP journalists were fully engaged in Flynn’s world for two days.
Smith and Lardner had been tracking ReAwaken events for more than a year; they knew what to expect onstage and, crucially, what to look for offstage away from the livestream cameras. The team spoke to experts in advance and identified particular elements to seek out, including what the booths were selling, what was happening at the baptisms and what was happening in the crowd.
The story, part of an AP investigation in partnership with PBS “Frontline,” detailed how Flynn and allies are using the ReAwaken America tour to recruit for the Christian nationalist movement, which has grown in influence within the GOP. Speakers at the events spread divisive rhetoric and conspiracy theories that target democratic ideas and institutions while urging people to take action.
Attendees pray during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022. Since early 2021, the ReAwaken America Tour has carried its message of a country under siege to tens of thousands of people in 15 cities and towns. It serves as a traveling roadshow and recruiting tool for an ascendant Christian Nationalist movement that has grown in power and influence inside the Republican Party.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
A person in the audience is silhouetted as at the edge of the tent during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022. Retired three-star Army general Michael Flynn, one of the tour’s founders and its star, warned the crowd that they were in the midst of a “spiritual war” and urged people to get involved in local politics.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
The founders of the ReAwaken America Tour, retired three-star Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, center, and Oklahoma entrepreneur Clay Clark, right, recite the Pledge of Allegiance during their event at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 13, 2022. The tour was launched by Flynn and Clark a few months after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol failed to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
People cheer and applaud in the main tent during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022. The volatile combination of politics, Christianity and conspiracy theory pushed at the ReAwaken tour has raised concern that attendees or the thousands of people who watch online could come away with the idea that political violence is acceptable or even necessary as a way to protect the country from sinister forces.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Eric Trump, son of former President Donald Trump, raises a fist as he takes the stage during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
A gold-colored bobblehead of former President Donald Trump is among merchandise displayed for sale at the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 13, 2022.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
A woman holds an autographed copy of the children’s book “The Plot Against the King” by former Trump administration official Kash Patel during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022. The tour acts as a petri dish for Christian nationalism and pushes the idea that there’s a battle underway between good and evil forces. Those who are evil include government officials and Democrats.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
A woman prays as she faces a U.S. flag on the perimeter fence at the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 13, 2022. A poll by the University of Maryland conducted in May found that 61% of Republicans support declaring the U.S. a Christian nation.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
The bare feet of a girl rise from the water as she is baptized during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
A man holds up a shofar as the audience prays inside a tent during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022. The instrument, used in some Jewish worship services, has been adopted by the far right, and several people blew the horns to open the ReAwaken event.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Far-right political consultant Roger Stone gestures to the cheering crowd during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Far-right political consultant Roger Stone poses for photo as a painting by Elisabeth Miller titled “Lion of Judah on the Resolute Desk” is displayed during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022. While smaller in scale, the ReAwaken shows are similar in tone to the rallies former President Trump holds. Grievance and contempt for government institutions are regular themes.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Michael Flynn, a retired three-star general who served as President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, autographs a picture of a girl wrapped in an American flag during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Jonathan Reicks talks with an attendee at the Iowa Mama Bears’ “Freedom Over Fear” merchandise table during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022. A anti-masking poster bearing a photo with Reicks’ kindergarten-aged daughter is displayed at their booth.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Merchandise, including toilet paper with the image of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is displayed during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 13, 2022. Kristin Kobes Du Mez, who is writing a book on the overlap of consumerism and Christian identity, says events like this are orchestrated to extract money from participants. They are invited to participate in the movement by pulling out their credit cards. “People give it happily. The skeptical take is this is a scam. That’s not how it feels to the people who are giving their money,” she says.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
A man sits with his feet on a doormat attacking President Joe Biden during the ReAwaken America Tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 13, 2022.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
A man in a wheelchair watches a live video feed from inside the Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., during the ReAwaken America Tour, Aug. 12, 2022.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
At one point Flynn, whom Smith had interviewed once before, told the crowd “every place we go, there's still some adversary, there's some opponent,” and appeared to look straight at her. But he didn’t recognize either her or Kaster. Event security did expel a “Frontline” producer there with them.
The resulting text, photo and video package was a deeply reported look that went beyond the typical narrative of the event as a political sideshow, putting it into context with the greater movement.
Michael Flynn, a retired three-star general who served as President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, and a founder of the ReAwaken America Tour, gives a thumbs-up as he poses for a photo with a young supporter outside the tour’s tent during a stop in Batavia, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2022.
AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Anthea Butler, a leading expert in the Christian nationalist movement at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed the story in a Twitter Spaces session the day it ran. She and others in the field posted compliments on Twitter about the story and photos, saying the coverage captured the feeling of the rallies and the merging of Christian nationalism with MAGA politics.
Kaster's photos from the Batavia, New York, tour stop, some of which were featured in AP’s Michael Flynn story last month, have seen wide use in stories about the Christian nationalist movement, from NBC to Rolling Stone and beyond. The team’s latest story got a shoutout in Politico Playbook and was picked up by many outlets.
For an up-close, insightful package on a rising Christian nationalism movement spearheaded by a former general close to Donald Trump, Smith, Kaster and Lardner earn AP’s Best of the Week — First Winner honors.
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