William Wolfe. (Photo courtesy Center for Baptist Leadership)
Vought is also close to William Wolfe, a promoter of Wilson’s thought. A former mid-level Trump administration official and Heritage Action staffer, Wolfe has referred to Vought as his “political mentor.” In since-deleted tweets from 2022, Wolfe said Christian nationalism is the only option to combat liberalism, posting, “You can be a Christian nationalist, or a Rainbow Flag nationalist” before adding, “Choose wisely.”
Today Wolfe heads the Center for Baptist Leadership, a project of the American Reformer, a conservative Christian outlet that has published pieces by Vought. Vought, meanwhile, boosts Wolfe’s work on social media often and has said he is “proud” to work with Wolfe “on scoping out a sound Christian Nationalism.”
Both men are immigration hardliners who see the issue in terms of Christian nationalism. “One of the main drivers of Christian opposition to Christian nationalism,” Wolfe has argued, is “Progressive Christian support for open borders.” In a livestream taped at the 2023 Iowa caucuses, Wolfe suggested that “favoring Christians in American immigration policy” is something “we should consider.”
In a 2023 speech titled the “Christian Case for Immigration Restriction,” Vought dismissed evangelicals who have voiced support for refugees and defended the first Trump administration’s family separation policy, arguing the Bible has “principles for thoughtful, limited immigration and emphasizing assimilation” and questioned whether even legal immigration is “healthy” for the U.S.
“What the nation needs more than anything,” Vought said, “is not Christians getting on their uninformed moral high horse, but Christians insistent on being responsible stewards of a blessing that has been God-given: to live in this land, this particular land.”
Wilson appeared at the same event, under the rubric “The Theology of American Statecraft,” convened by American Moment, a group that advised on Project 2025.
Later at the same event, Wilson and Vought sat together on a panel moderated by Nate Fischer, a venture capitalist who helped found both American Reformer and New Founding, which is tied to a planned Christian nationalist development in Tennessee. According to a since-deleted tweet, Wolfe was also in attendance.
Wilson and his allies grew more publicly supportive of Vought after Trump’s reelection in 2024. Speaking on Wilson’s podcast earlier this year, Joe Rigney, an associate pastor at Wilson’s church who has forwarded the idea that empathy can be a “sin,” celebrated the idea that the new director of the Office of Management and Budget is “actually going to do the things I want.”
Pastor Doug Wilson of Christ Church. (Video screen grab)
Wilson recently announced a new satellite church in D.C., whose address is the same as the Conservative Partnership Institute, a far-right activist group that has extended grants to Vought’s Center for Renewing America, according to tax filings.
