James Fishback is a radical far-right Republican candidate for governor in Florida whose campaign has overtly appealed to the white nationalist movement, with Fishback making multiple appearances on programs hosted by virulently antisemitic white nationalists and voicing his admiration for white nationalist Nick Fuentes and his "groyper" movement.
On Monday, Fishback made a second appearance on a program hosted by racist, antisemitic, and deeply misogynistic theocratic fascist Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon, appearing in person in Webbon's Texas studio.
When Webbon noted that there are activists in the white Christian nationalist movement who are skeptical of Fishback's campaign and feel that it's embrace of unsubtle antisemitism is just an election ploy, Fishback sought to reassure them.
"I listened to people like you, Joel, and I got more information about the issues that were actually affecting us, " Fishback said. "Israel chief among them."
Webbon, for his part, needed no convincing regarding Fishback's views or what a victory in the GOP primary could mean for the white Christian nationalist movement.
"There is a nationwide impact if James Fishback wins," Webbon declared. "If he wins, what that signals—the message conveyed to all the neocons, to the GOP, from MAGA to Mitch McConnell, to everyone—is that this platform, this message is actually a viable winning message."
"A politician at a governor level can say 'Christ is king' and not wish people a happy Diwali and say, 'No, we don't hate anyone, but this is a Christian nation, the preeminence is given to Christianity,' Webbon continued. "If James wins, it's a shot across the bow. It sends a message to every politician in America."
"Even at the presidential level, people will be looking and say, 'This guy on that message, on that platform with no funding, without the Trump endorsement, without this, without that, without Miriam Adelson and all of her millions of dollars in support, this guy won,'" Webbon continued. "This is significant, and what it will do is it will strike terror—a godly sense of fear—in the hearts of every traitor, in the hearts of all our enemies, but it will also inspire hope."
Webbon said that if Fishback can win, then it'll inspire hundreds of far-right young white Christian men to run for office on the same platform and with the same messaging.
"To all of our listeners in Florida, and to listeners who aren't in Florida, July 20th, that's your deadline, move to Florida, register to vote," Webbon proclaimed. "It is absolutely vital that James Fishback wins."
"If he runs an organic grassroots campaign on 'Christ is king' and America first, and it's formidable for the third largest state in the Union for a governor position, it changes the entire political landscape," Webbon declared. "You need to recognize how significant this actually is and get behind James Fishback."
In 2023, Webbon was among the contributors to a document called “The Statement on Christian Nationalism and the Gospel.” Drafted by Christian nationalists like Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers, former Trump administration official William Wolfe, and others, the document declared that the United States must formally “acknowledge the Lordship of Christ” in all its laws, “abolish abortion,” outlaw marriage equality, and “recapture our national sovereignty from godless, global entities who present a grave threat to civilization.” Wolfe is a close associate of OMB Director Russ Vought, a proponent of Christian nationalism who openly declared his intention to put federal bureaucrats "in trauma."
In addition to serving as pastor at Covenant Bible Church in Texas, Webbon is also the founder of Right Response Ministries, through which he organizes events like the “Christ Is King: How To Defeat Trashworld” conference that featured a variety of far-right Christian nationalist activists like Deevers, Steve Deace, Stephen Wolfe, Auron MacIntyre, Andrew Isker, and others.
It is important to remember that Webbon is a theocratic fascist who believes that the American people are too degenerate, stupid, and cowardly to abide by the Constitution and must therefore be governed by a Christian dictator. This dictator, Webbon believes, must “rule with an iron fist” and force everyone to, at the very least, “pretend to be Christian.”
Under his preferred form of Christian nationalist theocracy, Webbon wants to see the Apostles’ Creed added to the Constitution; abortion, pornography, no-fault divorce, in vitro fertilization, and birth control outlawed; non-Christians kept out of his neighborhood and out of public office; Catholics relegated to second-class citizenship; immigrants shot for trying to enter the country; adulterers put to death; and women banned from voting and publicly executed for making false claims of sexual assault.
Fishback, it seems, is the embodiment of precisely the sort of candidate that Webbon wants to see running for office in order to bring about this theocratic vision.
