Even now, months past, our nation remains in peril. While America banded together in unity after September 11, we are today in the throes of disunion.

I want to illuminate this conspiratorial approach, which I term “Christian Virtual Reality Politics,” by contrasting it with a more familiar approach, which I call “Christian Religious Politics.”

This review essay shall concern, in all seriousness, One Mind at a Time: A Deep State of Illusion (2020), the political testament of Jacob Anthony Chansley, nom de plume Angeli, the “QAnon Shaman,” who successfully defiled the United States Senate floor with his horns, spear, and vociferous war cries.

Perhaps the best description of the episode last comes from the Germans. It was a “putsch”: a disorganized, somewhat symbolic strike against legal authority, usually with a rightwing inflection.

The lines have indeed been drawn, and I welcome you to join me in choosing the side of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the ideals of American democracy.

If Assad is permitted to continue employing chemical weapons with impunity, he will successfully normalize them. US forces, our allies, and civilians in the region and around the world will be in great danger of becoming victims of the same.