The Apocalypse Cocktail: Christian Nationalism, Foreign Interference, Tech Bros, and a Century of Social Programming

By D DeHaan

Alright, buckle up, because this isn’t just any cocktail—it’s a Molotov. What happens when you mix Christian nationalism, foreign interference, tech bros on a rampage, and a hundred years of finely tuned social programming by those that control both of your political parties? You get a dystopian recipe so potent it makes you nostalgic for the days when the worst thing we worried about was whether Y2K was going to kill our toasters. Let's talk about a nightmare scenario—a confluence of forces so dangerous and chaotic it’s basically the political equivalent of handing a loaded gun to a drunk raccoon. 

Let’s dig in, because while these forces might not be consciously working together (or are they?), they’re undeniably feeding off each other in ways that are tearing the social fabric apart faster than a toddler with his binky and a ginsu. 

Christian Nationalism: Division, but but make it sound Righteous

First, we’ve got Christian nationalism. These folks are laser-focused on rewriting history to make the U.S. seem like it was founded as a theocracy instead of a democracy. Their goal? To use religion as a political cudgel to divide the country into the “righteous” and the “un-American,” conveniently excluding anyone who doesn’t fit their narrow national view.

It’s a strategy tailor-made for the 21st century, except it’s not new at all. This is the same divide-and-conquer playbook we’ve seen for generations—now supercharged with technology and memes about "God, guns, and freedom." It’s not just about prayer in schools; it’s about creating a moral panic so all the energy we could spend fixing actual problems is instead funneled into fighting imaginary ones. A fight so frustrating and exhausting that we’re more likely to throw our hands up and leave the fight. 

But here’s where it gets dark: the seeds of this divisiveness were planted long before hashtags. Enter Sigmund Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays, the “father of public relations” (a euphamism for social manipulation through propaganda according to Bernays himself), who turned Freud’s theories for the manipulation of emotions into a fine art. He realized you could control people not by speaking to their intellect but by pulling their emotional strings. Sound familiar? Bernays’ playbook of fear and desire is basically the instruction manual for every group vying for power in America today, including Christian nationalism. Most notably, both political parties use the playbook to run cover for their wealthy donors and acclimate you to a trickle down economic system that sees 90% of the people getting 10% of the wealth, while 10% of the population gets 90% of the wealth without riots in the streets for the theft. 

Foreign Interference: Trolls Love a Divided America

Now, nothing says "international diplomacy" like trolls in a basement stirring up chaos for fun and click profit. Countries like Russia, China, Iran and N Korea don’t need to invade or bomb us if we’re already imploding. Why bother when they can just weaponize the very flames of division our political parties have been using to keep us too distracted to notice how badly we were being robbed by their mega donors? All foreign actors had to do was pour gas on the fire, sit back and break out the marshmallows. 

Their strategy is simple: take every cultural conflict—every scrap of outrage, fear, and mistrust—and turn the volume up to 11. And thanks to a century of psychological manipulation, we’re primed for it. Bernays showed us how to make people fear the "other," and foreign adversaries took notes. It's a tactic the US has used for decades in countless countries to great effect.

Now, troll farms amplify our cultural conflicts with surgical precision, inflaming debates over identity, morality, and even basic facts. They don’t care who wins the argument about critical race theory or gender-neutral bathrooms. All they care about is that you’re fighting. Because a distracted, divided America is too busy arguing over nonsense to notice when authoritarian regimes start pushing boundaries on the world stage.

Accelerationism: Tech Bros Need to Break It to Make it!

These guys don’t want to fix the system; they want to break it entirely. Why? Because they think they’re geniuses who can rebuild it better—and by “better,” they mean, “a system where I win, and you can deal with it.”

Accelerationists want to speed up societal collapse which they see as inevitable. They don’t see chaos as a problem; they see it as an opportunity. Peter Thiel has openly questioned whether democracy is even compatible with technological innovation, and there’s Elon Musk turning Twitter into his personal "let’s see what happens when I push this button" experiment in propaganda.  These guys see society as one giant beta test, except instead of software crashes, the stakes are democracy, livelihoods, and basic human rights.

And why do they think they can get away with it? Because they too have inherited the legacy of four generations of psychological manipulation that taught them exactly how to sell you chaos disguised as progress. Bernays figured out how to make you crave things you didn’t need—like bacon for breakfast, diamond engagement rings and the idea that democracies can’t exist without unrestrained free market capitalism. Now tech bros are selling you the idea that breaking the world is the first step to saving it, even if you are the collateral damage. Spoiler alert: it’s not.

The Legacy of Manipulation

Let’s step back for a moment. This isn’t just about Christian nationalism, foreign interference, or tech accelerationism. It’s about the foundation they’re all standing on: a century-long legacy of psychological manipulation. Manipulation so sublime, if you recognize it at all, it’s something that’s happening to others, something you would never fall for. News flash, you were born into it.

Bernays didn’t just create modern public relations; he created a system that weaponized emotions to control behavior. He showed corporations and governments how to tap into your fears and desires, bypassing your rational mind entirely. And over many generations, that system has become more sophisticated, more pervasive, and more dangerous. And you’ve become oblivious to it through normalization and group think.

Now, instead of just selling you toothpaste or cigarettes, these tactics are being used to sell you division, outrage, and the idea that your neighbor is your enemy. It’s not just a strategy—they’ve made it our way of life. And now it’s reaching its inevitable conclusion, it’s tearing us apart.

The Convergence: Feeding the Chaos Machine

And here’s where it all comes together. Christian nationalists use fear to divide us. Foreign adversaries amplify that fear to weaken us. And tech bros exploit the chaos to break down systems they think are obsolete. Whether or not these forces are working together (or are they?), they’re feeding off each other in ways that amplify their impact.

It’s a feedback loop. Christian nationalism makes us fight. Foreign trolls pour gasoline on the fire. And tech accelerationists use the smoke as cover to push their dystopian experiments. The result? A fractured, distracted America that’s too busy arguing over cultural flashpoints to realize the house is on fire. And it’s been a system that has been in play by those who control our two political parties for all of my life, my father’s life, and his father’s life.

What Can We Do?

The good news? We’re not completely doomed. The bad news? Fixing this is going to take actual work.

1. Call Out the Manipulation: Recognize that a century of psychological programming has trained us to react emotionally instead of thinking critically. Awareness is the first step to breaking the cycle. It also wouldn’t hurt to brush up on what critical thinking actually is.

2. Focus on What Matters: Sure, cultural issues are important, but they’re also being weaponized to distract us from systemic problems like income inequality, healthcare, and climate change.

3. Regulate Big Tech: If a platform amplifies disinformation or destabilizes society, it’s time to treat it like the massive broadcasting network it is and regulate accordingly.Stop letting billionaires run social experiments on society. Hold tech companies accountable for their impact.

4. Strengthen Institutions: Protect voting rights, demand election and finance reforms, fight corruption, and ensure our government serves the people—not the donors, trolls, or ideologues pulling the strings.

Conclusion: Stop Playing Their Game

Here’s the hard truth: whether or not these forces are consciously working together, the effect is the same. A century of social programming has made us easy to manipulate, and now Christian nationalism, foreign interference, and tech accelerationism are exploiting that to devastating effect.

But we don’t have to keep playing their game. We can call out the manipulation, focus on what actually matters, and start rebuilding a society that works for everyone, not out of fear or desire, but from rational thought and reason. Because if we don’t, the only thing we’ll be left with is the ashes of a system we let burn while we argued over who started the fire. 

So, as always, I ask you to get involved with the independence movement and help us dismantle the power of two parties that have sold us out and inject some backbone back into our democracy. Join us at IV4IC.com