GOP Candidates Sponsor Preacher Who Blamed America for Jan. 6 and COVID

Becoming a paid subscriber supports my reporting and keeps it free for everyone. Thank you.

If you think Hasan Piker is a problem for Democrats, meet the GOP’s favorite pastor.

Democratic candidates are getting hammered by the media and the right wing for campaigning with Piker, or just for Piker’s existence. The Twitch streamer’s past comments include, most notably, “America deserved 9/11,” which Piker days later said he didn’t mean.

For years, Republican candidates have gotten much less scrutiny for much worse things said by the actual head of their party, Pres. Donald Trump. Of course, not all Republican candidates chose Trump, and some privately disavow him.

But now it turns out that multiple Republican candidates, including some in close races, choose to officially sponsor the Bible studies of a preacher who said that America brought COVID and the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks upon itself.

“The rapid jettisoning of America’s Judeo-Christian cultural underpinnings was starkly apparent this week evidenced by … the capitol building being accosted,” wrote Ralph Drollinger on Jan. 9, 2021. His Bible-study pamphlets list his dozens of Republican sponsors.

Republican candidates who still sponsor Drollinger include Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), now running for governor, and incumbent Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), and Mike Rounds (R-SD).

House Republicans in close races who still sponsor Drollinger include Reps. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), and Rob Wittman (R-VA).

Two Republican governors up for re-election — Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) and Jim Pillen (R-NE) — sponsor Drollinger’s weekly gubernatorial Bible study.

None of these candidates appear to have been asked about Drollinger, outside of my requests for comment, which did not receive responses.

Also running for re-election is Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX). He’s not in Drollinger’s DC Bible studies, but Drollinger has Bible studies in state capitals, too, and it was Patrick who brought Drollinger’s to Texas.

Drollinger has never publicly retracted his remarks about Jan. 6 or COVID, although he did dispute some characterizations of his COVID statements.

His post from Jan. 9, 2021, is still online, calling it “more than coincidental” that God’s “restraining grace was lifted from the Capitol Building” just “one [sic] day after the House prayer invoked Brahma and other false deities.”

That post came less than a year after Drollinger blamed America for COVID, which as of today has killed at least 1.2 million people here so far.

Drollinger also has a record of derogatory statements, ostensibly based on biblical analysis, about:

• Women

• Catholics

• Jews

• Muslims

• LGBTQ+ people

Similarly, he supports private charity for the needy, but teaches elected officials that God opposes government assistance.

In 2018, Drollinger not only defended federal policies of separating immigrant families, he counseled Trump’s cabinet that the policies had God’s backing.

The first Trump White House called Drollinger’s COVID remarks “disgusting.” But the current Trump White House — and Republican leaders in both the Senate and House — have stood by him.

Three days after the Jan. 6 attack, Drollinger argued that America had brought it on itself.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, II, a Methodist pastor, had delivered the opening prayer for the new Congress on Jan. 3, 2021. With election denial at a pitch and the certifications just ahead, Cleaver asked for peace “in the name of the monotheistic God and Brahma and God known by many names by many different faiths.”

As a joke — he later called it a “pun” — Cleaver added, “Amen, and a-woman.”

Drollinger drew a connection between Cleaver’s irreverent, interfaith prayer and what befell Congress three days later. As Drollinger wrote on Jan. 9:

“The Washington Times reported that with Rep. Cleaver’s prayer, the ‘Democrats set [the] 117th Congress stage for godlessness.’ Indeed. And this will not bode well for our nation…

“I find it to be more than coincidental that one day after the House prayer invoked Brahma and other false deities for the first time in congressional history God’s sovereign, restraining grace was lifted from the Capitol Building.”

Note that Drollinger didn’t say God punished America by sending a mob of violent insurrectionists. (It was, of course, Trump’s imprecations that did that.)

But the Capitol’s divine protection against that mob had been lifted, more than coincidentally, Drollinger argued, after Cleaver’s prayer.

Drollinger also cited the installation of a Muslim chaplain for California’s state legislature. (It’s worth noting that Drollinger is not a standard theocrat; he opposes official government chaplains in any capacity. He supports what he calls “institutional separation of church and state, but not influential separation of church and state.”)

Less than a year before, Drollinger had drawn the wrath of the Trump White House by blaming America for COVID, a charge he disputed without actually denying or retracting his original statement. America, Drollinger had argued, was too accepting of LGBTQ+ people and environmentalists.

According to Drollinger, God doesn’t judge nations anymore. Instead, nations that stray will suffer automatic consequences almost as a matter of physics. Do bad things, bad things happen. You reap, you sow.

That, Drollinger argued in March 2020, was what was happening to America at the time. Morally, the country was far better than Sodom and Gomorrah, he said, because it had so many believers. But that alone couldn’t protect America.

Individuals in the country had incurred what Drollinger calls God’s forsaking wrath upon themselves — meaning, God abandoned LGBTQ+ people and environmentalists. But that’s not what doomed America.

The problem was that America then invoked God’s consequential wrath (the reaping and sowing) by allowing those forsaken LGBTQ+ people and environmentalists to gain influence and power:

“Unfortunately for the vast majority of faithful individuals in America, too many of the unfaithful have been allowed by the faithful to gain high positions of influence in our culture: high positions in our government, our educational system, our media and our entertainment industry. This is tragic, unfortunate, and costly. Those individuals who are rebuked by God’s forsaking wrath are largely responsible for God’s consequential wrath on our nation.”

“Largely responsible for God’s consequential wrath on our nation.”

This, on March 21, 2020, as COVID’s death toll was rising exponentially and the country was frantically transforming itself to face the unknown challenges of a terrifying pandemic turning the world upside down.

The first Trump White House called the statements “disgusting” and distanced the president from Drollinger’s Bible study, saying Trump didn’t attend.

Some of Drollinger’s statements are simply literalist readings of the Bible. That’s where the Christian exceptionalism comes from.

Like texts of most religions, the Bible says its words are correct. Other books and other religions are wrong. You get to heaven through Jesus, only through Jesus, and, well, everyone else be damned.

That includes Catholics, Jews, and Muslims, all of whom follow the wrong religion and false gods in Drollinger’s reading of The Bible. Which, historically, is a reading with considerable precedent.

Drollinger also, like some denominations, opposes some religious leadership positions for women. He has also discouraged women from jobs that might take them from child-rearing.

Drollinger didn’t invent any of these dogmas. There’s misogyny to be found in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and other religions.

Likewise, attributing American catastrophes to America’s actions or immorality has been a right-wing Christian preoccupation for decades. Piker didn’t invent blaming America for 9/11.

Embraced by GOP politicians far more heartily than Piker is by Democrats, Republican religious figures for decades have said that America’s policies and freedoms invited God’s punishment or ended his protection. Including on Sept. 11, 2001.

Pat Robertson did it. Jerry Falwell did it. Anne Graham Lotz did it.

Franklin Graham blamed the sins of New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina.

In 2016, then-Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) invited Fairview Baptist Church Senior Pastor Bill Ledbetter to the National Prayer Breakfast, documents I obtained show.

Four years beforehand, Ledbetter in his opening prayer at the state Senate said, “God removed his hand and gave us in the hands of plunderers, people of an evil heart. Is it not true that God spoke to us on Sept. 11, 2001?”

Ledbetter blamed America’s secularism. Abortion and LGBTQ+ rights played a role, too.

In 2018, Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) sponsored Ledbetter to address the state Senate again, which he did. This time, Ledbetter blamed America’s ungodly behavior for school shootings and hurricanes.

Brecheen also sponsors Drollinger’s House Bible studies.

Brecheen and other Republican candidates associated with Ledbetter, Drollinger, or other right-wing Christian America-blamers have paid no political price, then or now.

In fact, when I reported last year that Drollinger teaches his congressional and White House Bible studies that the Jews, Israel, killed Jesus, the White House shrugged:

As I reported on Saturday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is such a Drollinger fan that he gave a copy of Drollinger’s Bible study pamphlet with that deicide claim to Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

Johnson stands by Drollinger and his organization, Capitol Ministries. Unlike Democrats disavowing Piker’s extreme statements, Johnson says openly that he incorporates Drollinger’s views into his political work:

“CapMin is an invaluable resource that I and countless other Members greatly appreciate. The solid weekly Bible studies are always timely and applicable to our personal lives, as well as our vocational decisions.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) also supports Drollinger and praises Drollinger’s influence on elected officials:

“Ralph and Danielle [Drollinger] are there to instruct, admonish, encourage, exhort, and inspire elected officials to lead their lives and conduct themselves in a way that brings glory to God, to remind us of what is important, what our priorities should be, and what we should be treasuring.”

Lower-ranking congressional Republicans also provide endorsements that Drollinger publishes in his study guides and online. Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), for instance, is quoted saying:

“The Biblical truths revealed in our meetings help to keep us grounded in our passion for God and His desire for us to become more like Him as a husband, father, friend, and leader.”

In addition to endorsing Drollinger’s teachings, Republican officials provide government resources for him.

The Capitol Ministries weekly Bible studies are typically held in government offices and meeting rooms. Sponsors who chair committees have made hearing rooms available for the Capitol Ministries morning sessions.

It makes sense that Piker drew journalistic scrutiny, appearing on stage with candidates including Michigan Senate Democratic nominee Abdul el-Sayed.

But soon after saying “America deserved 9/11,” Piker said he didn’t stand by it and explained that he meant American foreign policy had contributed to the conditions that led to 9/11, not that 9/11 was deserved. Years later, Piker’s retraction and explanations haven’t stopped his critics from saddling Democrats with his remarks1.

Republican candidates don’t trot Drollinger out on the trail with them; they go much further than that, endorsing his work in a way Democrats don’t endorse Piker’s. Their endorsements help Drollinger build his profile, influence, and fundraising.

And unlike Piker, who’s supported by his viewers, there’s no public information about Drollinger’s financial backers, let alone their agenda. Capitol Ministries isn’t required by law to disclose the donors who fuel its global influence operations.

And yet, while Democrats are taking heat for accepting Piker’s help, Republicans who actively help Drollinger — and speak proudly about his influence on their public duties — have faced no questions about it. So far.

Capitol Ministries 2025 Annual Report list of Washington Bible-study sponsors:

I’m an independent journalist whose reporting is made possible by reader support. As a former executive producer at MSNBC, I helped create Up w/ Chris Hayes and previously was a senior producer on Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann. Your paid subscription helps me keep reporting.