“Nothing would cure election fraud like a couple people dropping dead in the moment,” said Rev. Bill Cook on an episode of his show “America’s Black Robe Regiment” this week.
According to Newsweek, Cook is a Christian Nationalist. That means he believes that America is defined by Christianity, although the Constitution establishes freedom of religion in the nation. Per the Pew Research Center, most Americans believed the founders wanted the U.S. to be a Christian nation, more than four in 10 believed the U.S. should be a Christian nation and around a third thought it was a Christian nation as of October 2022.
A Facebook description of America’s Black Robe Regiment states “the vision of America’s Black Robe Regiment is a growing ‘regiment’ of pastors in every political jurisdiction in America, local, state and national, asserting their own, and the vital leadership and influence of their flocks in civil government, pursuant to securing the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” Its page has more than 7,000 followers.
Right Wing Watch, an X account that posts about right-wing groups noted Cook’s comment in a post this week.
“Christian nationalist Bill Cook says his America’s Black Robe Regiment organization will be traveling to the swing states in 2024 to warn that anyone ‘involved in election fraud’ will be ‘struck dead by God,’” it said.
Election fraud has been a popular Republican talking point since the 2020 election, when former President Donald Trump began claiming that voter fraud impacted the outcome of the election. Current President Joe Biden beat Trump in both the popular vote and electoral college.
So far, Trump has not been able to provide evidence to back up his claims. Furthermore, election fraud in the U.S. is a rare occurrence, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Alex Newman, executive editor of the Christian media company The Liberty Sentinel, joined Cook during the program. As they talked, Cook referenced a verse from the Bible.
“You read about what happened to Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 when they lied to the holy spirit, they were struck dead by God,” he said. “We are going to bring that story to bear on everyone who is involved in election fraud. We are going to be saying to them beware when you do this because you might just find yourself standing before God a lot more sooner than you thought. It’s not going to be a happy time when you do.”
Trump remains popular amongst the GOP and won the Iowa Caucus this week. His polling remains strong, but legal issues could prevent him from appearing on ballots and may even send the former president to jail.