Summary: <p>EXTENDED VERSION (includes content we had to leave on the cutting room floor to make the interview fit into the broadcast)</p> <p>It’s been two weeks since Trump lost the election to Biden. But he and his followers are <em>still </em>claiming victory. <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffSharlet">Jeff Sharlet</a>, who has been covering the election for <em><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/contributor/jeff-sharlet">Vanity Fair</a></em>, credits two Christian-adjacent ideas for these claims. The first is the so-called “prosperity gospel”: the notion that, among other things, positive thinking can manifest positive consequences. Even electoral victory in the face of electoral loss. But the problem with prosperity gospel, like day-and-date rapture prophecies, is that when its bets<em> don’t</em> pay off, it’s glaringly obvious.</p> <p>As prosperity thinking loses its edge for Trump, another strain of fringe Christianity — dating back nearly two millennia — is flourishing. Jeff Sharlet says an ancient heresy, Gnosticism, can help us understand the unifying force of pseudo-intellectualism on the right. Sharlet explains how a gnostic emphasis on "hidden" truths has animated QAnon conspiracies and Trump’s base.</p> <p><em>This is the extended version of a segment from our November 20th, 2020 program, <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-believe-it-or-not">Believe It Or Not</a>.</em></p>
