It seems that every week another candidate announces that they are seeking the Republican presidential nomination. With more than a dozen candidates already declared, the field got even more crowded last week when right-wing pastor and radio host E.W. Jackson announced that he too is running for president.
Jackson declared that he has decided to run for president in order to “ensure that the Christian vote is no longer overlooked by the establishment” and to “usher in a new era of principled leadership, guided by Biblical principles and a commitment to upholding the Constitution.”
It’s not clear why Jackson thinks “the establishment” is overlooking the conservative Christian vote, given that just about every Republican presidential candidate spoke at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s recent “Road to Majority” conference. It’s also not clear what niche Jackson thinks he would be filling, given that former President Donald Trump is bragging that his Supreme Court justices overturned Roe v. Wade, and that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is running to the right of Trump on the courts, LGBTQ equality, and the war on “wokeness” that has been embraced by every other Republican candidate.
Jackson kicked off his campaign by holding a “2 Chronicles 7:14 Patriotic Rally To Secure America’s Future” last Friday, where he delivered a speech overflowing with the sorts of conspiracy theory-filled anti-LGBTQ rants for which he is known.
“Homosexuality is sin and we’ve got to start saying that again so that people hear it loud and clear and unequivocal,” Jackson thundered. “We will never go along with that sin, and we will never bow to it, we will never allow our children to bow to it, we will never allow institutions to bow to it because we are going to bow only to Almighty God.”
“We made a big mistake to accept the sexual orientation mess,” he added. “We’ve got to reverse it and go back to the point where there is only one marriage: one man, one woman. That’s it and nothing more. Because if we don’t do this, we’re going to be continuously berated and harassed and sued, which is what’s going on all over the country right now.”
Jackson said that if he is elected president, he will push for a constitutional amendment that declares that “for purposes of law and rights, there are only two genders; that’s male and female, that’s it.”
“What we’re saying is you won’t have the legal right to impose that on me, on my child, on my business, on my life,” Jackson declared. “You have to keep that in your own private sphere and not try to bring it into the public square. I’m tired of hearing about Christians being sued because they wouldn’t bake a cake, because they wouldn’t take a photograph, because they wouldn’t create something for some sort of so-called ‘same sex relationship.’ We have a First Amendment right to religious liberty and nobody should be able to force us to make something or say something that violates our Christian consciousness.”
“I don’t care what the Supreme Court says, I don’t care what the legislature says, I am not bowing down to a law that violates the law of God,” Jackson proclaimed.
Jackson also used his campaign speech to announce that, if elected, he’ll use the power of the federal government to go after former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as progressive billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
“If I become president of the United States,” Jackson vowed, “another assignment I’m going to give the Justice Department is to investigate Anthony Fauci and find out exactly how he benefited because I really believe that Anthony Fauci ought to be in jail as a result of the many lives that were lost because of the lies that he told, and because of the fact that he helped engineer the very virus that was sent around the world to kill people all over the world, and then lied about it and denied it.”
“Anthony Fauci,” Jackson sneered. “You had people bowing down to him like he was God, and he was full of the devil!”
“As far as I am concerned, George Soros is somebody that we need to bring to heel,” Jackson continued. “His son visited the White House over 20 times. What is he doing there? What is he doing there? What are they discussing from this very demonic man?”
“I don’t care what George Soros’ background is; I care what his soul is like, and his soul is full of evil,” Jackson said. “I do not support George Soros because George Soros is of the devil.”
Back when Jackson unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2018, Right Wing Watch pulled together a list of some of the outrageous things he had said over the years:
- Referred to gays and lesbians as “perverted,” “degenerate,” “spiritually darkened” and “frankly very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally.”
- Said regarding homosexuality: “it poisons culture, it destroys families, it destroys societies; it brings the judgment of God unlike very few things that we can think of.”
- Argued that gays seek to “sexualize [children] at the earliest possible age” and use “totalitarian” tactics.
- Wondered how the Democratic Party “managed to hold on to black Christians in spite of an agenda worthy of the Antichrist.”
- Proclaimed that “the Democrat Party has shown itself to be anti-Christian, anti-Bible, anti-family, anti-life and anti-God… We’re calling people to come out of the Democrat Party and not support candidates who represent its values and the rebellion that it represents against God. That certainly would include President Barack Obama.”
- Claimed that Democratic Party supporters are “insulting their faith and blaspheming their God” by supporting a “coalition of the godless.”
- Warned that ministers who support Obama “are going to have to answer to God” if they encourage “their congregations to support this abomination.”
- Argued that “liberalism and their ideas have done more to kill black folks whom they claim so much to love than the Ku Klux Klan, lynching and slavery and Jim Crow ever did, now that’s a fact.”
- Maintained that Obama “seems to have a lot of sympathy for even radical Islam” and “clearly has Muslim sensibilities,” arguing that Obama “certainly does have a lot of affection and favor for Islam, that seems to be his priority…Christianity, I don’t really think about that with him, I really don’t, that’s a joke.”
- Compared Democratic leaders to “slave masters” who make sure that black people who disagree with them are “punished.”
- Declared that LGBTQ activists are “not satisfied to go to hell, they want to take the whole country with ’em.”
- Said it would take the grace of God to stop him from physically attacking anyone who handed pro-LGBTQ literature to his child.
- Linked hurricanes to the acceptance of LGBTQ candidates running for office.
- Asserted that God has placed a visceral disgust of homosexuality in the hearts of children.
- Called for the implementation of sensitivity training to combat discrimination against heterosexuals.
- Declared that liberals and the KKK share “a virulent hatred of true Christianity” and that “white liberals are far more racist than any Klansman.”
- Said that the left wants to see Christians and conservatives dead.
- Said that Barack Obama may be mentally ill, speaks Arabic and hates America.
- Stated that “demonic” Obama has “unleashed hell on this country.”
- Declared that the Women’s March was filled with “godless” women who are waging a spiritual civil war.
- Said that Democrats literally hate blacks and Hispanics, they “hate your guts.”
- Warned that God’s judgment will fall on America for tolerating marriage equality and called on Christians to engage in civil disobedience to prevent it.
- Asserted that Charleston church shooter Dylan Roof was a left-wing socialist and that the shooting was the result of hostility toward Christianity.
- Claimed that riots in Baltimore were Obama’s “chickens coming home to roost.”
- Defended the deadly shooting of Philando Castile as reasonable.
- Asserted that Caitlyn Jenner is insane.
- Said those who use gender neutral pronouns are possessed by demons.
- Called for schools to teach prayer, the Bible and Christianity as part of the standard curriculum.
- Said athletes who kneel during the national anthem are traitors who should leave the country.
- Suspected that the trend of men wearing earrings is part of a plot by liberals to emasculate black men.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
