"Vance is not the only far-right populist who has smuggled nationalism into what he touts as the correct notion of Christianity.

Viktor Orbn, a great model for Vance and other self-declared US "post-liberals" (meaning: anti-liberals), has been declaring for years that a proper understanding of "Christian Democracy" is not only "illiberal", but nationalist."

'
"Far-right populists claim that only they represent what they call "the real people". Of course, they have to explain who "the real people" are (and, who by contrast, does not truly belong).

Many have instrumentalized Christianity for that purpose.

Giorgia Meloni, in her autobiography, states:

"The Christian identity can be secular rather than religious."

What matters is not believing (let alone actual Christian conduct), but only belonging. It's what the social scientist Rogers Brubaker has called "Christianism", in contrast with actual Christianity."