https://concernedclergy.org https://progressiveindiana.net SUMMARY: With the Indiana Republican state convention just concluded and Stacey Abrams’ Urban League keynote fresh in mind, Rev. Tony Alexander and Pastor David W. Greene Sr. open a dense, politically charged hour with two interlocking arguments. First, they contend that the Republican Party has ceased to exist as a coherent institution — replaced by MAGA — and that traditional Republicans who fall in line with party dictates have effectively become what Rev. Alexander calls the “house Negroes” of the MAGA movement, a parallel he illustrates with the Republican delegation’s rapid pivot from incumbent Secretary of State Diego Morales to unknown party pick Max Engling within 30 days. Second, they work through the practical implications of Stacey Abrams’ presentation the previous day at the Urban League luncheon, which laid out 10 steps to autocracy and 10 counter-steps to defeat it. Caller El Amin broaches the topic of academic free speech, given the recent non-renewal of IU lecturer Jessica Adams, who was suspended after Senator Jim Banks took issue with her classroom use of “Make America Great Again” as an example of covert white supremacy. Caller Guy returns with a historical argument for reclaiming Black contributions to American democracy — Crispus Attucks, Frank Wills, Russel Honoré — as essential public relations infrastructure for the movement. The program closes with both hosts calling on the community to organize, speak up, and demand democracy, with Pastor Greene warning that too many people with power are going along silently with the erosion of rights and history. Progressive Indiana Network is proud to distribute the Concerned Clergy Podcast. Help us continue to bring you more content like this by becoming a free or paid subscriber. WHAT’S INSIDE 00:00:00 Station ID and program open - Pastor Greene’s opening prayer includes a petition for those affected by earthquakes in California. 00:03:00 Republican delegation recap — Morales out, Engling in - Rev. Alexander reports on the Indiana Republican state convention in Fort Wayne: roughly 1,800 delegates, incumbent Secretary of State Diego Morales dumped within 30 days of Republican leadership withdrawing support in favor of Max Engling. - A Terre Haute candidate (correction: Dave Shelton is from Vincennes) with actual relevant experience was also passed over. Delegates fell in line behind the party’s choice with no apparent independent evaluation of Engling. - Rev. Alexander’s argument: this is the definition of “house Negro” behavior — following orders without question, getting privileges from the master while abandoning your own values. - The distinction between Republican and MAGA is not subtle: Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have explicitly said the Republican Party is dead and has been replaced by the MAGA Party. Traditional Republicans who haven’t noticed are the last to know. 00:06:30 MAGA fractures within Indiana Republican politics - Pastor Greene notes visible fractures: Trump threatening to withhold his signature from a bipartisan housing bill unless he gets voter suppression provisions; only three or four Republican members of Congress showing any backbone. - At the state level: AES Indiana received its rate increase; Governor Braun is replacing the IURC chair after the fact, despite having hired the person who approved the rates months ago. - Someone connected to the state’s trail programs resigned this week, citing the governor being too heavy-handed. - The party dynamic: Braun is MAGA, Beckwith wants to be even more MAGA, and traditional Republicans who don’t conform are being pushed out. 00:09:17 Max Engling and what he’s actually promising - Pastor Greene: Engling’s explicit platform is to limit voter participation, not expand it — targeting people of color specifically. He’s being openly racist about it and calculating that MAGA voters will reward that posture. - This is Project 2025 in action at the state level: assume non-citizens are voting, use that as cover to suppress legal voters of color. - Rev. Alexander: whatever differences existed between Morales and Engling on the substance, Republican delegates don’t know Engling at all — they just did what they were told. That’s the house Negro dynamic in practice. 00:15:11 Rev. Alexander’s primary season story — the parking lot parable - Rev. Alexander shares a personal anecdote from primary canvassing: a woman on a cane comes out of her car calling Democrats idiots, while he — a Democrat — is the only one there to help her get to the door. - When she came back out after voting (Republican, of course), she told him “I love you.” - Pastor Greene: this is exactly what Stacey Abrams was describing — partisan identity has replaced moral reasoning. It’s not right vs. left, it’s right vs. wrong. Doing the right thing shouldn’t make you an idiot. - The MAGA framework needs division and anger to function. A civil conversation about shared problems is the enemy of their strategy. 00:21:38 Stacey Abrams’ Urban League keynote — 10 steps to autocracy, 10 to defeat it - Abrams was the keynote speaker at the Urban League of Indianapolis luncheon the previous day, presenting two frameworks: 10 steps to autocracy (expand executive power, cut government levels, install loyalists, attack media, scapegoat vulnerable communities, destroy support systems) and 10 steps to defeat it (commit, share, organize, mobilize, litigate, disrupt, deny, engage, elect, demand democracy). - Rev. Alexander notes the steps to autocracy map directly onto what the Trump administration has been doing: Medicaid and Medicare cuts, USAID gutted, DEI eliminated, Elon Musk with a chainsaw. - The Urban League had roughly 1,400 people in the room. Rev. Alexander’s ask: don’t just have the meal — share what she said. That’s step two on her own list. - Rev. Alexander adds an eleventh step of his own: tie Indiana’s dismal quality-of-life rankings directly to the Republicans who have governed the state for decades. 00:25:04 Caller El Amin — The chilling effect: IU professor fired for naming MAGA - El Amin calls in with a pointed question: how do you organize and share information when people are losing their jobs for speaking up? - A recent case: IU social work lecturer Jessica Adams lost her position after using an academic graphic that listed the MAGA slogan as an example of covert white supremacy. Senator Jim Banks intervened to have her removed. - Pastor Greene: El Amin is right, and this is precisely one of Abrams’ 10 steps — controlling education to control the message. Turning Point USA clubs in schools, the new law restricting faculty speech, rewriting history — it’s all part of the same system. - The attack is intentional and systematic. The response must be equally intentional and systematic. Commitment — Abrams’ first step — means acting even when there are consequences. 00:30:57 Republicans who don’t see it yet — a direct address - Rev. Alexander addresses traditional Republicans directly: you may call yourself MAGA, but MAGA has drawn a line and you’re on the wrong side of it. Trump and Trump Jr. have said the Republican Party is gone. Your family values candidate has been convicted of sex crimes and skipped his own child’s wedding. - Gloria in the chat asks how to get the 10 steps to the people. Rev. Alexander’s answer: that’s what we’re doing right now. But the Urban League also needs to keep pushing what she shared — don’t let it end with the luncheon. 00:33:42 The 10 counter-steps in detail — litigate in public - Rev. Alexander recaps Abrams’ 10 steps to defeat autocracy: commit, share, organize, mobilize, litigate, disrupt, deny, engage, elect, demand democracy. - His emphasis: the “litigate” step doesn’t only mean courtrooms. Litigating in public — using a radio show, a Facebook page, a community platform — is how non-lawyers fight back. - Pastor Greene: Jamal Bryant and Senator Raphael Warnock are both coming to Indianapolis next month. The question is what the community does with those visits beyond being in the audience. - AES Indiana rate increases are coming in July and again in January. Indiana budget season is approaching. These are the organizing moments. 00:44:38 Caller Guy — Trumplicans, Mussolini’s playbook, and erased Black patriots - Guy calls back after technical difficulties. His framing: what Trump is doing is not new — it’s Benito Mussolini’s playbook, adopted by Hitler, exploiting a population that feels downcast and left behind. - Guy poses names to the audience as a test of public relations failure: Crispus Attucks (first patriot killed in the Boston Massacre, whose name is rarely mentioned in mainstream media); Frank Wills (the Watergate security guard who discovered the break-in); Russel Honoré (who led federal relief after Katrina). - How many people know these names? If the community doesn’t tell its own story, the erasure succeeds. Taking away Black history from national cemeteries and military records is the same playbook, just institutionalized. - Rev. Alexander: Guy is right, but the point is that a government entity is now actively removing those references — from national cemeteries, from military history. The outcry needs to match the scale of the erasure. 00:50:08 Closing — demand it, don’t go silently - Pastor Greene: where are the people committed to pushing back? Too many minorities with power are going along with it, saying nothing. We have too many voiceless people. - El Amin posts in the Facebook chat: “Emancipation: 400 Years of History” — a resource link Rev. Alexander directs listeners to visit and share. - Pastor Greene closes with an urgent call: we can’t dance around this. Demand democracy. Don’t go silently. Stand up. 00:52:45 Station close
