But as my MS NOW colleague Erum Salam noted, that wasn’t the only quote of note:

The vice president also said that ‘the only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been, and by the grace of God we always will be, a Christian nation’ — a remark met with raucous applause.

Indeed, Vance received an exceedingly warm welcome from the far-right crowd, but his “Christian nation” comment appeared to be the rhetoric the audience liked the most.

JD Vance gets the biggest applause of his speech so far when he says "by the grace of God we always will be a Christian nation"

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-12-21T19:31:24.820Z

The obvious problem with the Ohio Republican’s assertion, which is popular within the Republican Party’s theocratic wing, is that the claim is offensive, ahistorical nonsense.

The United States is based on a secular Constitution — the nation’s actual “anchor” — which in turn created a secular government. Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1802 that our First Amendment built “a wall of separation between church and state.” In 1797, John Adams agreed: “The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.”

Americans unsure what to believe have a straightforward choice: They can listen to Vance, or they can read the Constitution and honor the declarations of actual Founding Fathers. This doesn’t seem like an especially tough call.

But just as notable is the sentiment behind the rhetoric: Those who espouse the idea that the United States is a “Christian nation” appear eager to those of minority faiths, as well as those who’ve chosen no religious path, “You’ll be tolerated, but you’re still The Other, relegated to second-class status.”.....

It’s no secret that Vance is positioning himself as Donald Trump’s heir apparent and the incoming leader of the so-called MAGA “movement.” We continue to learn how, exactly, the vice president intends to claim that mantle.