Michelle Singleton | Christian Nationalism, “Yosemite Sam” Chad Bianco, Prop 50, and California’s Democratic Response
This week’s episode of Hot Spots dives into the rising influence of Christian nationalism and its impact on American politics, education, and democracy. Host Kay Brown welcomes Michelle Singleton, officer of the Riverside County Democratic Party and political action chair, to explore how this movement is fueling culture wars in California, particularly through school boards, voucher programs, and the candidacy of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco for governor. Singleton outlines the connections between faith-based activist groups, conservative PACs, and efforts to undermine public education while pushing divisive agendas on issues such as transgender athletes and gender-neutral bathrooms. The discussion then turns to Proposition 50—the “Election Rigging Response Act”—a bold emergency measure introduced by Governor Gavin Newsom to counter President Trump and Texas’s unconstitutional redistricting maneuver. Singleton explains why Prop 50 is critical for ensuring fair elections, protecting democracy, and restoring balance in Congress.
Takeaways:
· Christian nationalism is a growing threat to democracy and constitutional freedoms.
· Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s gubernatorial run is tied to nationalist-aligned groups.
· Faith-based PACs are reshaping school boards, undermining public education, and dividing communities.
· School funding and infrastructure have been neglected due to culture-war politics.
· Transgender athletes and bathrooms are being exploited as wedge issues despite minimal local relevance.
· The “Election Rigging Response Act” (Prop 50) is California’s direct response to Texas’s redistricting crisis.
· Proposition 50 offers a fair, temporary solution to safeguard congressional balance.
· Passing Prop 50 is vital for protecting democracy and curbing authoritarian influence.
#HotspotsPodcast #KayBrown #UnitedAmericaNetwork #ChristianNationalis #Proposition50 #ElectionRiggingResponseAct #MichelleSingleton #ChadBianco #ChristianNationalism #CaliforniaPolitics #SchoolBoardWars #RiversideCounty #PublicEducation #Project2025 #DemocracyAtRisk #VoterRights #GavinNewsom #TexasRedistricting #FairElections #StopAuthoritarianism
Transcript
Transcript:
Kay Brown, Host: [:One of the good things that happened this week was Jimmy Kimmel got back on the air after massive public pushback, which should give us all optimism and hope that, it demonstrates large numbers of people can be mobilized. To protect our free speech rights and our other rights, that are under attack and under threat.
to , use this tragedy, this [:Good news. Boycotts do have an effect. Trump may not care, but advertisers and people who run these companies certainly do. It was reported Disney stock lost billions in market value in a matter of days before they relented and brought Kimmel back. And the other stations that had refused to air him.
eally feel outrage and anger [:Trump declaring all of his opponents to be people he hates. And I thought that was, talk about hate speech. Let's bring it on for that. And then celebrating the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey and threatening more political prosecutions. And of course he can't keep his mouth shut, so he is continuing to pile up evidence that the Comey indictment will not make it very far and is illegal selective prosecution.
avy trucks in response to an [:And then there was that display at the White House again became a dispensary of dubious medical advice linking Tylenol to autism without credible evidence. And telling pregnant women, they just need to toughen up.
llies in a disgraceful, some [:So it's been quite the week and one through line connecting all of these things is Christian nationalism, which we're gonna get into a little bit today with my guest, Michelle Singleton. I'm so pleased that you're here. Thank you for coming, Michelle.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Thank you.
Kay Brown, Host: Michelle is an officer with the Riverside County Democratic Party.
Kay Brown, Host: She's the political action chair, and she's also involved with the party's regional effort here in Riverside County to pass Proposition 50. We'll come back to Proposition 50, which by the way is a bit of a referendum on Trump and on all these policies that we're experiencing. So if you agree or don't agree let's put it this way.
. And [:Kay Brown, Host: It's not only a gross distortion of the Christian faith, but it's a clear and present danger to our constitutional democracy, a through line that connects the authoritarian takeover of our government and the unrelenting assaults on free speech, the rule of law, our health, and our personal freedoms.
rnia governor's race and the [:Kay Brown, Host: And finally we'll discuss the importance of passing Proposition 50. So Michelle, as we're looking at how Christian nationalism is affecting public policy, you've been following the California Governor's race. I wanted to ask you about your observations of Chad Bianco.
Kay Brown, Host: Who is he and why is he running for Governor of California?
's been closely aligned with [:Kay Brown, Host: So I understand he has expressed strong faith-based positions and beliefs and aggressive approaches to promoting Christian nationalism. Although apparently he doesn't call it that or necessarily identify as a Christian nationalist, but his policies clearly fit within this movement. He's associated with Pastor Tim Thompson of four 12 Church in Temecula, and they established the Inland Empire Family Political Action Committee that endorsed conservative candidates [00:08:00] in a number of races, school boards, and can you talk about that group and that situation and what they're up to?
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Yeah, so they've been pretty active in the western part of Riverside County for a couple years now, and have successfully been able to get some school board members elected. And we've seen that have devastating effects on our students and our schools, our teachers, and even just collectively our communities.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: So the the Inland Empire Family Pac is. Funded in part by Mr. Chad Bianco. He is one of their donors and shows up frequently to their events. He's often on Tim Thompson's own podcast that can be quite nauseating and it's content, but he's a frequent guest there.
essentially has been able to [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: And it's just created these horrific tensions and lack of focus. And frankly, funding on schools and children's education. So for instance, with some of the extreme board members that have been elected through this pack and in their endorsement Murrietta School District was one of, I believe only three school districts in all of Riverside County last year.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: That the board members collectively decided to not put a measure on the ballot for school funding.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Last year California had Proposition two on the ballot, which basically said that if any local school boards had a local measure.
tate would come in and match [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: Latest and up to date infrastructure for our students in the 21st century. So even just basic things like that it's hampering. But the culture wars that have come out of this are just horrific. School board meetings are now. Having to have a police presence. In one case in Temecula, a gun was brought to a board meeting.
ull grown adults going after [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: And this is all part of a broader movement that we're seeing across the nation right now of the Christian nationalists focusing in and honing in on on school boards and getting. People elected that really ultimately want to dismantle public education.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: And we,
Kay Brown, Host: and why do they want to do that? What's wrong with public education? Why do they favor private education?
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Private education. They don't have to follow things like state standards. They don't they can push Christian or their version of Christianity on students, they can be selective in the history that is being taught.
eriod after Brown v Board of [:Kay Brown, Host: So is this movement continuing to gain credibility and strength?
gy for a while now I've been [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: And as we see it in, in those school districts and our one or two, logically based, fact-based school board members have brought up repeatedly. Temecula Unified School District does not have a single transgendered athlete. Murrietta Unified Valley School District does not have a single transgender athlete.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Yet we are joining those two districts are now joining a Supreme Court case about this very issue. You know this it's not stopping, it's gaining momentum. And now we're gonna see our poor school boards and school districts brought before the Supreme Court
t: are transgender bathrooms [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: Yes, they've brought that up too. And this is what brings so much cultural divide and community divide, is they put out all of this information that's not accurate about what's happening. And the public latches onto it and thinks, that, it's just things are happening that are not,
Kay Brown, Host: It's really so distressing for transgender youth to be put in that position to be, political footballs tossed around and have their own rights under constant attack and be, singled out and have all these things. It's just very distressing situation, I'm sure, for them and for those families.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: And it's, it's broader than.
ansgender athlete. So all of [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: And, as a former high school teacher of 16 years, it's transgender students and just all students really like the privacy of their own stall and bathroom. So it serves a greater purpose, but it's been twisted and tainted to be this, just some kind of stain on society when it's really it helps all students and it's not the issue that they're making it out to be.
rative that we see in Project:Michelle Singleton, Guest: And that, that part of it's just incredibly unfortunate.
and reform and change those [:Kay Brown, Host: What is that exactly?
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Okay. So yeah, proposition 50 is a response to a crisis that we're in. First and foremost is how I would explain it. With the president of the United States using his power to compel another state. In this situation, it was Texas to rig their seats.
and then for a governor and [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: I I mean it's, there's no representation at all, which is completely antithetical to our constitution. So with that taking place California has stepped up as we often do. So proud to be a Californian. But California is stepping up and saying, no, we're not gonna just sit by and watch you rig next year's election.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: We are going to respond because we're in an emergency. This is a crisis. And our governor and some of our state legislators. Put together some emergency maps, and that's what they're called. They're emergency congressional maps, right? So they are still very fair and proportional. They're keeping communities together.
re in a crisis. We are in an [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: We need to respond to this emergency and pick up five matching Democratic seats, we could pick up more. In California, we have the population, right? We could do it, but again, keeping it fair, we want fair elections next year. We don't want politicians picking their voters. We want voters picking the politicians, right?
Michelle Singleton, Guest: And california's responding by saying, California voters we're bringing this emergency response to you November 4th, right through Proposition 50. As a way we can respond to the rigging of the election that Trump and the Republicans in Texas are trying to implement. So that's what the proposition's collectively about.
tch this moment in time that [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: And so this is that emergency response. We're going to hopefully, and I have. Confidence that we will pass these emergency maps that will temporarily be in place so that we have a fair election next year. And with the just enormous unpopularity of this president and his administration and the implementation of project 2025 that we see underway last I read we're about 46% complete of their project so far.
And so by California voters [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: The House of Representatives and we have a check on the Trump administration for its final two years,
Kay Brown, Host: and we really need that. We desperately need that to stop this slide that we're in or we're already there, perhaps.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Yeah. Yes.
Kay Brown, Host: And this is, it's the first step in turning things around is, and it's a special election, right?
Kay Brown, Host: It's the only thing on the ballot.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Yes. It's the only thing on the ballot. It's a a very, simple, you're either bubbling yes or you're not.
Kay Brown, Host: And so this is a vote yes.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Yes. So you're just
Michelle Singleton, Guest: bubbling in. Yes.
omatically mailed to all the [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: You don't even have to put a stamp on it
Kay Brown, Host: and take it to a mailbox.
Kay Brown, Host: And are there also drop boxes?
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Yep. There'll be drop boxes throughout the county. And you don't, I know in the part of Riverside County I live in, we're definitely commuters driving all over. So you can drop off your ballot at any Dropbox in the county. So if you're taking your ballot to work, you can drop it off if, even if it's in a different city and not necessarily your specific.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Polling site
Kay Brown, Host: and where can you find a list of where those drop boxes are?
Michelle Singleton, Guest: All counties have a registrar of voters and their websites are incredibly comprehensive, and they have just a, an entire breakdown of where all of those vote centers and where all the ballot drop off. Boxes are located.
est: I know specifically for [:Kay Brown, Host: and the vote centers are open what day?
Kay Brown, Host: Just Tuesday.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Oh no. Vote Centers will start to be open. About a week after ballots go out. So some people still, wanna vote in person or maybe they don't receive a ballot. That's a, another big concern. If you don't receive your ballot by mail, you'll need to go to a vote center and you can request a provisional ballot.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: But the vote centers will be open at least two weeks before the actual election date, if not earlier.
Kay Brown, Host: And the actual election date is.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: November 4th.
Kay Brown, Host: Fourth.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Yeah.
Kay Brown, Host: And
Kay Brown, Host: what do I Google to find the Riverside County Registrar?
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Vote info.net.
Kay Brown, Host: Okay. Vote info.net.
Michelle Singleton, Guest: Yep.
Brown, Host: If you have any [:Kay Brown, Host: We've got to turn people out and that's, a concern because it's come up fairly recently. It's not a regular thing. It's a special thing. And not everybody's aware. Yeah, because we're kind of news junkies plugged in. Living it, breathing it, thinking about it all the time and hearing a lot of conversation about it.
Kay Brown, Host: But we know a lot of people have just tuned out, I think, because in response to the avalanche of bad news and assaults and just you hear this frequently, oh, it's just become too much. I just can't take it anymore. I'm turning it off. And so in the process of doing that. People may be missing out on this opportunity, even though they know we're in a crisis, they know there's a problem.
Kay Brown, Host: And so this is really a referendum on the current state of affairs. And if you wanna change things, you need to be sure to vote yes on Prop 50.
ingleton, Guest: Absolutely. [:Michelle Singleton, Guest: People are losing access to healthcare. So if you're concerned about that, you need to vote yes on Prop 50. Just anything you can think of right now that we're going through individually or collectively as a community or nation. Yes. On Prop 50 is how we begin to turn the tide and make a difference.
Kay Brown, Host: If you're concerned about your loved ones being whisked away without due process, this is an opportunity to, make a stand on that. There's so many things, it's just we can sit here for a while and articulate them all, but we're gonna have to cut it off for today. I hope you'll join us for hotspots again next week on United America Network.
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