The ReAwaken America Tour is an American far-right and Christian nationalist movement launched in 2021 by Oklahoma entrepreneur Clay Clark and former Donald Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn. Its rallies have promoted a variety of conspiracy theories, including COVID-19 misinformation, election denialism, QAnon, and doomsday prophecies.
Founder The ReAwaken America tour was founded by Clay Clark, a business coach and entrepreneur and former mayoral candidate in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In August 2020, Clark initiated a lawsuit against the city of Tulsa for its mask mandate to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The lawsuit alleged that wearing masks caused oxygen deprivation, leading to "migraine headaches, shortness of breath and dizziness." The lawsuit was dropped in March 2021. Clark has publicly espoused his belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. When he spoke at the January 5, 2021, rally held at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. in support of Donald Trump's protest of the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Clark told attendees that the coronavirus pandemic was a hoax and instructed them to "turn to the person next to you and give them a hug, someone you don't know. Go hug somebody. Go ahead and spread it out, mass spreader. It's a mass-spreader event!" On a June 2021 episode of the Stew Peters Show, he argued that the COVID-19 vaccine contained luciferase, which he believed was a cryptocurrency technology associated with the Mark of the Beast prophesied in Revelation 13:16–18. This conspiracy theory, according to Clark, included Bill Gates (under the influence of performance artist and alleged Satanist Marina Abramović), and Jeffrey Epstein. Clark accused Gates and Epstein of attempting to create a new race of humans by combining luciferase and Epstein's DNA into the COVID-19 vaccine. At an October 2021 rally in Salt Lake City, Utah, Clark made the unproven claim that "COVID-19 is 100 percent treatable using budesonide, hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin." He also accused George Soros of funding remdesivir, a drug used to treat severe cases of COVID-19 but which Clark said was "killing COVID-19 patients in the hospital because it causes renal failure".
Background and itinerary
Origins According to Clark, as the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, he asked God, "What can I do to stop the quarantines, the curfews, the mandates, the lockdowns?" The answer he received, Clark said, with "100% of God-ordained clarity . . . was to begin reawakening America." Despite the religious origins of the tour, it has been criticized by major Christian leaders. In the spring of 2021, Clark inaugurated the "Health and Freedom" events to protest COVID-19 mitigation measures such as masking and vaccinations. According to Clark, he was inspired to undertake the tour by a 1963 prophecy by Charismatic minister Kenneth E. Hagin, who predicted that "there would be an atheistic, communist, Marxist and racially divisive spirit that would descend upon America" and that "the spark of the revival would start from Tulsa, Oklahoma." Clark also stated that he received confirmation of his importance from a 2013 prophecy by the South-African Charismatic evangelist Kim Clement, who identified a "Mr. Clark" about whom he believed God said: "You have been determined through your prayers to influence this nation. You're watching me; you're an influential person. The Spirit of God says, 'Hear the word of the prophet to you as a king, I will open that door that you prayed about.'"
Themes Religion scholars Anthea Butler and Mark Clatterbuck note the events' Charismatic Christian prophecies and preaching are linked to the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a loosely organized, networked Independent Charismatic Christian and dominionist movement. NAR leaders played a significant role in shaping the tour's spiritual warfare tone; NAR prophet Lance Wallnau was one such speaker. It has been described as a "political rally in the form of an apostolic revival" and has included baptisms. As of January 2023, the majority of the ReAwaken America events have been held at churches. Events have featured themes such as Trumpism, the Great Reset, anti-semitism, a globalist conspiracy, and the use of the COVID-19 pandemic to control the population (Plandemic). Booths promote information on purported biblical prophecies, John Birch Society material, as well as the anti-semitic work The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
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