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At the Catholic Prayer For America Gala in Washington Thursday night, the far-right group Catholics for Catholics (CFC) celebrated Joe Kent, the recently-departed Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who quit over opposition to the war in Iran. Kent has a long history of proximity to white supremacists and neo-Nazis, and his resignation letter paired his criticism of Trump’s war with antisemitic tropes. Although CFC had announced Kent would be interviewed on stage by Candace Owens, the far-right podcaster and influencer, his actual five-minute appearance at the black-tie affair — which C-Span interrupted its regular programming to broadcast — turned out to be rather anodyne. Kent briefly repeated his anti-Iran War views. When pressed by CFC president John Yep, Kent added a religious flourish: “Having faith, I was able to hear God’s voice. I was able to hear that I was exactly where I was supposed to be and it was my time to actually take action, which made taking the action incredibly easy actually and actually made me feel very liberated and like I’m in the right spot.”

Catholics for Catholics describes its mission as “inspiring a new wave of Catholicism and love of country. We are restoring what it means to say ‘I’m Catholic’ in the public square. We are changing the nation and shaping a more holy and moral future for America!” As the investigative journalist Kathryn Joyce has documented, the group regularly celebrates the conversion of new, typically very online right-wing Catholics into the fold. Two years ago, they celebrated Owens’ conversion, which coincided with her firing from right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire over her antisemitism. Along with Catholics for Catholics, many on the online right rallied behind Owens after her departure from Shapiro’s organization, praising or sanitizing her antisemitism.

After Kent announced he was leaving the Trump administration on Tuesday, Owens immediately seized on it for her own purposes. Within an hour of Kent posting his resignation letter on X, Owens quote-tweeted it, calling him “an American hero, patriot and veteran.” She disparaged Trump as “a shameful president,” adding: “May American troops take his lead and look into conscientious objection to........

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