Despite exalting Trump and evangelicals, Labor secretary is out

The Trump administration’s secretary of Labor, who has used the office to promote Christian nationalism and idolatry of Donald Trump, has been removed as “multiple scandals and investigations closed in on her,” according to The New York Times.

“The Labor Department’s inspector general’s office is nearing the end of a monthslong investigation into a whistle-blower’s allegations of professional misconduct by (Lori Chavez-DeRemer) and her closest aides,” the Times reported. “The claims include that she was having an affair with a member of her security team and used department resources for personal trips.”

U.S. Department of Labor social media image from December 18, 2025m, with the caption, “President Trump is the President of the American Worker, and he’s delivering HISTORIC wins for the hardworking men and women of our nation.”

Her husband had been barred from entering the agency’s building after multiple complaints from female staff members.

Among all Trump’s cabinet leaders, Chavez-DeRemer has led the pack in playing to the president’s ego and appeasing evangelical Christians with themes of Christian nationalism both in policy and in social media presence.

Soon after her Senate confirmation, she posted on X April 23, 2025: “Under the last administration, anti-Christian bias ran rampant in the @USDOL — with the department even replacing its Faith-Based office with a ‘DEI office.’ I’m working with my fellow cabinet members to protect religious freedoms and put an end to this bias.”

U.S. Department of Labor social media post October 21, 2025, with the caption, “Project Firewall is our commitment to ensure American Workers have a fair shot at the American Dream. It’s not going to be easy — but the American Dream is worth fighting for..”

Soon, religious imagery began to appear in a controversial ad campaign created by the Department of Labor. This followed similar trends at the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Kristi Noem, who also recently was removed from office. Both agencies were using Norman Rockwell-style posters that look like Nazi propaganda and embedding blatantly Christian themes in their marketing.

As BNG previously reported, one poster in the series depicts a white Christian family appearing to be from the 1950s sitting on a pew together in church. The caption reads, “A Dream Worth Fighting For.” Another shows a white couple with two kids gazing at an idealized suburban home and a white-steepled church above, along with a school and a factory. The caption reads, “Our work on Project Firewall is critical in our mission to put Americans First and RESTORE THE AMERICAN DREAM.”

Project Firewall is the administration’s name for “an H-1B enforcement initiative” seeking to limit access by foreigners — even skilled professionals — from American jobs.

Chavez-DeRemer led the agency to bedeck its headquarters building with multi-story banners bearing Trump’s image — also reminiscent of the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler. One social media poster showed Trump saluting and carried the headline, “Trust the Plan.”

U.S. Department of Labor social media post from January 8 with the caption: “Trust the Plan. Trust Trump.”

She also followed the lead of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth by instituting monthly Christian chapel services for department employees.

Three days after Easter Sunday this year, a Southern Baptist pastor turned the department’s auditorium into an Easter worship space. Caleb Morell, an assistant pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in D.C., was the guest preacher for the monthly worship service on April 8. “His evangelistic message about the resurrection of Jesus stopped just short of a formal altar call as he urged government workers to follow Jesus,” reported Word&Way.

In February, “a Trumpian pastor baptized the work of the federal agency,” Word&Way also reported. “Leon Benjamin, a charismatic preacher who leads a nondenominational church in Richmond, Va., and another in Tulsa, Okla., also urged government employees to faithfully follow the DOL’s secretary to bless President Donald Trump.”

The report explained: “With Wednesday’s prayer service centered on the theme of ‘love and charity’ in honor of Valentine’s Day, Benjamin read from 1 Corinthians 13, among other passages, to urge people to live and work in such a way they’re like a band of instruments, each making the right sound. Then, he argued, the DOL could lift up both Trump and Jesus.”