When Nas was born in 1999, roughly 70 percent of American adults reported belonging to a church, according to Gallup. Today, that number is 47 percent. Marilyn Manson’s sacrilege was an affront to the mainstream; it puts Lil Nas X squarely in the majority. In that sense, the heated reaction from the right is just a confirmation of Trump’s instinct about religion in America: Though seemingly uninterested in religion himself, he recognized that millions of evangelical Christians could be recruited to the culture wars as a minority that feels increasingly embattled. Just as a series of impotent “Go woke, go broke” boycott attempts have repeatedly failed to dissuade corporations from taking liberal political stances, there is no meaningful pressure threatening Nas’ various corporate partnerships. After four years of the Trump presidency, it’s easy to understand Nas’ provocation as a turning of the tables — making the confrontational demand for conservatives to “stay mad” amid the initial uproar over “Montero,” and sit with the fact that many, probably most, Americans are perfectly unbothered by a campy satanic lap dance. At the same time, that very fact gives the whole episode a bit of a spiking-the-football quality. Nas, his fans and his critical allies have already won the culture wars, at least nationally.