Southern Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress got a shoutout from Donald Trump last week at a rally in Phoenix.
Trump was interviewed by Tucker Carlson, who was fired from Fox News for lying but who continues to be an ardent Trump supporter. Also present at the rally at Glendale’s Desert Diamond Arena was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump has said he would put in charge of health and women’s health in his next administration. Kennedy is a vaccine denier who wants to get rid of most vaccines and force cities to stop adding fluoride to public water.
Within the lengthy conversation with Trump, Carlson asked: “How have your views about God changed in the last eight years and particularly after getting shot?”
Trump replied: “Well, look, I’ve always been a believer but I wouldn’t say you know — there’s a certain pastor, Robert Jeffress. I didn’t know him — his name is Robert Jeffress — nice guy from Texas and he said, ‘You know, Trump may not be the best Christian of all but he’s the only one going to take us to the promised land because he’s the best leader and he’s the toughest guy and he’s going to be able to get us through this crazy life.’
“And he was a big supporter and now I have unbelievable evangelical and Christian support because I have — I mean I’ve done a great job for them and we’re you know we’re together — but he said he may not know the Bible quite as well as other people are supposed to but you know he also did something — they picked Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter a long time ago, you know, that sort of, that was, they said he wasn’t quite as religious but he’s the guy that’s going to get the job done. And I really got I did a great job with a lot of things having to do with saving religion because these people want to put religion out of business.”
Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, has indeed been one of Trump’s greatest supporters among evangelical pastors.
Jeffress tweeted a clip of Trump’s commendation of him and added: “Thank you @realDonaldTrump! Looking forward to four more years of your leadership!”
Robert Jeffress in the Trump film. (Screencap)
Also last week, a clip of Jeffress being interviewed in a new film about Trump began showing up on social media. The film, Trump 2024: The World after Trump, includes multiple segments with not only Jeffress but also Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas; Tony Perkins, leader of the Family Research Council; Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse; Mike Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor and former governor of Arkansas; and other religious leaders.
In one clip, Jeffress is asked about women’s support for Trump, who has been convicted of sexual assault and of paying off a porn star with whom he had an affair. Jeffress replies:
I have seen a real difference in the attitude of Christian women toward President Trump and it seems like the older Christian women seem to have a more balanced perspective of the president. They’re able to look past those things and say we appreciate what this president is trying to do for our country.
Jack Graham in the Trump film. (Screencap)
Elsewhere in the film, Graham says:
We know that when we elect a president of the United States, the president is a secular leader. We don’t elect a pastor to lead the country. We don’t elect a bishop or a Sunday school teacher. that’s not why we elect someone to be president. If you go get a doctor, you want the best doctor, you don’t necessarily check off whether they are, you know, a Christian doctor.
And Jeffress at one point admits Trump is an “imperfect vessel”:
President Trump would be the first to say that he is an imperfect vessel. I believe God has used him in a very powerful way to help return our nation to some of the core biblical principles that has caused God’s blessings upon our country.
Yet Jeffress also declares: “Every time we go into a voting booth, we’re casting a vote for righteousness or for unrighteousness.”
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