Every time we report on another atrocity committed by President Donald Trump and his administration, people ask why evangelicals continue to support the cruelty and criminality of Trump’s dictates.
As our Maina Mwaura wrote today, Trump clearly is not a “born-again” Christian as his evangelical handlers have said. He’s trying to get to heaven based on brokering the best deal with Ukraine and Russia. And no, he wasn’t joking when he said that, according to White House Press Secretary Katherine Leavitt.
The president exhibits no evidence of the “Fruit of the Spirit” as outlined in the New Testament as a measure of following Jesus. And he doesn’t heed the warnings of the Hebrew prophets either.
Mark Wingfield
So why do the vast majority of white evangelicals support the president and his cronies? Because he’s giving them what they want. As Robert Jeffress famously said, the president doesn’t have to be a Sunday school teacher to deliver on conservative evangelicals’ political agenda.
Peter Smith, religion writer for The Associated Press, has created a list of 10 things evangelicals have gotten from Trump. His list (in boldface here with my commentary) explains a whole lot:
Crackdowns on transgender identity and treatment. Evangelicals are terrified of transgender people and have made them the bogeyman for all sorts of ills. Trump has given them the tools they need to persecute this minority within a minority.
Pastors, politics and the IRS. Evangelicals have wanted to be free of the Johnson Amendment for decades and Trump finally found a way to bless these pastors as they endorse candidates from the pulpit.
Targeting Planned Parenthood. If there’s any group evangelicals hate more than transgender people, it’s Planned Parenthood, which they see as a radiating central source of evil abortion access.
Evangelist-led faith office. Trump tapped into not only evangelical culture but Pentecostal televangelist culture by naming Paula White to head the White House faith office, giving evangelicals direct access to the halls of power.
“Remember, evangelicals have a persecution complex. … Trump is appealing to their hurt feelings.”
Task force on anti-Christian bias. Remember, evangelicals have a persecution complex. They have believed since the 1950s they are targets of derision because federal law and common decency prevent them from running things the way they want. Trump is appealing to their hurt feelings.
Religious Liberty Commission. I’ll come back to this one in a moment, but the formal action Trump has taken to assuage evangelicals’ fear of exclusion is to create a formal commission to study how wronged they actually have been.
Evangelical ambassador to Israel. Peter explains: “Trump appointed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister and prominent religious conservative, as ambassador to Israel.” That plays into the evangelical belief that America must honor Israel to bring about the Second Coming of Jesus.
Religion in the federal workplace. Trump has declared it’s OK to proselytize in the workplace. You can imagine how that’s going to work out. And “prayer meetings” are popping up everywhere in federal workplaces that always cater to one kind of Christian and one style of reading the Bible.
Supreme Court impact. Peter says: “His three first-term picks — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — continue to deliver for the Christian conservatives and their allies from other faiths who cheered their appointments.” And the stacked court regularly delivers rulings favoring evangelical viewpoints, even when the evidence points the other way.
Fighting a culture war. “Trump launched a wide-ranging culture war against universities, museums, public broadcasters and other institutions. These targets have long been accused of liberal bias by religious and other conservatives, even though specific grievances and circumstances varied.” Add to that the attack on DEI, another bogeyman of evangelicals, and you have a birthday party, Christmas and Easter all on the same day.
Thanks to Peter for making this excellent list. All these things are true but there’s one that rises far above all others and is doing more long-term damage than can be imagined. That is turning the First Amendment upside down.
Because evangelicals wrongly believe America was founded as a “Christian nation,” they do not subscribe to the clear meaning of the First Amendment’s two clauses on religious liberty. They want to elevate the Free Exercise Clause above the Establishment Clause.
In simple terms, the First Amendment calls for a balance between allowing the most free exercise of religion as possible while not allowing any religious expression to dominate or become “established” as the state religion. Evangelicals believe their brand of Christianity — which is largely devoid of the teachings of Jesus — should in fact be established. And they believe above all they should be free to practice that kind of religion and force it on others.
Evangelical support for Trump is all about power and not an iota about faith. That’s why they keep standing by their man despite all the damning evidence against him. He is their useful idiot.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global and is the author of five books, including Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves.