The conundrum that rational people have been dealing with since the political ascent of Donald Trump is this: how can a man who is known for a lack of moral integrity—a cheater both in his private life and businesses, who is not religious, has dodged military service, been indicted on 91 felony counts and is devoid of empathy– have the unwavering support of the religious right? The good, upstanding people who believe in family, god and country and who genuinely spend their lives helping others?
The Global Center for Religious Research published “A Short List of Mr. Trump’s Immoral and Corrupt History” and listed 64 moral failings. And that was the short list.
Among these we find: committing adultery with porn stars and Playboy Playmates; falsifying medical records to avoid the Vietnam draft; praising, siding with, and declaring his “love” for known murderers, war criminals, dictators, and enemies of the US, including those who actively imprison and murder Christians; separating infants, toddlers, and young children from their immigrant parents; making disparaging, misogynistic, and racist statements about women and racial minorities. With 64 entries on this list, we could go on forever.
And yet, Evangelical pastors are among his most ardent supporters. Indeed, they are a huge reason why Monday night’s Iowa caucuses have become a race for second place after the former president.
Evangelicals don’t just embrace Trump because he appointed three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, though the religious objection to abortion is a major reason. Many of them share the hatred for Democrats whose social and political agenda aims to push policies such as critical race theory, and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion)—the latter meaning the acceptance of LGBTQ+ rights and immigrants .
Trump’s Evangelical supporters includes MAGA pastors who, in speeches and podcasts, cast Democrats as demonic, promote Christian nationalism and tout Trump as chosen by God to save Christianity.
Many propagate the Big Lie, Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
One of these is Joel Tenney, a 27-year-old Iowan primarily known for his Armenian advocacy work. “You cannot be Christian and vote for a Democrat,” Tenney, who spoke at a recent Trump rally in Coralville, Iowa, told Axios.
Trump’s team of religious leaders includes former HUD Secretary Ben Carson, who has been stumping for Trump in Iowa. The pediatric surgeon, a candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 Republican primaries, he served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development throughout the Trump Administration, from 2017 to 2021. Carson is one of the most prominent Black conservatives in America.
In a packed Grace Family Church in Davenport on Wednesday night, Carson — a Seventh-day Adventist — indirectly answered the question that plagues those who are not Trump supporters and are struggling with the dilemma of electing an immoral man to fulfill moral objectives.
“Would you rather have somebody whose tongue is maybe a little wild but has incredibly good policies that make your life better,” Carson thundered, “or somebody who has a silver tongue but terrible policy?”
In his new book “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory,” The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta calls this an “age of extremism” for evangelicals. “There was a real crisis in the American church, specifically a crisis in the white evangelical church,” he said.
“We should think about the American church almost in parallel to American politics,” he added. “When it gains enough influence, when it gains enough power, the fringe can overtake the mainstream. And that’s what we’ve seen happen in the church.”
For Alberta the religious right’s staunch adherence to Trump is all about power. “Trump campaigned for president in 2016 promising that if he was elected, Christians would have power. He gave it to them. He gave it to them in ways that, arguably, no American president has in modern history. And when you have power, you can very quickly lose sight of your principles, your values and your beliefs.”
Karen Johnson, a Lutheran whose fervent support of Trump is representative of the thousands who are praying for his return to the White House in 2024, suggests that the shift in the religious right is not about the abstract concept of “power,” that there is a more immediate connection: “Trump is our David and our Goliath.”
As Democrats focus on reproductive freedom, CRT, DEI, and LGBTQ+ rights, the far right pushes the view that Christians are becoming a persecuted minority, attacked and diminished by every one of these unholy policies. They need a champion to slay the liberal giant—and Trump is their David.
To save their religion they must accept its flawed champion.
