Before the assassination attempt that was carried out against former President Donald Trump at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally, on July 14, President Joe Biden had a tough fight ahead to win the election in November; but he was still campaigning only against a human rival. Now he has to beat God himself in order to win a second term.
On Sunday, Republican-leaning preachers had no problem finding the topic of their sermons; they all knew that it was” the hand of God” that had saved Trump from death and expatiated on that miraculous intervention–boldly mixing religion with politics–and even discerning and interpreting God’s motives for his intercession. The former president himself acknowledged this sentiment, stating that it was “God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening”.
The practice of conflating politics and religion has become increasingly common among the GOP under the sway of Trump, so of course, it wasn’t only from the pulpit that the sentiment was shared. Political allies, with House Speaker Mike Johnson in the lead, recognize a great line to reinforce their narrative when it lands in their lap: “GOD protected President Trump yesterday.”
Other political allies quickly jumped aboard. Rep. Carlos Antonio Giménez (R-Fla.) told Fox News that Trump survived by “the grace of God,” while Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) said “divine intervention” and the “protective hand” of God kept the former president alive. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) went a bit more visual and posted an illustration on X of an angel steering Trump away from the bullet.
Pastor Jack Hibbs, who leads a congregation of more than 10,000, wore the colonial preachers’ robe that he dons when he deems an appropriate occasion; it reads: “Use in case of acts of TYRANNY.” Hibbs was not shy in finding and interpreting a particular reason that God, or Trump’s guardian angel, had spared him from death. Rhetorically asking his congregation at the Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills, California, “why is Donald Trump alive?” Hibbs suggested that God saw from heaven that Trump was “Israel’s best friend.”
“It wasn’t the man,” Hibbs said. “It was the decision he made regarding the blessing of Israel.” Already six months ago videos circulated that asserted that Trump had been sent by God to save Israel.
Pastor Jentezen Franklin of Free Chapel in Georgia, referenced Old Testament prophecies when he said in a prerecorded prayer that was shared during service Sunday morning, “You preserved [Trump’s] life, and you don’t preserve anything you don’t have a purpose for”. For Franklin, God has a political agenda, and has designated him the “ man on a mission,” to keep America “strong and powerful.”
Mark Burns, a pastor at the Harvest Praise & Worship Center in South Carolina who is a personal friend of Trump, said the former president is now “stronger than ever” and called for supporters to exercise restraint in coming days.
For Burns human agency in political action has in fact been superseded by the divine: “We will not take to the streets to retaliate, but we will operate in the heavenly realms, the spiritual realms,” he said.
The proof of divine intervention is clear to believers such as Harvest Christian Fellowship pastor Greg Laurie and Christian musician, Christian speaker Sean Feucht and Pastor Hibbs, who all called the timing miraculous.
“The way Trump turns his head at the very last second in this angle is WILD,” Feuchts posted on X with prayer and dove emojis. (Doves are often symbols of God’s faithfulness to humanity.)
Whether it was divine intervention or not is for each one of us to decide, but what is perfectly clear is that the failed attempt is an amplification of a “savior” narrative that Donald Trump has been pushing since he came on the political scene in 2016.
This narrative portrays Trump as a protector and redeemer of American values, positioning him against the boogeyman threats of immigration, the rise of moral decadence, vengeful political opponents, the breakdown of democracy and systemic corruption. His supporters view him as a figure who can restore the nation’s greatness and defend it from decline. It’s what he harps on at every rally and conference. His supporters already depicted him as a messianic figure before the assassination attempt. The “miraculous salvation” has sealed his bargain with God who has now plainly shown which side he is on. God is a Republican.
Trump is a martyr for his country and its downtrodden people, and this salvation was his reward for all of the persecution he has suffered at the hands of his enemies—read: the Democrats– to “Make America Great Again”. Never mind that the separation of State and Church that the Founding Fathers enshrined in the Constitution is now only a pale reminder of the fears they were trying to forestall.
