Not All Evangelicals are Trumpers

 

“Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again… As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless The USA Bible.” 

Trump’s Easter Message on Truth Social (Wanna buy a Bible?)

Though the die is far from cast, Donald Trump’s seeming lock on the presidency running against Joe Biden has significantly eroded in the face of the Harris-Walz reconfigured Democratic ticket. However, looking at his campaign tactics, Trump’s latest efforts, underscored by his radically rightwing and unpopular VP choice, Trump appears engaged in “the great double down” philosophy that he used in his 2016 and 2020 runs. But it all sounds tired, old, rehashed and assumes that the America of today has not changed much in the intervening years. There have been some demographic shifts in his favor to be sure – like gaining traction from those Black men who are retro-unhappy at the prospect of a woman president – but even some of his most reliable followers are questioning the viability of his candidacy.

This has led one of his greatest supporters, a major conservative evangelical spokesman Charlie Kirk, executive director of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), to castigate pastors assembled at his recent faith-driven political training event in a Dallas suburb, to stop whining and mobilize their congregations to deploy in key swing states. “Mimicking pastors who have expressed reservations about Trump, Kirk said, ‘ ‘But, but Charlie, I don’t think Trump is a very good role model for our church.’ I have no patience for you anymore, people. I am sick of this.’

“The event, named Igniting the Remnant Pastors, featured prominent rightwing speakers, including retired Lieutenant General and conspiracy theorist Mike Flynn. The conference, which charged $199 per pastor and $49 per wife, aimed to ‘mobilize the body of Christ to take meaningful action’ in support of Trump… The gathering underscores the Trump campaign’s efforts, alongside allies like TPUSA and the America First Policy Institute, to energize evangelical voters for the 2024 election. Kirk’s address emphasized a strategy of transforming church leaders into informal Trump advocates who would then engage their congregations in grassroots efforts.” The Express Tribune, August 15th. But truly, Trump is hardly the best messenger of God’ mandate, even if those rightwing evangelical pastors believe that is true.

As noted in my August 14th blog, God Wants Donald Trump to be America’s Leader!, there has been a continuing and long-standing effort by a majority of American evangelicals, often mandated as “God’s will” by their pastors, to support Donald Trump’s ascension to President and then supreme leader in recasting the United States as a fully Christian nation. Why one of the worst examples of a “Christian man” has achieved this seemingly unbreakable status is well discussed in that blog. For those of us who have read the New Testament (the book of Christianity), been raised in the Protestant family (like me), even without the Bible’s mandates of kindness, “love thy brother,” practice tolerance and do not sit in judgment of others, I believe too many Christians are lost in that Old Testament (the Torah) sin of worshipping false gods – the Golden Calf idol syndrome – that has elevated Donald Trump as the effective “messenger of God.”

Indeed, back in 2015, Trump placed himself even above the teachings of the New Testament when he said he does not ask God for forgiveness… during a 2015 interview at the Family Leadership Summit. But a new movement from the evangelical movement is organizing. “Now, Evangelicals for Harris are highlighting his statement in a new attack ad… released a new ad targeting Christians in swing states…. The organization, made up of Evangelical Christians who are mobilizing support for Vice President Kamala Harris this November, released the ad on Wednesday [8/14] morning… The organization’s goal is to bring together moderate and progressive Christians ‘who feel like the conversation on spirituality has been hijacked by the Christian right,’ organizer John Pavlovitz told NPR.

“In 2020, 85 percent of white evangelical protestant voters who attended church regularly voted for Trump, according to the Pew Research Center. Trump also garnered more support among white evangelical protestants from 2016, when he earned only 77% of their vote while running against Hillary Clinton…. Biden, meanwhile, had high support from white Catholics, Black protestants and those who are not religious, the Pew Research Center reports.

“This isn’t the first time Trump, who has compared himself to Jesus Christ on multiple occasions, has been accused of religious hypocrisy… In June 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests, Trump and several staffers walked to Washington, DC’s St John’s Church (pictured above) — which was vandalized — after riot police cleared largely peaceful demonstrators in nearby Lafayette Square using tear gas.

“There, Trump stood silently and was photographed holding up a Bible, which some speculated was upside down. Several opponents — including President Joe Biden — accused him of using the book as a prop. Asked by a reporter whether it was his Bible, he replied that it was ‘a Bible.’… Then, earlier this year, Trump began selling the ‘God Bless the USA’ Bible for $60.” Katie Hawkinson, writing for the August 14th Independent. Trump’s double down on these worn policies might work, but I believe the tide is turning even among the evangelical community… just enough to make a difference.

I’m Peter Dekom, and as older Trump supporters pass, they are being replaced in greater numbers by younger, more progressive voters who just weren’t alive to experience Trump’s references to that “Great America” (myth anyway) from decades ago.