The Evangelical-Trump Enigma
Although he seems to violate about every moral principle they proclaim, evangelicals are overwhelmingly enamored by Trump…
James Alexander
Evangelicals like to claim the moral high ground. I was a professor for many years. I had occasion to look at the conduct code of evangelical colleges several times. They are mostly a collection of rules decrying sin and upholding righteousness and wholesomeness. They think, in these rules and regulations they are teaching students to be Christlike. From my perspective, that is debatable. But, for the sake of argument, I’ll grant that to them.
Christlike… Humm. Christ-like. What was Christ like? He said he was “gentle and humble of heart.” Got Questions, a site offering “Biblical answers,” uses words like serious, focused, compassionate, merciful, forgiving, caring, and patient to describe him. The site seems evangelical to me.
So, I guess all that stuff is important to evangelicals — one would guess. That leads me to a puzzling enigma. That would be, the strange case of Donald Trump and his evangelical followers.
Taking stock
Baptist News pointed out that around 80% of evangelicals voted for Trump in the 2020 election. Even after all his lies and the encouragement of violence on January 6, seventy percent hold a favorable view of the guy and 60% believe the Big Lie that the election was stolen.
Related to Trump, Thom Rainer says there are really four views evangelicals hold.
1. There are Trump Enthusiasts. This is the solid Trump base. Rainer estimates that likely amounts to about 60% of evangelicals.
2. Trump Quiets are evangelicals which voted for Trump but didn’t vocalize their support. Their support centered around economic issues and some social concerns (mainly abortion). This seems to be true of about 20% of evangelicals.
3. Non-Trump Crossovers did not vote for Trump, some even voted for Clinton and Biden. They are outspoken in their opposition to Trump. That might account for about 15% of evangelicals.
4. Politically Homeless Evangelicals support neither trump, nor Democratic opponents. In 2020 they voted for an independent candidate, a write-in candidate, or didn’t vote at all. Although this group got some media attention. Rainer estimates this number is less than 5% of evangelicals.
Seventy-five percent of white evangelicals believe that God gave America a special task in human history. This view seems to be correlated with support for Trump, acceptance of political violence and believing the 2020 election was stolen. It seems that many of this part of the MAGA crowd, see America as a promised land for white, Christian folks.
A recent survey of white evangelicals found that about 50% believe that Trump is chosen of God. That may help explain why so many Christians support someone so “un-Christlike.” They see Trump, like the kings and prophets of ancient Israel, as anointed of God.
Reza Aslan has argued that Trumpism had become” a cult for fundamentalists.” For these folks Trump is a warrior directed by God to fight in the cause of evangelical beliefs. A “salvific character” to worship, as Aslan put it.
The messiah?
A 2020 Pew Research Center survey found white evangelicals mixed on the question of Trump’s conduct and moral qualities — with only 15 percent holding that the phrase “morally upstanding” described Trump. But like Cyrus of old — not a believer in Israel’s God, I guess it doesn’t matter. They considered Cyrus anointed as well because it was believed that he acted on Israel’s behalf.
Where there is agreement is that Trump’s administration was and will be on the evangelical side of the culture war. Fifty-nine percent of white evangelicals believe Trump policies helped their interests. During his administration, 63 percent say their side was winning the political war, which Pew states is “triple the share who said this in May 2016, six months before Trump’s election.”
Even more blatant
When Moses met God at the burning bush, God told Moses that God’s name was “I am.” Jesus used that term often as well referring to himself in many ways and contexts. In the Gospel of John, the hearers seem to know that it is a claim, of some sort, related to personal divinity. Trump likes “I am” statements as well, as pointed out by Good Faith Media:
“I am your voice.”
“I am your warrior.”
“I am the chosen one.”
“I am your retribution.”
“I’m being indicted for you.”
The “I am” statements seem to relate to Trump’s narcissistic view that he is a self-proclaimed messiah, instead of a pathological liar, sexual predator, well documented charlatan, phony and a criminal. He is even responsible for insurrection and- through his incitement and rhetoric-the death of others (January 6). This is a man that millions of white American Christians actually believe is their messiah.
A white Christian “army” (?) has arisen with a Trumpian adoration to bring about the demise of our democracy and start a theocracy with Trump as messianic king. “Having discarded Jesus of the gospels, they retain ‘Christian’ language in service of their new savior.”
“In due time, the self-proclaimed ‘chosen one’ will likely be justly imprisoned for his unprecedented crimes against the United States of America and his fellow Americans. How the “madness” of Trump’s “millions” of worshipers reacts to the incarceration of their messiah will determine what happens next.” (Good Faith Media)
Once, not long ago, evangelicals said a candidate being Christian was essential to them. They didn’t like Romney, because he is a Mormon — and not considered a Christian by many evangelicals — “the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not, in their lexicon, a Church of Jesus Christ at all, but a cultic counterfeit of the true faith.”
Evangelicals said that good moral character was important to them, so they maligned Bill Clinton as a pervert and adulterer. Hillary Clinton was his enabler and “partner in crime.”
What would (will), Trump do? They assured us he would get rid of abortion, and evangelicals are deeply pro-life. For many, that was the key concern, and (I guess) is still so.
But Myriam Renaud reported in Sightings that perhaps abortion hasn’t been as important to evangelicals as you might think. For many, white Christian nationalism was central to their support of Trump. “Immigration (‘Guard our borders!’), law and order (‘Fund the police!’), economic protectionism (‘America first!’) and resistance to a progressive agenda across the board (‘Protect our kids!’) loomed largest as evangelical concerns.”
When it comes to the conservative evangelical cause, few institutions are more conservative or evangelical than Bob Jones University. They are explicit that immodest sexual behaviors and perversions are off limits. Their handbook states “Students are to avoid any types of entertainment that could be considered immodest or that contain profanity, scatological realism, sexual perversion, erotic realism, lurid violence, occultism and false philosophical or religious assumptions.” To that, Mr. Trump says, “Grab them by the … (I won’t even say it!).
As Robert Jeffress, megachurch pastor put it, “Conservative Christians continue to overwhelmingly support Donald Trump because of his biblical policies, not his personal piety… They are smart enough to know the difference between choosing a president and choosing a pastor… In many ways, Christians feel like they are in an existential cultural war between good and evil, and they want a warrior like Donald Trump who can win.”
Robert Franklin, professor of moral leadership at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, said Trump benefits from a feeling among some of his followers that he is suffering on their behalf.
He put it this way, “Our nation is seeing a rampage of attacks on reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and the separation of church and state… Even though certain evangelical Christians might harbor some discomfort about politicians, they may believe these social and political successes far outweigh the concerns.”
In short, I guess evangelicals support Trump, regardless of his reprehensible character and behavior because they have made a Faustian deal with the devil (so to speak) to see righteousness prevail. Will that work? It strikes me as a very duplicitous, precarious bargain — that the end justifies the means. They seem to think that “he who pays the fiddler gets to call the tunes.” What if, the fiddler’s price turns out to be just too high?