Evangelicals' faith in Trump
The political and social relationship between the evangelical community and President Donald Trump has to be one of the strangest and most ironic — as well as strong and committed — relationships in presidential history. The bonds between President Trump and the evangelicals started in 2016, continued through the 2020 election, and in some ways are more fervent and fiercer than ever before.
During the 2016 election, polls showed that almost 90% of evangelicals voted for Trump. In the 2020 election, that number rose to 95%. One must surmise that a great many evangelicals were with Trump at the Washington Monument on Jan. 6, a mostly peaceful First Amendment protest, demanding a fair, accurate, and justified account of the national vote. Many evangelicals, on that mostly peaceful mid-morning, prayed and sang hymns asking for God's divine guidance. Evangelicals, with Trump, felt they were possibly robbed of the White House.
The seemingly unbreakable relationship between evangelicals and Trump really does appear to be an Odd Couple. Trump has probably been with more women than all the men combined in a large Sunday school class. And Trump has probably used the "F-word" more often than all the men combined in that same Sunday school class.
So where did the common bond come from? How did the sincere trust develop? When did such loyal faith emerge?
One must first say Trump's pick of Mike Pence as his running mate was a great start. Pence, a Bible-toting, born-again, unapologetic Christian, allowed the evangelicals to start developing their trust in Trump. Trump chose Pence over Rudy Giuliani, Chris Christie, and Newt Gingrich. This gave the evangelicals immediate comfort that maybe, just maybe, Trump was not playing them. In the past, evangelicals had been taken for granted by the moderate RINO wing of the Republican Party exemplified by politicians such as Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Paul Ryan.
It looked to me as though evangelicals had turned the other cheek so much that they no longer appeared to be able to fight for themselves. So they hired Trump to do the fighting for them. Trump, an arrogant bar room fighter who took no prisoners and offered no apologies, would now fight the good fight and run the good race for those who either no longer knew how to fight or somehow thought it beneath them. There was leadership within the Christian community such as Franklin Graham who supported Trump. But in the end, the greatest support for Trump came from the congregations themselves and not the ministers. The relationship between Trump and evangelicals started from the pews, not the pulpit, and there it remains today.
When the bond became apparent, the left, the progressive socialist secular communities, cried hypocrisy on the right. The Christian community pointed out that many Hall of Famers in the Bible, both Old and New Testament, had checkered pasts of real indiscretions. From Moses and King David to Peter and Paul, all of these devout men made significant mistakes in their pasts. Nevertheless, they were able to still lead the faithful flock with God's divine guidance.
And Trump always came through for the evangelicals. From pro-life issues to keeping churches open during COVID to nominating conservative strict constructionist judges to traditional family measures to support of Israel and Jerusalem to Second Amendment rights, Trump never, ever disappointed the evangelical community. Never.
Unlike the left, Trump never said quoting from the Holy Bible is hate speech. Unlike past GOP nominees who either got scared or really didn't believe, Trump kept the faith and continued the fight. Evangelicals seemed to see Trump as Daniel in the lion's den, surrounded by the Deep State and seemingly fighting all alone. If Trump used the "F-word" in speaking of a faux impeachment, evangelicals decided they could live with that. And some brethren would actually repeat it.
If Trump wins this second impeachment charge, most evangelicals will most likely support Trump again in 2024. Evangelicals have a habit in history of supporting martyrs. That is why the Deep State, Pelosi, Schumer, RINOs, NeverTrumps, and the like are engaging in this unconstitutional impeachment. They know that Trump would win the primaries again and quite possibly take back the White House. Most Americans and certainly evangelicals didn't like it when hundreds of thousands of votes somehow appeared in the middle of the night in just a few select precincts in just a few select states. If Trump keeps faith with the evangelical community, God only knows if a miracle will happen again in 2024.