White evangelical Christians see Donald Trump as their Messiah

– This is in reality a choice between good and evil, says TV preacher Hank Kunneman.

The pastor has a large following among white evangelical Americans, conservatives and Bible-believing Protestants with a personal relationship with God.

Many of them dream of a United States as it was in the 1950s, and see Donald Trump as their savior.

Two divorces, accusations of adultery, active spreading of falsehoods and conspiracy theories, foul language, two impeachment cases and indictments galore don’t scare them. Some call the accusations against Trump “fake news”, others forgive him.

Skin color and religion

Skin color and religion have always played central roles in American politics and still do. 30 years ago was 85 percent of voters white and over 70 percent of them defined themselves as Christians.

Today, the percentage of white voters has fallen to below 70 percent, and only just over 40 percent of them define themselves as Christians.

Although, according to surveys, white evangelical Christians only make up around 14 percent of the population in the US, they make up around a quarter of the electorate.

– If there is one thing Christian conservatives are good at, it is organizing, mobilizing and voting. The Republicans benefit from this at every election, notes associate professor Hilde Eliassen Restad in the book ” The American Paradox ».

At the presidential election in 2020 voted over 80 percent of white evangelical Christians on Trump, and this group has now largely taken control of the Republican Party.

Abortion and Israel

Many evangelical Christians praise Trump because, during his four years in the White House, he ensured that there was a clear majority of conservative judges on the US Supreme Court. It resulted, among other things, in American women losing the federal right to abortion, and Christianity gaining more space in schools.

Trump is also praised by many in this group for his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s “indivisible capital” and for moving the US embassy there. He also recognized Israel’s illegal annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights.

Israel stands strong among evangelical Christians, who often swear by so-called Christian Zionism. They support Israel in one and all and believe that the Palestinian territories and parts of the neighboring countries also belong to the Jews.

– The most extreme of Trump’s Christian Zionist advisers look forward to a war with Iran as the beginning of the expansion of Israel’s borders, and as proof that we are living in the end times, noted former bishop Atle Sommerfelt some time ago.

Fear

Domestic political issues still weigh heaviest, Espen Mikkelsen points out in his master’s thesis at the Faculty of Theology in Oslo. It is entitled ” White evangelical Christians and Donald Trump ».

– Important issues for evangelicals today are many of the same ones that have preoccupied evangelicals throughout time. This includes prayer in public schools, abortion, the traditional family, Christian expressions in public spaces, the right to own weapons and a strong national defense and immigration, he points out.

– Fear must be said to be a common denominator for many of the core issues of evangelicals. A fear of losing their Christian heritage.

Restad also believes that fear is part of the explanation for Trump’s great support in these circles – fear of “the others”, of liberals, migrants and supranational institutions such as the UN.

– The biggest factor in his support among voters was what political scientists call white vulnerability, a perception that white Americans are losing ground to non-whites, she points out.

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is also a strong contributing factor to the support, believes the founder of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) Robert Jones.

And a hip «White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity» he deals with the myths about the society many white evangelical Christians long to return to.

Based on opinion polls, he also shows that one in four of this group believe in conspiracy theories, and that over 70 percent deny that slavery and discrimination have any significance for today’s economic inequalities between black and white Americans.

While two out of three Democrats believe that the US is a better society today than in the 1950s, two out of three Republicans believe the opposite, according to surveys carried out by PRRI.

Exploits

It is not “Make America Great” that is the most important message in Trump’s Maga slogan, it is “Again”, he says in an interview with The Guardian.

– It is this nostalgia characterized by loss. What have we lost, and who are “we” who have lost something? The answer is quite clear. It is the white Christians who were culturally dominant, demographically dominant and politically dominant, but are no longer so, he says.

It is this nostalgia and longing that Trump has been so adept at exploiting, he believes.

“I am your voice, only I can fix this, if you don’t elect me, we will no longer have a country,” reads Trump’s message, according to Jones.

No church gangs

Many evangelical Christians who support Trump probably realize that he is not a distinctly religious man, even though he surrounds himself with Christian leaders and portrays himself as such.

In 2020, 63 per cent of those questioned answered in an opinion poll that they did not think he was religious, but among white evangelical Christians 64 percent were convinced of the opposite.

The former playboy and casino king has never been a diligent churchgoer, but the evangelical Christians choose to overlook that because he stands for a policy they like.

Trump also gets solid traction from thousands of Christian radio and TV channels, podcasts and streaming services, which more than 140 million Americans follow monthly, according to the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB).

Radio and TV preachers with millions of followers praise him freely.

– God has his hand over him, and he cannot be stopped, it said self-proclaimed prophet Lance Wallnau fixed some time ago.

Playing along

Trump knows how to play along. “God made Trump” was the title of one election campaign video he posted in January, where he is portrayed as “a shepherd of mankind”.

“God looked down on his planned paradise and said: I need a caretaker, so God gave us Trump,” was the message in the video.

Recently he also launched his own Bible with the catchy title “ God Bless the USA Bible ».

Besides being “easy to read” and “in large print”, Trump’s Bible also contains a copy of the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the President’s Pledge of Allegiance.

– Instead of selling Bibles, maybe you should buy one. And read in it, it read sour comment from former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney.