Donald Trump‘s appearance before a gathering of evangelical broadcasters on Thursday was met with warmth and enthusiasm, as he delivered a speech reminiscent of his campaign rallies, peppered with expressions of faith and vows to protect the Christian faith.
Despite allegations of paying hush money to a porn star and a lifestyle seemingly contradictory to their values, the casino-owning playboy, Trump enjoys immense popularity among the religious right in the United States.
Many of his supporters view him as a divine instrument tasked with rescuing America from a fate akin to Sodom and Gomorrah. And on Thursday, he delivered precisely what they were hoping for.
‘I come before you as a friend and an ally and a fellow believer to ask for your help and your support and your prayers for this country,’ he told a meeting of the National Religious Broadcasters group.
‘We need your prayers most importantly, and I make you a simple promise: In my first term, I fought for Christians harder than any president has ever done before.’
‘And I will fight even harder for Christians with four more years in the White House.’
Arriving for the speech in Tennessee more than 90 minutes behind schedule, Trump initially seemed fatigued as he approached the stage. However, he swiftly found his stride and warmed up to his key talking points.
Trump, in his speech largely focused on familiar topics: the crisis at the US southern border, the issue of crime in cities governed by Democrats, and his ongoing legal troubles, which include numerous criminal charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. However, acknowledging his audience, the former reality TV star took several tangents to discuss matters of faith and religion.
‘We’ve got an incompetent president who doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing,’ he told the crowd. ‘He will not lead us to the Promised Land.’
‘The left is trying to shame Christians; they try to shame us. Us,’ he said, pausing for emphasis. ‘I’m a very proud Christian, actually.’
Trump’s association with the religious right wasn’t obvious when he entered the presidential race in 2015, descending his golden escalator.
Still, he remained faithful to his promise of nominating anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court, and their reversal of Roe vs. Wade in 2022 marked a significant victory for evangelical Christians after five decades of anticipation.
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This demographic, constituting just 14.5 percent of the population yet comprising 28 percent of voters, has steadfastly favored Trump, cementing their status as a dependable constituency for his political endeavors.
‘I think abortion is in many ways the entry point, I think it’s almost fair to characterize it as a gateway drug,’ said Tim Alberta, who has written extensively on the evangelical right.
However, there’s a deeper sentiment within the community of being under siege in a nation that has shifted significantly, becoming less racially homogeneous, less traditionally religious, and more accepting of diverse lifestyles compared to earlier eras.
In the face of this perceived onslaught, Trump, with his scrappy, mud-slinging demeanor, embodies what the community feels it requires to confront these challenges head-on.
Alberta remarked that if one believed the Barbarians were at the gates, they would then consider, to themselves, the need for a Barbarian to protect them. Alberta summarized this as the evangelical relationship with Donald Trump.