Once Again … Why So Many Evangelical Christians Strongly Support Trump
By: Dr. Michael Brown
This author gets it completely. He’s exactly right why we support and need to continue to support Trump. He’s there to protect us from them. He protects believers from the anger and threats of the secular left who view us as the obstacle in the way of their achieving their dreams and goals.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Surge Summary: So many Evangelical Christians support Donald Trump because he fights for the existential issues that concern them. Too many conservative leaders in the past have refused to do so.
The massive groundswell of prayer support for President Trump as he battles COVID-19 reminds us of just how strong his conservative Christian base remains. Yet his performance at the first presidential debate was so unchristian that the question remains: why are so many so loyal? This illustration will help to explain.
Let’s say that you and your spouse are committed Christian conservatives, raising your four children to honor the Lord and live by biblical principles. Included in those principles are the words of Jesus, who taught that the meek and the peacemakers would be blessed. That’s one reason that you eschew violent entertainment, from violent video games to blood and gore movies to extremely violent sports.
You live in the suburbs, and your next-door neighbor became famous years ago as the toughest bar fighter in the region, cracking open many a skull in the process. He then transitioned to cage fighting where he has made an excellent living. And while he is a good neighbor, he is not a good role model for your kids. He uses all kinds of profanity. He still drinks. And he has multiple girlfriends.
One day, two of your kids come home from school quite shaken. They were cursed out by some older teens who mocked their Christian faith. They were spat on. And they were threatened. They were also told, “Just see what our dad is going to do your parents! He hates Christians even more than we do. There’s a good reason they call him Crazy Sam!”
Later that night, to your shock, Crazy Sam shows up at your door with three of his friends, all of them looking ominous and angry. They begin to scream threats against you, and you can see they have tire irons and knives in their hands.
Before you can respond, your neighbor comes running over, ripping into Crazy Sam and his cronies, getting stabbed and struck in the process, but beating them up even worse until they are subdued and disarmed.
Then, as the police arrive to clean things up, your neighbor leaves the attackers with a threat: “If you ever come near this family – and that includes your kids coming near their kids – I will tear you apart with my own hands.”
How would you now feel about your neighbor’s violence? Would you see it a different light? Would you recognize that God just used this profane character, who makes his living beating people up, to save your lives? You still might not approve of the way he makes his living, but you would have a deep sense of gratitude and even loyalty towards him. Your whole perspective would change.
Of course, this is meant as an illustration rather than a precise analogy, but the application is clear. It is not just that Trump fights. It is not even that Trump fights back. It is that Trump fights for us.
That’s how many Americans feel in general. Trump is fighting for them. (Of course, the left paints this quite differently, claiming that it is a matter of racist, white Americans wanting to keep their country white. In reality, such people represent a very small minority of the whole.)
Trump is willing to expose the lying media. Trump is willing to take on the political establishment. Trump is willing to confront the radical leftists who want to disfigure our nation. Trump is willing to call out Big Pharma.
So what if he lies too. So what if he’s nasty in the process. So what if he creates deeper divisions along the way. There will always be collateral damage. But the good far outweighs the bad.
When it comes to Christian conservatives, the feelings run just as deep. There are hostile forces that want to wipe us out.
They despise our beliefs. They want to silence us in the public square. They want to indoctrinate our children in the schools. They want to steal our most fundamental liberties.
They also stand for the most egregious sin in our nation, namely, the slaughter of the unborn.
At last, we have someone fighting back for us – and for the unborn. At last we have someone tenacious enough to keep his word, no matter what.
Yes, he is the last person we would have chosen for the job, just like the cage fighting neighbor was the last person we would have looked to for help. But these are existential issues Trump is fighting for, from the life of the unborn to our religious liberties, and from standing up to Communist China to facing down Islamic terrorism. We appreciate him fighting on our behalf. (For my 5-minute interview with former governor Mike Huckabee on this subject, go here .)
To underscore this train of thought, what if, after Trump, Mike Pence became our president? He is known as a committed Christian. He shares our convictions on many key issues. And he is anything but Trump in terms of his own personality and demeanor.
What would be the concern that many Christian conservatives would have? “He’s not tough enough! He’s too nice! He doesn’t have enough backbone!”
I trust you get the point.
To be sure, I would gladly vote for a Mike Pence should he be the Republican candidate in the future, given the current state of the Democratic party. But my sense is that many, if not most conservative Christian voters would vote for Trump today rather than Pence, simply because we need a street fighter right now, and Trump is that proven man.
Where we cross a dangerous line is when we become apologists for Trump. When we defend his indefensible and even destructive behavior. When we look to him rather than to the Lord. When we are better known as Trump supporters than as Jesus followers. That’s a major reason I wrote Evangelicals at the Crossroads: Will We Pass the Trump Test?
And by “the Trump test” I meant two things. First, can we vote for him without destroying our Christian witness? Second, can we unite around Jesus even if we don’t agree about Trump?
I believe we can and must pass both aspects of the Trump test for the good of our country and for the good of our reputation. But part of passing that test ties in with our ability to explain why, despite Trump’s offensive personality, we so strongly support him. He fights for us, getting battered in the process. We now feel a loyalty to him.
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Trump’s covid treatment was derived from tests done on aborted fetal tissue. That’s ok though - Trump could shoot an embryo in the face on 5th Avenue and his evangelical base wouldn’t leave him.
Here's Street Fighter Trump delivering a knockout blow:
One punch KO...
LOL
If God loves Trump so much, why does He smite him?
Poor dumb white fundamentalists only had one thing they could lord over everyone else. They were the majority in the vast majority of underpopulated overrepresented flyover states each with two US Senators who welded powers greatly exceeding their electoral mandates. They could bully everyone else against the will of the majority of Americans.
That is all fixing to be past tense so they are mad!
Yes, God will continue to smite Trump forever!
It isn't secularist sent Covid to scuttle Trump!
Trump's implosion is of Biblical Proportions!
You didn't answer why God is smiting Trump.
Zero chance is not really a chance.
That's up to the voters, now isn't it?
Why? Is god incapable of doing something himself?
If Biden gets elected, then that must be God's plan or desire too, right?
First of all, I used to train at a dojo that also produced MMA style fighters. I came to know several of them, they would never bully anyone. If your fighter was like them, then he would be nothing like Trump. Trump is a cowardly narcissist who bullies incessantly and always punches down. If your fighter was like Trump, and picked on those who could not defend themselves, he would be in prison for assault.
Secondly, I had 12 years of religious instruction. I know what the philosophy of Jesus is: you help the poor, sick, hungry, and homeless and, you treat everyone as you would be treated. Republicans work tirelessly and successfully to take healthcare away from the working poor & poor, to reduce food assistance even though 18% of kids do not have adequate food, and to reduce both financial and housing assistance. They rationalize this behavior by saying helping the poor hurts them, or dis-incentivizes them, or they don’t deserve these things — nothing I’ve ever read in the Gospels. Republicans pass bigoted laws and executive orders that permit discrimination muslims, immigrants, LGBT people, and the poor. The government Republicans support is not neutral on what Jesus said to do, it does the opposite.
Thirdly, ’Christians’ are not under siege. It’s just that ‘Christians’ want to force others to do what they think God wants. It is always the case that when people say they’re doing what God wants, they are *always* doing what they want. This goes way back. The Puritans did not come here because they could not be Puritans in Europe, they came here because the Europeans would not allow them to force other people to be Puritans. Sad that this proclivity is apparently still in our genes. When the founding fathers wrote The Constitution, the separation of church and state was done specifically to protect the nation from Christianity. They saw all the wars and death in Europe caused by disagreements over doctrine — they wanted none of it here.
Fourthly, Democrats are the ones practicing the philosophy of Jesus. Democrats are the ones who accept that women are not farm animals, and should have control over their own bodies. Democrats are the ones making sure that everyone has the same rights. The white evangelicals who so whole heartedly support Trump have never had to wait for a Supreme Court decision to grant them rights that almost everybody else has. Democrats are the ones pushing for healthcare for everyone, living wages, adequate food & shelter. Democrats are the ones pushing for equal rights for all.
Finally, Trump operates for Trump. He doesn’t give a shit about religion, abortion, or gun rights. He simply gives the people who support him whatever they want. He is a failure monkey from way back, pretty much everything or one that he touches is destroyed. Likewise, he actively denies resources to states that don’t support him. Trump is a misogynist, a bigot, a racist, he is thin-skinned, narcissistic, puerile, ignorant, and spiteful. He is a sociopath who’s been involved in thousands of lawsuits because he routinely rips off and even destroys the businesses of people who do work for him. He is a con-man and a pathological liar. He has no positive attributes, no wit, no wisdom, no honor, no grace, no empathy, no self-awareness, no sense of humor, no credibility or morality. He is the quintessential piece of shit; supporting him is unconscionable.
Great comment. Exactly correct in every way.