Center For Religion And Civic Culture
This piece was originally published by Religion News Service.
As a student of American evangelicalism, I am frequently asked how Christians can support Donald Trump. I stop myself from going into lecture mode. Most people want a sound bite, not a disquisition.
So heres the short answer: Ever since 1980, when Ronald Reagan told a Dallas gathering of 15,000 evangelicals, you cant endorse me but I want you to know that I endorse you, white evangelicals have voted for Republicans, who mostly promise to enact their agenda.
Mostly theyve been disappointed. In November 2016, when Trump won election to the White House, abortion was still legal, gay couples had the right to marry, government regulations inhibited the free market and the U.S. embassy to Israel remained in Tel Aviv.
Trump promised to change all that.
Despite his personal shortcomings, evangelicals believed him. He selected a solid Christian as his running mate, and his track record as a businessman proved he got things done.
God uses imperfect messengers, evangelicals reasoned, and if King David an adulterer who arranged to have his partners husband killed could still accomplish great good, why not the 45th president?
But here is another answer to the question of why evangelicals support Trump: They dont, or at least not all of them.
Our goal was to educate reporters for the 2018 midterm election where white evangelicals again voted overwhelmingly Republican and beyond.
We used three sorting criteria.
One Cannot Really Love Jesus And Wish To Follow Him And Also Vote For A Person Who So Clearly Embodies The Opposite Of Everything Christ Taught Died For And Demands Of Us
1:05 PM on Nov 6, 2016 CST
As sociologists of religion, we are intrigued by the surprisingly large number of self-identified Christians, especially evangelicals, who support Trump and have voted for him over the more vocally religious Ted Cruz. In past elections, such voters were motivated by moral convictions around abortion, same sex-marriage, and the perceived deterioration of traditional values, and voted predictably for candidates such as Huckabee, Santorum, and most consequentially, George W. Bush.
These issues and their 2016 equivalents have never been central features of Trumps life history, let alone his candidacy, and on many of them he has confused, moderate or unclear positions. Whatever the appeal of Trump to evangelicals might be, it is not due to these conventional stances.
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For a while, his opponents have seemed willing to ignore Trump, perhaps as a disciplined tact to suffocate his bloviations of the oxygen they need to burn. We have come to feel, however, that this approach has ultimately proven naïve in the wake of his recent primary victories. However unserious anyone might find him, the nation is despairingly at a moment where we must take his challenge seriously.
1. He lacks compassion.
4. He lies a lot.
Biden Loses Ground With Voters Who Backed Him 2020
Biden has lost ground with voters since he won last year’s election, but Trump hasn’t gained it. Over the past year, two-thirds of those surveyed say, their opinion of Trump hasn’t changed. Fourteen percent say their view of him has gotten better, 19% say it has gotten worse.
But Trump commands more loyalty among his core supporters than Biden does.
Among those who voted for Biden last year, almost 4 in 10, 39%, say they hope he doesn’t run for another term 50% hope he will run. Among those who voted for Trump last year, 1 in 4, 26%, hope he won’t run again 65% hope he will.
“I thought he did a great job then, and I know he’ll do a great job in the future,” says Lynda Ensenat, 54, a Trump voter and independent insurance adjuster from New Orleans. “There’s a whole lot going wrong in this society right now, and all the Democrat liberals that’s what they’re 100% for.”
She says Biden has “been wrong on absolutely everything he’s touched.”
If the presidential election were today between Biden and Trump, 44% say they would vote for Trump, 40% for Biden, 11% for an unnamed third-party candidate. In the election last year, Biden beat Trump 54%-47%.
Loyd, the retiree from Missouri, used to think of herself as a Democrat but voted for Trump in 2016, then left the presidential ballot blank in 2020. She’s so disenchanted with politics that she has stopped watching news coverage as closely as she once did.
“I don’t think anybody is talking to the average American citizen,” she says.
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Free Joe Biden: Sean Maloney On How Democrats Can Get Back On Track
In an interview, the leader of the House Democrats campaign arm acknowledged the major challenges facing the party but defended its agenda and its continued focus on Donald Trump.
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In the days since Democrats were battered in elections across the country last week, criticism of the partys policies and electoral strategies has rained down, alongside dire forecasts of its prospects in the 2022 midterms. The flagellation has come not just from gleeful Republicans, but from many in the Democratic ranks.
Reasons put forward for the partys losses included President Bidens slipping approval in polls, impressions of a party that is incompetent at governing after months of infighting in Congress, rising inflation and crime in big cities, and tin-eared Democratic campaigns.
One of the least envied jobs in politics at the moment belongs to Representative Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, who as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee must steer his caucus through the extremely choppy midterm waters. Mr. Bidens approval numbers are lower than President Barack Obamas were at the same point in his first term, ahead of the 2010 midterms when Democrats lost more than 60 House seats.
My message is free Joe Biden. That campaign needs to start now before the next crisis takes over the news cycle.
Can You Envision A Scenario In Which Trump Might Order A First
Blair: I think if President Trump comes to the conclusion that a nuclear strike against the United States is imminent, he would seriously consider launching our conventional forces to try to pre-emptively destroy this looming threat. The context may be one in which Trump and Kim Jong Un have escalated their brinkmanship to the point of conflict, and Kim may have fled to his wartime bunker.
But yes, I can . I think the Korean crisis has already crossed the threshold into a danger zone that is quite threatening and that could trigger either side to employ force presumably conventional forces first, but that which could then escalate to the use of nuclear weapons.
No person is sane enough, stable enough or good enough to have the ability to end the world.
– Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Schwartz: Its hard to say. Donald Trump has been talking about nuclear weapons for a very long time. He has a very high opinion of himself on this, as with all other matters, and thinks he knows everything. I frankly cant think of a more dangerous combination in a president than somebody who is so reckless with his words and knows so little about what these weapons actually do and doesnt want to learn any more about how destructive this would be.
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Trump Is The Lead In A Fabulous Mockumentary
I dont live in Iowa or New Hampshire but if I did, Id vote for Trump right now. Dont get me wrong I dont believe hed make a good President. Quite the opposite.
Id vote for Trump, the candidate, purely for the comedic value. Trump is like a train wreck. Not the kind where hundreds of people get hurt. No, Trumps candidacy is like the train wreck in Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seussit just keeps getting more and more absurd as it careens down the mountainside and finally plunges off the cliff. Its funny, even to a 3-year-old. In many ways, Trump is the ultimate comedic actor who never breaks character. We are all watching a mockumentary and I, for one, am not ready for the show to end quite yet.
Why Would Anyone Support Trump
Moderators:CA Moderators, STLtoday Forum Moderators
15 Oct 2021 20:32 pm
Kilgore Trouts wrote: 15 Oct 2021 20:29 pmin their minds he gives them permission to be their worst selves….bigoted…
15 Oct 2021 20:58 pm
RaoulDuke wrote: 15 Oct 2021 16:37 pm
candyman4881 wrote: 15 Oct 2021 15:06 pmGood God manin the words of the Ice Queen Elsa Let It Go
I understand completely why worms like this want off the hook for their blind support of trump and the fascism they brought to America.
15 Oct 2021 21:02 pm
BurntChurchMan wrote: 15 Oct 2021 17:24 pm
SimonKenton wrote: 15 Oct 2021 17:22 pm
candyman4881 wrote: 15 Oct 2021 15:06 pmGood God manin the words of the Ice Queen Elsa Let It Go
KENTON: Do you deny there is an autocratic movement in this country that has crystalized as Trumpism ? If you do, how about giving us a fulsome defense of your position and your reasoning behind it ….Invitation for a debate … not just reflexive, knee-jerk denial because you find it uncomfortable …. because no one believes this is about “policy” …. If it were, don’t you think Trump’s 2020 campaign and the RNC would’ve at least bothered to come up with a platform ?
When democracy over rules freedom and liberty, democracy.There, I said it.
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Do Americans Approve Of Bidens Response To The Coronavirus Crisis
A calculation of the share of all Americans who approve of the presidents handling of the coronavirus outbreak
But as you can see below, how well Americans think the president is doing still falls along partisan lines. Democrats largely approve of Bidens response Republicans do not. Independents fall somewhere in between. Biden does seem to be starting with a rosier outlook among independents and members of the other party than Trump ever did, however.
Data Download: The Numbers You Need To Know Today
58 percent: The share of Americans who say their bigger concern is making sure that everyone who wants to vote can do so, per new NBC News poll.
38 percent: The share who say their bigger concern is making sure that no one votes who is not eligible to vote.
1.6 million: The number of valid signatures collected by backers of the recall election against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, per the secretary of states office.
$400 million: How much the recall election could cost, according to the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials.
$15 an hour: The new minimum wage for federal contractors, starting in January, under an executive order that President Biden is set to sign.
89: The number of people New York fell short by in its count to retain one of its House seats.
32,276,517: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials.
576,763: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far, per the most recent data from NBC News. (Thats 474 more than yesterday morning.
230,768,454: The number of vaccine doses administered in the U.S.
26.5 percent: The share of Americans who are fully vaccinated
2: The number of days left for Biden to reach his 100-day vaccination goal.
Sahil Kapur notes that Bidens first 100 days have been shaped in some ways by the first 100 days of his Democratic predecessor.
How high should the capital gains tax be? Heres what some experts have to say.
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How Low Can He Go Biden Approval Drops To 38
President Bidens approval rating continues to sink. A new USA Today/Suffolk University poll shows the presidents approval rating is down to 38-percent, while Vice President Kamala Harris is even lower at 28-percent. Nearly half of those surveyed said they thought Biden has not lived up to their expectations of him leading the country, and nearly two-thirds say they hope he doesnt run for another term in 2024. The survey shows Democrats have plenty of work to do before next years election, which will play a big factor in shaping the remainder of Bidens term.
Trump Is An Egomaniac
I think Trump is a ego-maniac. And on his resume he would like to add the moniker of the man who gave America a shove back toward being number one again. It has nothing to do with liking his personality, his way of doing things or NOT DOING them. Because he is crazy impulsive he has no qualms to step on toes when he is on a roll, and correctness enters in his objective. So in my opinion, Trump is the only person in the playing field who could chop off heads, feet, or other current government extremities, which get in the way of what most Americans see as a path to make America over for Americans and strong again! An egotist who will not take no as an answer Trumps objective is to prove what he has said publicly is true.
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Under What Circumstances Would It Be Legal For Trump To Order An Attack
Lisbeth Gronlund, senior scientist and co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists: There are three basic criteria for the lawfulness of the use of any military weapons: the first is military necessity, which means an attack has to be limited to military objectives distinction, which means the attack must be able to discriminate between military and civilian targets and proportionality, which means the military objective has to outweigh the harm to civilians.
Bruce Blair, nuclear security expert and research scholar at the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University: There are two different questions. One is strictly legal, and the other is whether the chain of command would treat it as a legal one. I think for all intents and purposes, the chain of command would obey an order to carry out a nuclear strike, unless that strike is obviously illegal. I think thats a very high bar.
I think senior military commanders broadly defer to the president to determine when and how nuclear weapons would be used in the defense of the United States and that they would defer to judgment. If this nuclear crisis with North Korea continues to escalate and Trump decides to order a nuclear strike against North Korea, I think it would be considered legal by the chain of command.
