That is the question asked by my friend Bruce Gerencser, and it is certainly an interesting question. What is it about Trump that turns many an Evangelical (who so often proclaim themselves to be bastions of truth) into unrepentant liars?
Consider how much they turn a blind eye to Trump’s inciteful behaviour over the Jan 6th uprising. Consider the manner in which they ignore Trump’s role in ensuring the GOP is preventing measures to secure the USA’s southern border. Consider Trump’s various inflammatory remarks, and his overall behaviour. Why is it that Trump gets a free pass?
Is it because Trump talks a good game, at least in eyes of Evangelicals who worship him like some kind of messianic figure? It must be something to do with that. Trump has hoodwinked Evangelicals so completely, so utterly, that any mention of his legacy of failure (see Time’s list of his various business disasters) is immediately dismissed as a media conspiracy. The strength of cognitive bias is strong, so strong that Trump’s followers will not see the wood for the trees where he is concerned. Worse, some Evangelicals acknowledge Trump’s vast moral failings, yet do not care. These same Evangelicals would have probably hounded Bill Clinton over his own scandal, yet hold Trump to an entirely different hypocritical standard.
Perhaps the chief reason Evangelicals cannot be honest about Trump is because Trump is dangling alluring carrots over their heads. Trump (despite failing at Christianity in any and every meaningful way) is offering Evangelicals the beginnings of a theocracy. Evangelicals have long not cared for individual rights, despite claiming otherwise. They want their religious rules imposed upon everyone. Trump is offering to do that to gain their support. The insane thing is, a lot of Evangelicals trust him to do that, completely ignoring his legacy of failure.
UPDATE 8/3/24 – for the benefit of Silence of Mind, who asked for proof as to Trump’s epic string of failures, I present to him the following sources. I have no doubt that he, and other Trump-worshippers, will ignore the evidence, because it does not suit their misleading narrative that Trump is a messiah.
It is Trump who is derailing efforts to control the USA’s borders, and he is doing so for the sake of power, not because he acts altruistically: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/25/politics/gop-senators-angry-trump-immigration-deal/index.html, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/12/whats-wrong-with-republicans-immigration-claims
Trump is not a bastion of peace (this was one of Silence of Mind’s more absurd claims, easily debunked by a brief Google search that he will no doubt ignore): https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/04/18/donald-trump-presidency-anti-imperialist-militarism-war/
Trump’s business record involves a string of failed companies, yet conservatives would blindly trust him with the economy: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/donald-trumps-13-biggest-business-failures-59556/
Trump’s policy failures during the covid pandemic not only cost lives, but damaged stock markets: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/trumps-failed-presidency/
Twice under Trump the US government entered costly and damaging shutdowns which hurt ordinary Americans. This was despite Republicans controlling Congress to begin with, as Trump managed to successfully divide his own party. The second shutdown was also the longest in US government history: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/25/trump-shutdown-announcement-1125529
There are those who describe critics of Trump as suffering from ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’. I believe those are deranged about Trump are his followers, who are so blinded by his rhetoric that they support him without question. It is often his Evangelical following who spout off about morality, whilst following someone who has proven again and again that he has no morals. They are indeed the deranged ones.
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When you analyse Trump there is nothing there but a receptacle for particular groupings of people to place their prejudices and extreme views in.
All these years he has lived on the adulation through media of folk who have supported and encouraged his nihilistic and thuggish approach that you grab what you want and don’t give a straw for those you hurt.
In this he resembles an action style action toy. Like one of those with a long string at the end you pulled and it made a programmed sound.
His other facet is to be naught but a sounding board. Those who vote for him call out and he does their bidding.
In this case of the raw group frenzy of this loud grouping of Evangelicals they believe their extremists messages taken from selective parts of the Old Testament, bits of the Apostles Letter and of of The Book of Revelations are the whole of The Faith. Exclusive and Exclusion merged into one ugly near heresy of Christianity (let us not forget Boebert and her notorious blasphemous Jesus and gun utterances). They are frantic to have someone in the Whitehouse who will give them what they desire.
Trump wants to get back into the Whitehouse because the spolit selfish brat that he is did not like that toy being taken from him. So he will do the bidding of that Evangelical, who in their deluded frenzy had told themselves he divinely sent.
As a Christian who tries daily to live by the message of the Faith ( and usually fails at some stage…so back to square one and try again) I find the whole cycle offensive as bad as some cheap comic short of material making rude and ignorant jokes- only at least they are trying to play for laughs.
There is nothing funny about the ugly marriage of Trump and the Evangelicals
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Someone is angry!