in his inaugural speech On Monday, Donald Trump declared himself God's chosen instrument to save America. He recalled the assassination attempt he survived last year: "God saved me and made America great again."
Just minutes earlier, a smiling Franklin Graham — minister, Trump aide and sometimes admirer of Vladimir Putin — said in prayer made the same point of view. “Father, when Donald Trump’s enemies thought he was down and out, you single-handedly saved his life and used your mighty hand to raise him up with strength and strength.”
One of the newly minted president's first actions will be to grant pardons or commute sentences to the nearly 1,600 people charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Trump pardoned most defendants and commuted the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia groups, most of whom were found guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Axios The report said the pardons were "a last-minute, bandage-pushing decision to try to quickly resolve the issue." As Trump's team worked to resolve the issue, "Trump just said: 'Fuck! Free 'em,'" One consultant familiar with the discussions said AxiosMark Caputo.
More than 150 police officers were injured in the Capitol attack. They were hit with baseball bats, flagpoles and pipes. Former Capitol Police sergeant Aquilino Gonell, who retired after being injured in the attack, is angry about Trump's pardons and commutations. "This is a miscarriage of justice, betrayal, ridicule and desecration of the men and women who risk their lives to defend our democracy," Gornell told reporters. New York era"Luke Broadwater.
Officer Brian Sicknick, who was attacked by a pro-Trump mob, suffered a stroke and died of natural causes the next day. "I think about my brother almost every day," Craig Sicknick told Broadwater. "He's spent his whole life trying to do the right thing. He did it in the military. He did it as a police officer. He did it in his personal life," Sicknick added in January He was heartbroken by the lack of accountability from those who attacked the Capitol on the 6th.
“We almost lost our democracy that day,” he said. "Today, I really think we did lose our democracy."
The irony cannot be ignored: This movement has provided the loudest warnings of the past half-century about the dangers of cultural decadence, and it is most responsible for electing a president who is the embodiment of cultural decadence. (In 2024, Trump won more than 80% of the white evangelical vote.) Every area of Trump’s life is affected by corruption.
While white evangelicals have been solidly on his side since 2016, the nature of their support has changed. If you talked to many of Trump's evangelical supporters at the time, you'd find that they expressed a certain uneasiness about supporting him. They were quick to say they disapproved of his unethical behavior. The reason they rallied behind him was that his policies, particularly on abortion, aligned with their values. It's a transactional relationship; they say time and time again that defeating Hillary Clinton is a "binary choice." But they assure us they have no real love or deep loyalty to Trump. It would be better if another Republican without Trump's baggage could replace him.
It's different now. Other Republicans, like Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, did step up, but they never got the chance. Trump has a cult-like hold on large parts of the evangelical movement. No matter what he does, they will be with him. At first, they accepted his words. Then there's his performance. Now they have embraced the policies and appointments that once inspired rebellion. Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services — far and away the most important Cabinet department related to abortion. He just last year supported the legalization of late-term abortion on demand. Kennedy said abortion should be legal "even at full term."
"My belief is that we should leave it to women and we shouldn't let the government get involved," Kennedy said, reflecting views he has held throughout his life. (Under pressure, he walked back those remarks, but said only that abortions should be restricted in the last few months of pregnancy, when only a tiny fraction of abortions occur.) The Heritage Foundation paints itself as a conservative , ardent anti-abortion groups, heaped praise on Kennedy when he was confirmed.
A few weeks ago, a staunch anti-abortion conservative (who requested anonymity to speak out) put it this way to me: “If the anti-abortion movement is unwilling to speak out against a radically pro-life U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, then the movement What's the point?" he asked. "Why does it exist?"
As I wrote last August, Trump himself betrayed the anti-abortion cause during his campaign. Yet, with rare exceptions, those involved in the anti-abortion movement have remained silent. They remained loyal to him. No other president, including Ronald Reagan, could escape such punishment. Evangelicals have a reverence for Trump that Americans have never seen before.
Christian right luminary Eric Metaxas struggles to "make sense" of Trump's victory and inauguration. "It's so significant," Metaxas said, "that we have to go back to 1776."
"You cannot overstate the importance of our current situation," Metaxas continued. "This is commemorative".
Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor who served as governor of Arkansas and was chosen by Trump to serve as U.S. ambassador to Israel, said of Trump’s victory, “This is not a comeback. This is a resurgence. Resurrection, and a powerful one at that. He may henceforth be called President Lazarus.” Loyalty has turned to idolatry.
What is psychologically interesting For many evangelicals, the figure of Trump is so uplifting and uplifting. It was as if his disinhibition became theirs. Parents who disapproved of their children saying "damn" are now obsessed with a man saying "jerk." Those who espouse a culture of modesty and purity celebrate a serial adulterer who was married three times and paid hush money to porn stars. Believers who can recite portions of the Sermon on the Mount will be inspired by a man who, on the day he announced his re-election bid, pledged vengeance on his perceived enemies. Christians who have warned against moral relativism for decades are now moral relativists. Those who say a decent society must represent truth have embraced countless lies and conspiracy theories. People who are angry about “woke cancel culture” love to threaten to shut down those who disagree with them. Men and women who once defended law and order now owe allegiance to a felon who pardoned rioters who attacked police officers.
Trump is a permission slip; he unlocks the dissolute side of some fairly strict people, many of whom are ideologically inclined to legalism and eager to point out the sins of others, especially sexual sins.
But things still get weird. Many evangelicals justify their support of Trump on biblical grounds. They insist that they are on God's side, or maybe God is on their side. The more they are drawn into the MAGA movement, the more they tell themselves and others that they are now more faithful disciples of Jesus than ever before, and the more they lash out at those who are not in on the game.
The cognitive dissonance that results from behaving in a way that is fundamentally inconsistent with what they claim to believe, and probably have believed for most of their lives, will be unacceptably painful. The brain has ways of minimizing this discomfort: We rationalize our actions, defend ourselves, and downplay inconsistencies. The story many evangelicals tell each other today is that they are faithful followers of Christ, fighting against the forces of Satan bent on destroying everything they know and love, and willing to serve as God calls them to make America great again Stand up for yourself. It won't end well.
Not all evangelicals are Trump supporters. Not all evangelicals who voted for Donald Trump are MAGA fanatics. Even those with dignity should be respected. Politics does not define every aspect of their character.
It also needs to be said: Many evangelical churches, the pastors who lead them, and the people who make up them are doing a very good job. I have witnessed this firsthand and accepted those who gave me grace. Their priority is faith, not politics, and many of them conscientiously try to combine their politics with their faith. When it works, as it does in the abolitionist movement, the Global AIDS Initiative, refugee resettlement, and protecting religious freedom around the world, it promotes justice and healing.
But something wasn't right. Today, the evangelical movement is an important part of a larger and more disruptive political and cultural movement. In many cases, evangelicalism has become more tribal, intolerant, and cruel. The whole world is watching.
“Generally speaking,” said Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor, “I would say human beings behave worst toward one another when they believe they are protecting God.”
To hitch the evangelical bandwagon on Donald Trump means to divorce it from the life and teachings of Jesus. This is a bad deal.