What do you call a thrice-married, self-promoting narcissist who is under investigation for operating a phony university — and who, until recently, was best known in politics for advancing outlandish and offensive conspiracy theories about the president’s birth certificate and college records?
Some conservatives call him an ideological ally and an attractive presidential candidate. Some Christian conservatives even call him “one of the greatest visionaries of our time.”
Donald Trump has a strange hold over the GOP, as numerous polls make clear. But far stranger is his popularity among Christian conservatives.
Trump’s popularity with evangelicals goes back some years. In 2012, Trump was a convocation speaker at Liberty University, the world’s largest evangelical Christian university, founded by the Moral Majority’s Jerry Falwell.
In a fawning introduction of Trump, Liberty’s current chancellor, Jerry Falwell, Jr., noted that the school had “never received this amount of positive feedback for a single convocation speaker.” He also said that Trump’s political positions “obviously resonate with the Liberty community and could make him the most popular convocation speaker in our history.”
Liberty awarded an honorary degree to Trump, whom Falwell lauded as “one of the greatest visionaries of our time.” He credited Trump with having “single-handedly forced president Obama to release his birth certificate,” which drew wild applause from the 10,000 students on hand. And he said, “Last year, out of a personal concern for the future of the country, he even considered running for president.”
Trump followed Falwell’s flattery with a meandering speech. For these students, at a school whose mission is to “train champions for Christ,” he offered the advice that they should try to “get even” with those who try to take advantage of them.
Now that he’s actually running for president, Trump’s evangelical support seems stronger than ever. “Trump is tapping into deep-seated anger in America, a nation founded by Christians ‘for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith,'” David Lane, a prominent national evangelical political organizer, told the Washington Examiner‘s Paul Bedard recently. “He’s tapping into something at the grassroots, precinct level of America. America is starving for moral, principled leadership. I hope that Donald Trump brings that.”
Here’s the problem: Trump, at least as he promotes himself publicly, is the exact opposite of what a Christian should aspire to be. He is vain, self-absorbed, petty, superficial and profane. He lacks restraint and makes a point of launching personal attacks at anyone who questions him, his intentions or (and especially) the size of his fortune.
He worships wealth, and he objectifies women, as his decades of notorious womanizing attest. Then there are comments like this one from 2006: “She does have a very nice figure. I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
Trump doesn’t seem to run his empire like someone who takes the Bible seriously. Most evangelical Christians would look askance at his four corporate bankruptcies and the numerous lawsuits that have targeted him for failing to pay lenders. He’s currently under investigation for defrauding thousands of people who enrolled to learn his real-estate investing strategies at the for-profit Trump University. Last year, the New York attorney general filed suit against Trump for more than $40 million, claiming that he intentionally misled thousands of people who paid up to $35,000 to participate in live seminars.
Trump, who in the past has said he is a Presbyterian, also doesn’t seem to have thought very much about his faith. At the recent Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, Trump was asked whether he’d ever asked God for forgiveness. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.” For that display of piety, The Donald received a standing ovation at the end of his speech.
Why do Christian conservatives like Trump in spite of all this? He does bear some vague similarities to them. He sees the world in absolutes — black and white, right and wrong, good versus evil. And many conservatives support him just because they are tired of a Republican establishment that promises one thing during campaign season and does something totally different after the elections.
Trump’s support among Christian conservatives can be seen as a creation of that frustration. And as long as that frustration remains, Trump will likely continue to win the affection of many Christian conservatives.
Daniel Allott is The Washington Examiner’s Deputy Commentary Editor
