USA: the religious right, loyal base of Donald Trump
Audio 19:30
André Gagné, Professor of Theological Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, author of the book “These Evangelicals Behind Trump”.
RFI / Eric de Salve
By: Eric de Salve Follow
35 mins
It is Donald Trump's most loyal electoral base.
White evangelicals voted for him over 80% in 2016. During his four years in power, the US president has made the decisions that the American religious right has dreamed of for years.
As the presidential election approaches, these ultra-conservatives still seem to be united behind the American president.
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It's one of those big political meetings like Donald Trump loves them so much.
One particularity, however.
This time, on stage, the President of the United States is surrounded by 7 evangelical pastors.
All have their hands on him and pray for his re-election on November 3, 2020. We are in a
megachurch
, as Americans in Miami call them, the King Jesus apostolic mega-church of televangelist Guillermo Maldonado, ardent supporter of Donald Trump .
In this mega church in Florida, 7,000 people came to listen to their hero, the American president.
Many are wrapped in Trump 2020 flags and wear the famous red "Make America Great Again" cap on their heads.
We are in January 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic.
This politico-religious meeting marks the launch of the coalition of evangelicals for Donald Trump.
The billionaire president made the trip in person to treat this religious right that has become the heart of his electoral base, and Pastor Maldonado is not mistaken.
In his fiery prayer of blessing, hand on the Bible, he calls his thousands of faithful to vote to give him a second term.
Pastor Maldonado:
“
Our Father, we pray that you will give courage to the President
”.
A prayer with very political accents in front of 7,000 faithful.
They all have their hands raised and turned to President Trump, heads bowed, eyes closed in piety.
“
Four more years at the House
”, sing the faithful in chorus.
Because everyone here is convinced, Donald Trump is their best ally, but how can this three times married president, this president who proposes to catch women by their genitals, this president accused of multiple sexual assaults, who buys the silence of Pornographic actresses who accuse him of extra-marital sex, how did this Donald Trump unable to quote the Bible manage to set himself up as the muse of ultra-conservative American Christians?
In his prayer, Pastor Maldonado offers a beginning of explanation: "
Oh no, he does not claim to be perfect,
said the pastor,
but Lord
, he said,
let him be for us the Cyrus of our time
" .
This cleric compares Donald Trump to a forgotten figure of the Old Testament, King Cyrus of Persia, a king also very imperfect, but a king chosen by God to save the Jewish people.
The comparison was theorized by Lance Wallnau, an American evangelical figure.
It has since been taken over by the entire religious right.
According to this theory of Cyrus, not only his many imperfections would not disqualify Donald Trump, but on the contrary his excesses are the proof that God chose him to make him his messenger, as he had done with Cyrus.
Explanations with André Gagné, professor of Theological Studies at Concordia University in Canada, author of a recent book on the subject:
These Evangelicals behind Trump
.
“
Comparing Trump to Cyrus legitimizes the idea that God can choose someone imperfect to do his will.
These evangelicals who support Trump are very aware that Trump is not perfect.
We have seen important figures in the evangelical world like Franklin Graham, for example, attempt to defend Trump by saying that Trump is not perfect, but that God chooses precisely sinful individuals.
Some also compare Trump to King David.
This very great king of the Bible had committed adultery, and had even killed the husband of the woman with whom he had committed adultery.
Again, this is about proving that God can choose imperfect individuals like Trump to accomplish His will.
And that is the goal of this typological, analogical reading of biblical texts
”.
Worshipers pray at a meeting at the Evangelical King Jesus megachurch in Miami, January 3, 2020. JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP
Back in the King Jesus megachurch in Miami, it is the turn of a woman pastor to lead the prayer.
In her pink dress mounted on her pumps, Paula White, platinum blonde, electrifies the crowd like a pop singer.
She is the evangelical figure closest to Donald Trump.
Paula White claims to be at the origin of her return to religion.
Between them, it all started in 2002 with a simple phone call after one of his interventions on a Christian television channel.
Pastor Paula White, Spiritual Advisor to President Trump:
“
Almost 19 years ago, I received an unexpected call, it was Mr. Trump who was still just an entrepreneur.
He had just seen me on a Christian channel.
Not only did I have the privilege of praying to accompany him in his destiny, but I also surrounded him with people of faith until I saw him become the 45th President of the United States
”.
Appointed personal spiritual advisor to the president, Paula White now has her office in the White House.
Pastor Paula White, Spiritual Advisor to President Trump:
“
This is the work of God.
It is certain
”.
It was she who had the honor to pronounce the prayer during the inauguration of the president in 2016. A few months before her victory, Paula White had succeeded in federating, despite their differences, several great names in American evangelism behind Donald Trump's candidacy.
However, Paula White is far from unanimous in the community.
Some evangelists even accuse her of being a heretic and a charlatan.
Because Paula White belongs to a very contested current, the theology of prosperity.
A televangelism, a pure product of American capitalism with a very simple mantra: the faithful must enrich their pastor in order to receive financial retribution from God in return.
This is the message that Paula White sends almost every day to her faithful asking them to send her money, during her interventions on evangelical cable channels, money that American law exempts from all taxation.
Paula White:
“
Many give a day's salary, some a week, others give a month's salary!
Because we know it all comes back to God.
For your first donation of $ 50 or more, I'll give you a copy of my book and a pious item.
But if you donate $ 75 or more then I will additionally give you a very special calendar with a reminder of all of God's promises throughout the year.
Because God has a life plan for you.
Whether it's for your friends, your finances, your dreams and everything in your life.
So click quickly on this link to honor God with a first donation
”.
Paula White is a millionaire pastor who lives on a huge ranch in Florida, doesn't hesitate to flaunt himself behind the wheel of his convertible Lamborghini, or to travel in a private jet.
The luxurious lifestyle of the sulphurous spiritual advisor of the president earned her the subject of an investigation by the United States Senate in 2007 for embezzlement but, according to the academic André Gagné, Paula White and Donald Trump had everything to get along.
André Gagné:
“
Paula White is an outsider who has succeeded in breaking through.
And Donald Trump is also a political outsider.
It's interesting to see how these two outsiders managed to ally themselves to finally manage to influence the United States politically by rallying pastors who are not necessarily from the same theological point of view, but who have a common cause: the return to Judeo-Christian values, the fight against abortion, opposition to the rights of LGBTQ people, that's what constitutes the Christian right
”.
This alliance between Donald Trump and the religious right looks like an exchange of good practices.
In 2016, 81% of white evangelicals voted for him, the proportion seems equivalent at the end of his 4 years in the White House because, in his exercise of power, the president scrupulously took care of this religious right, as he recalled today. there in the megachurch of Miami.
Donald Trump:
“
Evangelicals and Christians of all denominations know that they have never had a better advocate than me in the White House.
Never.
Our opponents want to eliminate God from the public space in order to be able to impose their extremist, anti-religion and socialist agenda.
But we, God is on our side.
November 3, 2020 is the date!
We will achieve another monumental victory.
A victory for God and the family.
For faith and freedom.
"
André Gagné:
“
Trump managed to bamboozle them.
And at the same time, their relationship is still really transactional.
Trump listens to this electoral base and all of his political decisions are influenced by the Christian right.
Trump has no choice if he wants to stay in power because he depends so much on this evangelical base.
Remember that in the United States there are currently approximately 95 million evangelicals.
So of course not all voted for Trump, but those who did managed to put Donald Trump in power without even winning the popular vote.
We must not underestimate the electoral base that the Christian right constitutes for Trump, its capacity for mobilization is phenomenal
”.
Donald Trump:
“
From the day I was elected, the government's war on religion came to an abrupt end
!
"
And in the American evangelical sphere, Donald Trump has another strong supporter.
Robert Jefress, pastor of First Baptist Chruch of Dallas, sings the president's praises almost daily on Fox News, which has become the main channel for Trumpist propaganda in the United States.
And when you ask Pastor Jefress why white evangelicals so strongly support Donald Trump.
The Texan pastor answers in three points without hesitation.
Robert Jefress:
“
This is because of his measures for religious freedom, the relocation of the American embassy to Jerusalem and his appointments as conservative judges.
We are engaged in a battle.
It's no longer just a battle between Democrats and Republicans, but it's a battle between Good and Evil.
Look at the Democrats, all of their candidates are for limitless abortion.
We think it's not just bad, it's barbaric.
That's why we need a president like Donald Trump who is pro-life, pro-religion and on the good side of God.
And I told the president, you will have an even greater victory among evangelicals in 2020 than in 2016
”.
Very close to Donald Trump, Pastor Jefress is a member of the White House Faith Intiative, a structure created by the Trump administration to advise the president on religious issues, particularly in foreign policy.
Like most American evangelicals, Robert Jefress is a Zionist Christian.
In 2018, he was also one of two pastors invited to deliver the inaugural prayer of the inauguration ceremony of the American Embassy in Jerusalem, an event consistently cited as one of the most significant of the Trump mandate by Evangelicals who link it to a biblical prophecy heralding, according to them, the return of Jesus to Earth, as researcher André Gagné explains.
André Gagné:
“
Israel is extremely important for evangelicals because for them Israel is the chosen people of God.
They rely on texts from the Old Testament to come to this conclusion.
And that's why there is unwavering support for Israel and support against its enemies like Iran, for example.
For in evangelical thought, those who bless Israel will be blessed by God and those who curse Israel will be cursed by God.
They enter into an alliance with Israel to ensure that God continues to bless the United States.
In addition, there is also a whole eschatological reading around Israel, a whole ideology of the End Times, and of what they believe to be heralding of the second coming of Christ on Earth to establish an eternal kingdom.
They do a geopolitical reading of what they see as Bible prophecy.
And at the same time, they are in fact very anti-Semitic, because this eschatological fantasy is also part of the perspective of converting the Jews to the Christian religion.
Because according to their reading of biblical prophecies, the Jews, in the last days, will recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah
”.
And according to André Gagné, the entire Trump administration is influenced by this American religious right, with men like Mike Pence, a vice-president who defines himself as Christian, conservative and Republican in that order.
But also Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State and also a convinced evangelical.
André Gagné:
“
Mike Pompeo himself says that he conducts his policy based on the Bible.
He regularly consults the Bible.
The Bible is his bedside book.
During a meeting in a church in 2015, he said he was impatiently awaiting what is called “the rapture” of the Church, what is called “the rapture” in evangelical circles.
It is a text which one finds in one of the epistles of the New Testament and which explains that one day, Christ will return to seek his own on Earth to take them with him, it is “the rapture”.
And this “rapture of the Church” is seen by some evangelicals as a sign of the End Times.
Mike Pompeo says it without hiding it, he believes in this prophecy.
And he's the US Secretary of State.
It is certain that that shapes his policy
”.
But beyond his foreign policy, what has earned Donald Trump the unwavering support of the evangelicals is also his anti-abortion policy.
In 4 years, the president will have appointed nearly 300 federal judges for life, conservative and young judges capable of lastingly transforming American society.
Donald Trump:
“
We have judges who are very young.
They are here for at least 40 years!
The far left is trying to replace religion with the state and God with socialism.
We believe in religious freedom and the right to life
”.
André Gagné:
“
The Democratic Party is characterized as being under satanic or demonic influence.
It is a way of saying that this party is not capable of governing the country.
And we want this rhetoric to emerge from influential pastors who have thousands of followers.
Suddenly, there is an atmosphere of fear and fear that is created in these ultra-conservative groups who say to themselves that we must defend ourselves, that we must take up arms if necessary.
And we have the Constitution with us to keep our weapons and defend ourselves.
The rhetoric used is a rhetoric of war, of mobilization, of spiritual conflict.
And this demonization of the adversary only adds fuel to the fire.
And we should not be surprised to end up seeing them side with those who would initiate violent actions
”.
And with the probable appointment of a third conservative judge by Donald Trump to the Supreme Court, the right to abortion has never been so threatened since its legalization, with the Roe V Wade decision in 1973. In this battle of abortion, the Democratic Party is presented by the evangelical pastors close to the president as the anti-God party, a speech that further widens the division between two Americas,
explains André Gagné.
In the meantime, the whole of the United States has been suspended from the health reports of Donald Trump's doctor, since the announcement of his positive coronavirus test.
The president probably contracted the disease, during the ceremony of presentation without mask to the White House, of his candidate for the Supreme Court, Amy Coney Baret.
A ceremony in which his spiritual advisor also participated without a mask.
On the internet, Paula White has since been organizing prayers for the American president and the pastor of the White House assures him,
Donald Trump will be cured of the coronavirus by the force of prayer
.
A great report by Eric de Salve.
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