Trump: Why is he supported? Is he ‘playing’ Christians?

When an evangelical Christian is asked to summarise the message of the Bible they often turn to John’s Gospel: ‘For God so loved the world…’. It is a compelling verse because it expresses the need for a personal response to Christ as our Saviour.

But this is not the only crystalline expression of God’s saving purpose in human history. In the prayer He taught us, Jesus gives us another: ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ Jesus is not only our Saviour; He also is our king. His purpose is to establish God’s rule and reign on earth. Following Jesus means that you are part of this movement.

But how are the followers of Jesus to bring about God’s rule and reign on earth?

In the USA Donald Trump has carefully nurtured his links with some evangelical leaders – those on the Christian right who have in turn cultivated the myth that God has anointed him to achieve His purposes in America and the world. Why? Because they think he is their key to political power and that, through that power, they will get God’s will done.

These Christians felt vindicated when Trump appointed three new conservative justices to the US Supreme Court. This made it possible to overturn Roe v. Wade and give individual states the right to outlaw abortion. The evangelical right was overjoyed, they had a president who was turning their dreams into reality. Their alliance with ‘The new Cyrus’ was paying off.

Apart from this, there are reasons why Trump is popular. ‘His supporters are not the Americans we know’, wrote Simon Jenkins in The Guardian, ‘They are often elderly, rural, working class and non-graduates… above all, they love Trump because they, too, are hostile to the Americans that he purports to hate.’ These hated Americans are the ‘liberals’, a college-educated elite who don’t care about the struggles of the working class. ‘Trump’s enemies would do well to look at the causes of their own unpopularity’, says Jenkins.

On the downside, he was recently fined £281.6 million in a civil fraud case, he is facing charges for trying to overturn the result of the 2020 election, and of hoarding classified documents in his private home. And he stands accused of sexual assault and of giving hush money to Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair.

Despite this, Faith and Freedom, a Christian lobbying organisation, is committing $62 million to encourage evangelicals to turn out and vote in November. If they can get those Christians into the polling booth, most of them will vote for Trump. Large numbers of American evangelicals are putting their trust in a man who lacks integrity, wisdom, and knowledge, and it looks like they are being played.

At a recent conference of Christian broadcasters in the States, Trump promised to stop liberals ‘tearing down the cross of Christ’. He said: ‘Remember, every communist regime throughout history has tried to stamp out the churches, just like every fascist regime has tried to co-opt them and control them.’ Don’t miss the irony in this, he is co-opting and controlling US Christians by promising to protect them from something that’s never going to happen.

The church has been here before, many times. We bought into political power after the conversion of Constantine and before long Christian leaders were aristocrats with a stake in the political system. Europe was ‘evangelised’ by missionaries promising more power and wealth to kings who converted and urged their subjects to do the same. No wonder that, despite luminous exceptions, the medieval church was rotten.

Some of our brothers and sisters in the US see very clearly the threat presented by Trump. Others hope to capture the centres of political power and pass laws that enforce Christian values. The result may well be chaos, a destabilised world, and an unstable president. It will certainly be ugly. ‘History repeats itself’, wrote poet Steve Turner, ‘Has to. No-one listens’.

But how are Christ’s followers to bring about His rule and reign on earth, if not through political clout? This is a trick question, because we don’t – He does! His strategy in human history is outlined in the two verses already quoted: we invite people to a personal encounter with Christ, and disciple them to live out His rule and reign in their lives. The result is Christian virtue born of love from within by God’s grace and, eventually, a transformed society. The real thing is very attractive.