Category: NBC News

It’s not news to most Americans that evangelicals see Donald Trump as their modern-day savior. Donald Trump has indicated that he sees himself as having in fact done more for evangelicals than even Christ himself did.

Indeed, Donald Trump has appointed two conservative Supreme Court Judges and numerous conservative federal judges who evangelicals hope will overturn Roe v. Wade for them. He has moved the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after having earlier declared the U.S. as officially recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital—moves that evangelicals see as crucial to fulfilling their biblical “End Times” prophecy (Trump himself likely didn’t understand that at the time; he just knew that Israel, and especially Jerusalem, are important to the evangelicals). He’s done numerous photo ops with famous evangelical leaders, where he appears to have his head bowed in prayer. He mirrors the evangelicals’ disdain for science, especially when it contradicts their worldview.

Like a teenage boy who wants to date your daughter, Trump has learned to work the evangelical room, aiming to impress with words and phrases that, while not often accurate, are close enough to sound like he’s making a sincere effort.

“He gets us,” they think, willfully overlooking his gaffs.

“I get you like no one else in the history of the world ever has,” adds Donald Trump.

And what pandering scheme would be complete without promoting Bible-thumping capitalists at his Coronavirus Task Force briefings?

“God gave us grace on November 8, 2016 to change the course we were on,” said Mike Lindell, inventor and CEO of MyPillow from the podium. Lindell’s company will convert 75 percent of its pillow-making production to making masks to help combat the COVID-19 crisis.

“God had been taken out of our schools and lives, a nation had turned its back on God. I encourage you to use this time at home to get back in the Word. Read our Bibles and spend time with our families.”

To be sure, Americans are grateful that Lindell and the folks at MyPillow have stepped up. Evangelicals, however, are over the moon that Trump chose to showcase someone (Lindell) who wants America to “get back in the Word.” Their president’s gross mishandling of the coronavirus crisis, now a pandemic, is canceled out by what they see as his heroism in anointing people who are fond of quoting New Testament scripture.

The rest of us know that Donald Trump’s evangelical posturing isn’t genuine. The evangelicals know it, too, on some level, and Donald Trump almost certainly knows that they know it.

Why does it all continue to work?

For the hard-core evangelicals, if one has faith, one should not be interested in proof. One does not need science or data—in fact, they are to be scorned—if they are in conflict with what evangelicals believe to be true. Hence, in the evangelical Christians, Donald Trump has found the ideal base of supporters who will be with him as long as he vaguely refers to something biblical once in awhile, and continues to disregard science.

Though Donald Trump likely can’t consciously cite the neuroscientific phenomenon, he is instinctually aware of what neuroscientist Dr. Michael Shermer calls The Believing Brain. Shermer’s thesis is, “We form our beliefs for a variety of subjective, personal, emotional, and psychological reasons in the context of environments created by family, friends, colleagues, culture, and society at large; after forming our beliefs we then defend, justify, and rationalize them with a host of intellectual reasons, cogent arguments, and rational explanations. Beliefs come first, explanations for beliefs follow.”

Donald Trump knows that, like most human beings, the evangelicals will sooner disregard or shape facts and contrary evidence to fit their narrative than abandon their faith. He knows, too, that this applies not only to their religious faith, but also to their faith in Donald Trump.

This is a gift to Donald Trump, especially because many evangelicals go a step further by believing that God chose Donald Trump to be president. Because of this, he knows they will forgive, overlook, deny, or rationalize every corrupt, dangerous, perilous, or irrational move he makes. And in return, they will get their judges, their hoped-for reversal of Roe v. Wade, their “godly” government. Or not.

With symbiotic relationships in the plant and animal kingdoms, participants benefit mutually from each other. Donald Trump, however, knows that his symbiotic relationship with his evangelical base only requires that as long as they see him as appointed by God, it’s only important that they feel like the relationship is mutually beneficial.