The former president and a host of 18 of his cronies, including former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, were arrested in Fulton County, GA, this week on RICO charges and charges related to election fraud, specifically attempting to turn over his election results in the hard-fought state of Georgia. You would think that his support would be harmed by the disgrace of his office, but somehow, he is still leading in the GOP nomination and I just want to know, what will be enough for his supporters to finally give him up? In the 2016 election, Trump saw the highest support from the white evangelical voting block in several elections, including higher than Mr. Holy Undies himself, Mitt Romney.
What I cannot seem to understand is why.
For a group of people who live to condemn the sins of others, Trump seems to not only get a hall pass but his base still seems to stay strong. The 2020 election saw 75% of white evangelicals voting for Trump, it was only slightly down from the 81% who voted for him in the previous election. But I guess if you believe that a Middle Eastern man who became a blond, blue-eyed man would save you from your sins and you don’t really have to be a good person to maintain this salvation, then maybe you’ll believe that Trump is not only worthy of salvation but that he might save you and this country, too.
When Trump came on the scene, he was a rude and brash caricature of a politician and many people, who lack reasoning, found him to be endearing and, even though he is a billionaire, felt like he was one of them. Not sure how they got that, or maybe Trump, and all of his bigotry, all of his racism and misogyny, simply said the things these good Christian people were actually thinking. I initially thought it was laughable even that people would believe that a man with over a dozen bankruptcies would somehow get our country on the right track economically, but America, of course, proved me wrong.
“Grab her by the p*ssy,” seems so tame now, in comparison to some of his other antics, but let’s not forget that it is literally a call to sexual assault; it’s not a harmless flirtation or even a shoulder rub that is open for interpretation, but HR would frown upon. No, it is a pure violation of someone’s genitalia in response to them not giving you what you want sexually. So, it should come as no surprise that when it came to a lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, who alleged that Trump raped her, and the judge found that was “substantially true,” Trump’s support did not fade, but I mean the expectation that people whose religion is based on the lack of consent of a teenager, would really have a problem with rape, is low. While attempting to defend the institution of marriage, many white evangelical Christians oppose gay marriage, you know, because, like gays, it might destroy the sanctity of the institution. Lucky for them, Trump has done it three times and had extramarital affairs and over 20 accusations of sexual assault since the 70s, not to mention him paying off a porn star.
The lovers of the Prince of Peace seem to have no problem with voting for someone who has not denounced his fervent support from neo-Nazis and other far-right, white nationalist groups, and in fact, seemed to stoke the disorder that continued throughout the country.
In a country where white evangelicals seem to dismiss the mistreatment of Black Americans as simply us not complying with the law, the attempt at overthrowing the government on Jan. 6 was clearly not a detrimental factor in his support. Now, if trying to overthrow the government ain’t a violation of the law, then I don’t know what is.
Honestly, the list of Trump’s violations of the American people is so long that it is hard to remember so many but even harder to ignore them, yet so many of his supporters succeed in the latter. A casino baron successfully courting the religious right should not sound as far-fetched as it does, but hey, as long as they got abortions taken away, all of the other stuff is forgivable. Many justify Trump’s actions as God using an imperfect vessel to carry out his will because even though he could’ve chosen anyone, he chose Trump, out of all people; if it is a man, he can be a rapist who saves the world, and if it is a young girl, she can be violated as long as it saves the world too.
The GOP nominee with the highest support was jailed this week, and no matter how bad of an actor he is on the world’s stage, it seems that he will always have a captive audience.
