Evangelical Christians widely supported Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. That support has waned over the past few years, and he’s not happy about it. But there are reasons why evangelicals are rethinking their support for Trump, at least during the primaries.
Trump’s legal liabilities. On May 9, a New York jury in a civil case found Trump guilty of sexual abuse, though not the more serious charge of rape, and ordered him to pay the victim $5 million in damages.
There are currently four ongoing criminal investigations into Trump by: (1) the Manhattan district attorney, in which Trump has been indicted on charges related to paying off a porn star; (2) the New York state attorney general, who is investigating his business practices; (3) the Fulton County, Ga., district attorney, who is looking at possible election interference; and (4) special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating Trump’s actions relating to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and his handling of classified documents.
That’s quite a list. And several of Trump’s closest associates, including his former lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, and ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg have been sentenced to jail for actions related to Trump or his business.
Trump has asserted he did nothing wrong in any of the cases, claiming the investigations are all politically motivated. And that may be true. But just because civil or criminal charges are politically motivated doesn’t mean they’re false. They may be politically motivated and still be true.
The Bible calls on Christians to obey the laws of the land, as long as those laws don’t contradict the laws of God. Trump’s many legal problems are making evangelicals, who put a strong emphasis on following biblical teaching, increasingly uncomfortable. And it’s not just his legal issues.
Trump’s vindictiveness. God gave us the Ten Commandments; former President Reagan gave us (or at least gave Republicans) the Eleventh Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.”
Actually, the phrase was apparently coined in the 1960s by the then-California Republican Party chairman, but Reagan made it a national rule. It’s not a rule Trump likes to follow.
Trump’s harsh and often juvenile criticisms of former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, and especially Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are both petty and, in most cases, demonstrably untrue. Ironically, those attacks are often more vicious than his criticism of the left and the media.
Trump’s vindictiveness, especially against other Republicans, is a distraction, and it puts his supporters, most of whom would never say or believe such things themselves, in the awkward position of defending the indefensible.
It’s hard enough for Christians to live up to the Ten Commandments standard. It shouldn’t be that hard for Republicans to live up to Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment.
Trump’s questionable conservatism. At the first Conservative Political Action Conference after the 2016 election, I heard radio talk show host Mark Levin say that he didn’t think Trump was a conservative, but he did conservative things.
And as president, Trump did achieve some conservative goals: tax reform, seating three conservative originalists on the Supreme Court, moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, setting in motion the Abraham Accords, and other accomplishments.
However, some of Trump’s strongest supporters have publicly stated that it’s time to abandon the “conservative” moniker, because it does not accurately describe the Trump movement.
Evangelicals have increasingly embraced the principles and policies espoused by the post–World War II conservative movement: respect for the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law; a small, accountable and fiscally responsible government; a strong national defense; religious freedom and individual liberty; free-market economic policies; and most positions on moral and cultural issues.
In addition, those principles and policies generally define the Republican Party, making evangelicals one of the GOP’s most loyal voting blocks.
Having aligned with Democratic policies for years before switching to the GOP, Trump has never been a traditional conservative. Evangelicals are now realizing their support for conservative principles makes their support for Trump more difficult.
There are better options. The good news for evangelicals is that there are some very good, like-minded candidates who have entered, or will enter, the presidential contest. Pence and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) have perhaps been the most open, vocal and consistent in their Christian faith. And there will likely be others.
Ideally, evangelicals (and I count myself as one) should be supporting candidates who best reflect their values, which include but are not limited to religion, at least through the primaries.
Once the primaries are over, presidential elections are essentially an either/or choice: the Republican or the Democrat. That changes the calculus. Voters are then faced with the choice of the better, or sometimes the least bad, of the two candidates.
Evangelicals may widely support Trump again if he becomes the Republican nominee. But at least in the primaries, there will be other candidates who any evangelical would be proud to back.
Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @MerrillMatthews