Why Is Donald Trump so Popular with Evangelicals?

FIRST OF ALL I need to clarify why I am writing about Donald Trump in my blog about Christianity.

The Bible is filled with politics and Evangelicals in the U.S. generally love Donald Trump who seems to know almost nothing about the Bible.  Not all Evangelicals support Donald Trump, but a large enough group of them do for me to want to take a closer look at this phenomenon.

THE REASONS EVANGELICALS ARE PREPARED TO LIKE DONALD TRUMP are as follows:

1.  Evangelicals have placed their hopes in the Republican party after failing to begin their own party.

2.  Evangelicals learned about politics from Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Francis Schaefer, James Dobson, and other Evangelical leaders who learned that working with the enemy was vital in politics (as long as that enemy can further common interests). As a result, for some issues, Jerry Falwell, Hal Lindsey, and other Evangelical leaders united with and worked with Sun Myung Moon who proclaimed himself ruler of the world the completion of Jesus' failed ministry.

3. Many Blue-Collar Evangelicals have been listening to right winged radio show hosts who simplify politics, and demonize everything outside of the Conservative circle. Through these political pundits, Conservatives learn where to direct fears, hates, and angers while getting an education in the political world from a conservative and fear based world view.

4. Evangelicals have focused on small group of issues and Evangelicals will support any politician who support these issues (as long as they are Republican - because in their thinking only Republicans will believe and behave as they do).

Some of these issues are:

a.  Homosexuality

b.  Prayer in public schools (Evangelicals are already moving on from this one)

c.  Abortion (Catholics were 5 years ahead of the Evangelicals in fighting abortion, but once Evangelicals got on board, they have been strongly anti abortion since).

d.  Turning the country back to where it once was. This is pipe dream based in a glorified and false view of the past that many believe existed. I think most cultures fall into this "once upon a time" in some way or another. Even the writer of Ecclesiastes saw it in his day, "Do not say, 'Why is it that the former days were better than these?' For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this (Ecclesiastes 7:10)."

e.  Simple solutions for simple problems. In its most simple state, the picture looks like this:
1) The country was founded by good Christians who fled persecution in Europe.
2) The country used to be ruled by godly people who established godly rules.
3) The ungodly poisoned the well with evolution, and liberal thinking.
4) When prayer was taken out of public school, the country was doomed.
5) We need to fight to turn this country back to its roots and the best way to do that is through politics and prayer.


THE REASON EVANGELICALS LIKE DONALD TRUMP is that he gives them hope and promise to turn this country back to its legendary roots by draining the swamp and holding on to conservative values.

1. He is simple. He offers simple solutions and simplifies complex issues. Evangelicals, like most people, don't want life to be complex and difficult to understand. They want to understand and be able to solve life's issues without getting too bogged down with too much detail. There is a strong belief among many that life doesn't need to be complex.

Most politicians gravitate toward simplifying and handing out sound bites, but Donald Trump stands out in this area by providing the simplest answers and solutions. "Build a fence to keep Mexicans out." "Keep foreigners out."

Voters are tired of politicians who make everything complex.

2.  He is a bully. Many conservatives are tired of wishy-washy politicians that tip toe around issues and other countries. Conservatives would say that Donald Trump has balls and whether right or wrong, he stands up to his convictions.

3.  He has a well-known brand. Americans have seen him for years on TV as a boss who hires and fires celebrities. In his show, he is definitive (he rarely makes mistakes and never admits them), he is authoritative (celebrities kiss up to him), he is a family man (his two kids sit by his side and offer their opinions on who should stay and who should be fired), and he is successful, having built an empire few people have in this world. All of this adds up to a powerful image and image has been huge in politics since the Kennedy / Nixon debates. None of the other candidates have anything close to the brand that Trump brings to the table.