Trump As God-Daddy: Why Evangelicals Backed a Boastful, Vengeful Philanderer
- Tim Cusack
- Feb 8, 2017
- 4 min read
One of the most puzzling paradoxes of the many associated with the rapid ascendancy of Trumpism to the highest levels of power in the land has been the president’s overwhelming support among conservative Christians of European descent. Exit polls conducted during the general election showed that Trump captured eighty percent of the white evangelical vote—a higher percentage than even the born-again George W. Bush garnered. Trump also outperformed Clinton among conservative Catholics and Mormons, albeit at significantly smaller margins.
A Pew Research Center poll surveyed likely evangelical voters following the summer conventions and found that a third of these voters were supporting Trump simply because he wasn’t Clinton (the most popular response). However, nearly twenty percent also cited “his personality” as a reason they were planning to pull the lever in his favor. And while this poll was conducted before the infamous Billy Bush outtakes video that caught Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women leaked to the press, these revelations did nothing to alter support for the candidate among this voting bloc.
For a community that prides itself on adhering to strict moral litmus tests when vetting candidates for political office, supporting a casino owner who is a known philanderer with a history of refusing to pay the people who work for him—most recently the electrical contractor for Trump’s D.C. hotel—is bewildering. On top of all of that, he also tends to boast about things he’s never actually done. I can’t speak for evangelical Sunday school, but in the Catholic catechism classes I attended as a kid, gambling, extra-marital sex, stealing from other people, excessive bragging, and telling lies were all presented as big no-nos.
Throughout the campaign and during its aftermath political commentators grappled with trying to explain what on the surface seems inexplicable. Was this a response in the face of racial and religious diversity to a perceived erosion of the historical domination of white Christianity throughout this country? Sexism? Economic insecurity? Political pragmatism? Perhaps it was a symptom of the rise of authoritarianism in US culture? Maybe it was just plain old-fashioned hypocrisy?
I think any and all of these factors could have played a part in any particular individual’s decision-making process, consciously or not. After all, people are complex, and nothing we do is reducible to a single motivator.
But I keep going back to the fact that at least one out of five conservative Christians stated that they were voting for Trump not despite his personality but because of it. And it’s led me to a conclusion: Perhaps Donald Trump was able to garner so much support among the redemption crowd despite his numerous and unrepented sins (this is, after all, the man who famously claimed that he never says he’s sorry because he’s never wrong ) because he embodies the Puritan ideal of the Deity.
The Reverend Robert Cunningham from Tates Creek Presbyterian Church in Lexington, KY, hinted at this almost a year ago when he blogged about his concerns that too many evangelical Christians were “in love” with Trump. One sentence in particular eerily foreshadows the cult of personality that Trump, Bannon, and their minions now seem to be constructing around the new president:
Evangelicals don’t believe in Donald Trump as much as they love Donald Trump and all that Donald Trump represents. Watch these rallies and you will quickly see they have nothing to do with inspiring ideas or hopeful policies; they’re worship services.
So what does this cult worship? Someone kind of like (alright, a lot like) the God about whom RIchard Dawkins famously wrote in his book The God Delusion: "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction." A vengeful god for whom no perceived slight is too small to be punished with the force of his wrath. A god who demands constant praise and admiration from His followers. A tribal god—one might say an America/Israel-First god—dedicated to smiting, or at least banishing, the perceived enemies of the people from their rightful promised land. Even if they had been living there long before them. A god very, very, very jealous of other people’s gods.
He is furthermore a capricious God, one prone to temper tantrums and fits of anger. He demands a human sacrifice from Abraham only to reveal he was just kidding and a ram will do perfectly fine. “Don’t take it personally. I was only testing your loyalty, Abe, err, Sean.” A singular decider god with no pantheon of other gods or Congresspeople or even Supreme Court Justices that He has to answer to. But why should he have to answer to anyone, human or divine, because he is perfect and always right?
He is God-Daddy. He alone knows what’s best. And he’ll tweet it out one stone tablet at a time from his Golden Throne high in the clouds over Manhattan. Just don’t think you can sue him if one happens to land on your head while you’re walking down Fifth Avenue because he won’t pay. He’ll simply counter-sue until every last penny and shred of dignity has been drained from your life and you lie prostate at the foot of Jacob’s Ladder, I mean Trump Tower Escalator—a Job begging for mercy.
God help us all.