Mysterious Support from Evangelicals

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | June 17, 2023

This is a tale of two Republican presidential candidates who both need the support of those identifying as evangelical Christians. Actually, it’s not just a tale—it’s a mystery. We’ll call them Candidate #1 and Candidate #2.

Candidate #1 is a serial adulterer having admitted to cheating on his first two wives and been accused of cheating on his third. He paid $130,000 to an adult film star so she would not talk about a fling he claims never happened.

Candidate #2 has been married to the same woman for more than 30 years, and there have been no accusations of adultery and no hush money payment has been paid to anyone. He won’t even have lunch or dinner alone with a female colleague.

Candidate #1, we are told in several books written about him, often takes the Lord’s name in vain along with other “colorful” language. Candidate #2 has never been accused of taking the Lord’s name in vain or of uttering other profanities.

Candidate #1 usually plays golf or works on Sunday. Candidate #2 goes to church and then spends time with his family on Sunday.

Candidate #1 bears false witness pretty regularly and, according to The Washington Post Fact Checker, has averaged about 22 falsehoods a day since 2016, or more than 30,000 total. Candidate #2 has borne false witness, always about policy or politics, about one percent as often, according to the same source.

Candidate #1 settled many lawsuits in which he was accused of financial shenanigans, fraud, or failure to pay contractors for work completed. Candidate #2 has made no settlements in or out of court, though he was sued in an attempt to force him to overturn the 2020 election.

Candidate #1 was once pro-choice (while appearing on Meet the Press in 1999, he said, “I am very pro-choice”) before becoming pro-life and opposing Roe v. Wade. He has said he believes abortion laws should be up to the states as the Supreme Court decided.

Candidate #2 has always been pro-life and always wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. He favors a federal statute or statutes banning abortion nationwide.

Candidate #1 believes leaders in Russia, China, and North Korea are “top level” and we should be friends with Kim Jung-un, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jingping. Candidate #2 doubts that Russia, China, and North Korea leaders will be our friends, as they have a history of ignoring treaties and should not be trusted.

Candidate #1 attempted to subvert the U.S. Constitution. Candidate #2 protected and defended the U.S. Constitution.

Candidate #1 has been charged with dozens of felonies in two separate investigations in different states and has been found guilty of sexual abuse in a civil case and ordered to pay his victim $5 million. Candidate #2 has not been charged with any criminal behavior nor is he the target of any civil suits.

Candidate #1 is a serial commandment breaker whose only understanding of the Golden Rule is the “Do unto others...” part. Candidate #2 might as well have been created by mad scientists in a Bible study class.

Now we’ll get to the mystery, because those who identify themselves as evangelical Christians—you know, people who believe in the Bible and take the Ten Commandments pretty seriously—give 52 percent of their support nationally to Candidate #1 according to a Monmouth Poll in late March. Even more mysterious, according to a Des Moines Register poll, 58 percent of self-identified Iowa evangelical Christian voters also support Candidate #1 while Candidate #2 is mired in single digits in both polls.

Candidate #1 in this scenario is obviously Donald Trump and Candidate #2 is just as obviously Mike Pence. The mystery is clear: Why do voters who claim to adhere to conservative Christian values, like Mike Pence apparently does, support someone who adheres to none of them? (Yes, there are plenty of reasons for Democrats to reject Mike Pence on policy grounds and issues alone, but that’s a different column.)

Research reported in Time magazine indicates conservative Christians support Trump because he is anti-abortion, pro-Christmas, pro-religious freedom, and pro-Israel. But Mike Pence shares those same positions without any of the Trump baggage. The research gets more interesting the deeper it goes. Nearly two-thirds of white evangelicals believe the 2020 election was stolen. Nearly as many believe the risks of COVID-19 were overstated and that this is a Christian nation more than a secular republic.

But Christian nationalism is anathema to real patriotism and is another falsity perpetuated by Trump to appeal to his evangelical Christian base. If his negativity and fear mongering—everything is terrible, he knows who to blame, and he will destroy them—are what truly attaches evangelicals to Trump and away from Pence and other Republicans…well, that isn’t very Christian at all.