Donald Trump’s reelection chances are quite dim without the robust support of his white evangelical base. His electoral college win in 2016 was fueled by white evangelical turnout and the overwhelming number of white evangelicals — 81% — who pulled the lever for him. He cannot afford for the religious right, made up of white evangelicals along with conservative white mainline Protestants and Catholics, to let up on the rapt support they have shown throughout his presidency.
That helps explain why, in the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic and a historic uprising against racism, the president and his allied power brokers on the religious right are focused not on addressing either crisis, but rather on stagecraft that will reinforce the base’s belief that Trump is a divinely anointed president who is saving white Christian America from ruin. CONT.
Sarah Posner, Los Angeles Times
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