… In Trump’s final days in the White House, it was often difficult to tell where puffery ended and the putsch began, but the religious framing of the effort to keep him in office was always clear. The question of who would occupy the White House after Jan. 20 had implications that were literally apocalyptic. Armed with this understanding — relentlessly pushed by prominent voices in Christian media, including presidential spiritual adviser Paula White, who virally denounced “demonic plans and networks” working on Joe Biden’s behalf, and author and radio host Eric Metaxas, who said that “this is God’s battle even more than our battle” — many of the insurrectionists believed that Trump would remain in power because the necessity of that outcome was entwined with deeper beliefs. “Jesus is my savior,” one popular flag seen during the Capitol siege said, “Trump is my president.” In their minds, it was not just the commander in chief who wanted the election results overturned, it was the Lord on high. CONTINUED
Peter Manseau (Smithsonian), Washington Post