What is the motivation behind different religious groups and their support of Trump

Politics & Elections
21

Like the saying goes, you can’t reason someone out of a belief they didn’t reason themselves into.

22

I have been asking this fucking question since this all began, and I have never gotten a straight answer from a Trumpette.

23

As a Christian myself I’m somewhat baffled by the continuing Evangelical support for Trump. But I want to make a couple of points:

  • The OP mentions “Evangelicals”, “Catholics” and “Mormons”. This leaves out a relatively large swath of non-Evangelical protestants. I would include the “mainline” denominations here - the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists and Lutherans, mainly, who tend to skew more liberal as a whole (while each including conservative, evangelical members and offshoots).

  • In my interactions with Evangelicals, a lot of them tend to use abortion policy as a litmus test. They’ll also have a whole litany of sins that they accuse Clinton of, but being a baby killer is the biggest one. They are deaf to the fact that abortion rates go down more when Democrats are in office, or that Trump was pro-choice until he ran for president, or that no GOP president in the last 40 years has done anything to overturn Roe v. Wade.

  • Politics in this country has become a sport, where you are loyal to a team, and you root for that team regardless of who the players are. Tom Brady is not necessarily a good role model for my kids, but I’m a Patriots fan regardless, and I hated Peyton Manning for no other reason than that he was Brady’s biggest opponent. Some people are just Republicans; that’s their team, that’s their identity, and they will vote for the Republican candidate no matter what level of self-delusion and false justification it requires. That’s true for some Democratic cohorts as well, but when were talking about Evangelicals we are talking about Republicans.

  • There are cracks in the armor this cycle. Christianity Today, probably the leading Evangelical periodical in the country, has published a number of articles pointing out that Christians might be able to vote for Clinton in good conscience. Of course, the magazine or author is then excoriated in online comments and calls “apostate”, “satanic” and “evil” – you know, the way humble, loving Christians do to each other.