Here's why white evangelical Christians are more excited about Trump than ever

Many white evangelical Christians voted reluctantly for President Trump in 2016, seeing him as the lesser evil to Hillary Clinton, "but now, many are genuinely delighted by the Trump they've seen in office," The Washington Post reports, citing interviews with 50 evangelicals in Wisconsin, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

Trump got a higher percentage of white evangelical voters than the previous three Republican nominees, and Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, predicts he'll meet or beat that in 2020. Polling supports that claim. White evangelicals fawning over a thrice-married, adulterous, Bible-mangling blasphemer confuses a lot of people, but not the evangelicals who spoke with the Post.

First, many white evangelicals appreciate that Trump bullies the secular left on their behalf, talking about God in public and loudly criticizing liberal views on abortion, gay rights, and gender, especially after what "felt like a nightmare" of Obama's eight-year presidency, the Post reports. Trump promised to fight for and defend evangelicals, Reed said. "He gets it. He knows they're hungry for that." Evangelicals pay special attention to the courts — Trump is going gangbusters in appointing young conservative judges — and they believe Trump shares their values on social issues and policy. Some believe Trump prays because evangelical leaders back him.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

For many white evangelicals, Trump's past extramarital affairs and even the myriad allegations of sexual assault "are not a moral concern," the Post reports, in part because evangelicals believe the Bible teaches that women should be submissive to men. "Do not campaign on somebody's personal shortcomings," Reed advised. "History says voters are very forgiving. And they don't like hearing it."

Earlier this week, conservative analysts Matt Lewis and Ben Howe discussed the various rationalizations evangelicals use to explain their support for Trump. The "lesser evil" argument is "the most defensible," they agreed, but for many Trump-supporting evangelicals, "it wasn't a lesser evil to them," Howe said. "This is what they want. They like how Trump does things. They get excited at the fact that he's having sex with porn stars throughout his life."

Listen to the entire podcast interview and read the quotes from swing-state evangelicals at The Washington Post.