Israeli philosopher
Adi Ophir sees the politics of purity in the white Christian nationalist rhetoric of evangelical supporters, such as the comparison of
Nehemiah's wall around
Jerusalem to
Trump's wall keeping out the enemy, writing, "the notion of the enemy includes '
Mexican migrants', 'filthy' gays, and even Catholics 'led astray by Satan', and the real danger these enemies pose is degradation to a 'blessed—great— ... nation' whose God is the Lord." Theologian
Michael Horton believes Christian Trumpism represents the confluence of three trends that have come together, namely Christian
American exceptionalism,
end-times conspiracies, and the
prosperity gospel, with Christian Americanism being the narrative that God specially called the United States into being as an extraordinary if not miraculous providence and end-times conspiracy referring to the world's annihilation (figurative or literal) due to some conspiracy of nefarious groups and globalist powers threatening American sovereignty. Horton thinks that what he calls the "cult of Christian Trumpism" blends these three ingredients with "a generous dose of
hucksterism" as well as
self-promotion and
personality cult. Evangelical Christian and historian John Fea believes "the church has warned against the pursuit of political power for a long, long time", but that many modern-day evangelicals, such as Trump advisor and televangelist
Paula White, ignore these admonitions. Televangelist
Jim Bakker praises prosperity gospel preacher White's ability to "walk into the White House at any time she wants to" and have "full access to the King." According to Fea, there are several other "court evangelicals" who have "devoted their careers to endorsing political candidates and Supreme Court justices who will restore what they believe to be the
Judeo-Christian roots of the country" and who in turn are called on by Trump to "explain to their followers why Trump can be trusted in spite of his moral failings", including
James Dobson,
Franklin Graham,
Johnnie Moore Jr.,
Ralph Reed,
Gary Bauer,
Richard Land,
megachurch pastor
Mark Burns and
Southern Baptist pastor and Fox political commentator
Robert Jeffress. For prominent Christians who fail to support Trump, the cost is a loss of presidential access and a substantial risk of criticism, a lesson learned by
Timothy Dalrymple, president of the flagship magazine of evangelicals
Christianity Today, and former chief editor
Mark Galli, who were condemned by more than two hundred evangelical leaders for co-authoring a letter arguing that Christians were obligated to support the impeachment of Trump. {{external media Jeffress claims that evangelical leaders' support of Trump is moral regardless of behavior that
Christianity Todays chief editor called "a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused." Jeffress argues that "the godly principle here is that governments have one responsibility, and that is
Romans 13 [which] says to avenge evil doers." This same biblical chapter was used by
Jeff Sessions to claim biblical justification for Trump's policy of
separating children from immigrant families. Historian Lincoln Muller explains that this is one of two interpretations of Romans 13, which has been used in American political debates since its founding, and is on the side of "the thread of American history that justifies oppression and domination in the name of law and order." From Jeffress's reading, the government's purpose is as a "strongman to protect its citizens against evildoers", adding: "I don't care about that candidate's tone or vocabulary, I want the meanest toughest son of a you-know-what I can find, and I believe that is biblical." Jeffress, who referred to
Barack Obama as "paving the way for the future reign of the
Antichrist,"
Mitt Romney—a
Mormon—as a cult follower of a
non-Christian religion, and
Roman Catholicism as a "Satanic" result of "
Babylonian mystery religion" traces the
Christian libertarian perspective on government's sole role to suppress evil back to
Augustine of Hippo, who argued in
The City of God against the Pagans (426 CE) that government's role is to restrain evil so Christians can peacefully practice their beliefs.
Martin Luther similarly believed that government should be limited to checking sin. Like Jeffress, Richard Land refused to cut ties with Trump after his reaction to the
Charlottesville white supremacist rally, with the explanation that "Jesus did not turn away from those who may have seemed brash with their words or behavior," adding that "now is not the time to quit or retreat, but just the opposite—to lean in closer." Johnnie Moore's explanation for refusing to repudiate Trump after his Charlottesville response was that "you only make a difference if you have a seat at the table."
Trinity Forum fellow
Peter Wehner warns that "[t]he perennial danger facing Christians is seduction and self-delusion. That's what's happening in the Trump era. The president is using evangelical leaders to shield himself from criticism." Evangelical biblical scholar
Ben Witherington believes Trump's evangelical apologists' defensive use of the
tax collector comparison is false and that retaining a "seat at the table" is supportable only if the Christian leader is admonishing the president to reverse course, explaining that "[t]he sinners and tax collectors were not political officials, so there is no analogy there. Besides, Jesus was not giving the sinners and tax collectors political advice—he was telling them to repent! If that's what evangelical leaders are doing with our President, and telling him when his politics are un-Christian, and explaining to him that racism is an enormous sin and there is no moral equivalency between the two sides in Charlottesville, then well and good. Otherwise, they are complicit with the sins of our leaders." Evangelical Bible studies author
Beth Moore joins in criticism of the perspective of Trump's evangelicals, writing: "I have never seen anything in these United States of America [that] I found more astonishingly seductive and dangerous to the saints of God than Trumpism. This
Christian nationalism is not of God. Move back from it." Moore warns that "we will be held responsible for remaining passive in this day of seduction to save our own skin while the saints we've been entrusted to serve are being seduced, manipulated, USED and stirred up into a lather of zeal devoid of the Holy Spirit for political gain." Moore's view is that "[w]e can't sanctify idolatry by labeling a leader our
Cyrus. We need no Cyrus. We have a king. His name is Jesus." Other prominent white evangelicals have taken Christian Bible-based stands against Trump, such as Peter Wehner of the conservative
Ethics and Public Policy Center and
Russell D. Moore, president of the public policy arm of the
Southern Baptist Convention. Wehner describes Trump's theology as embodying "a
Nietzschean morality rather than a Christian one," that evangelicals' "support for Trump comes at a high cost for Christian witness," and that "Trump's most enduring legacy [may be] a
nihilistic political culture, one that is tribalistic, distrustful, and sometimes delusional, swimming in conspiracy theories." Moore sharply distanced himself from Trump's racial rhetoric, stating, "The Bible speaks so directly to these issues," and, "that, really, in order to avoid questions of racial unity, one has to evade the Bible itself."
Presbyterian minister and Pulitzer prize winning author
Chris Hedges thinks many of Trump's white evangelical supporters resemble those of the
German Christians movement of 1930s Germany who also regarded their leader in an idolatrous way, the
Christofascist idea of a messiah: a leader who would act as an instrument of God to restore their country from moral depravity to greatness. Also rejecting the idolatry, John Fea said "Trump takes everything that Jesus taught, especially in the
Sermon on the Mount, throws it out the window, exchanges it for a mess of pottage called 'Make America Great Again', and from a Christian perspective for me, that borders on—no, it is a form of idolatry." during the
George Floyd protests. Christian theologian
Greg Boyd challenges the
religious right's
politicization of Christianity and the Christian nationalist theory of American exceptionalism, charging that "a significant segment of American evangelicalism is guilty of nationalistic and political idolatry." Boyd compares the cause of "
taking America back for God" and policies to
force Christian values through political coercion to the aspiration of
early Christians in the first-century
Land of Israel to "take Israel back for God," which led followers to try to fit Jesus into the role of a political messiah. Boyd argues that Jesus declined, demonstrating that "God's mode of operation in the world was no longer going to be nationalistic." Boyd urges consideration of Jesus's example, asking whether Jesus ever suggested, by word or example, that Christians should aspire to gain power in the reigning government of the day, or whether he advocated using civil laws to change the behavior of sinners. Like Fea, Boyd states he is not making the case for passive political noninvolvement, writing that "of course our political views will be influenced by our Christian faith," but rather that Christians must embrace humility and not "christen our views as 'the' Christian view." In Boyd's view, this humility requires Christians to reject social domination, the "'power over' others to acquire and secure these things," and to recognize that "the only way we individually and collectively represent the kingdom of God is through loving, , sacrificial acts of service to others. Anything and everything else, however good and noble, lies outside the kingdom of God." Horton thinks that rather than engage in what he calls the cult of "Christian Trumpism", Christians should reject turning the "saving gospel into a worldly power". Fea thinks the Christian response to Trump should instead be those used toward a civil rights movement—namely preaching hope not fear; humility, not power to socially dominate others; and responsible reading of history as in
Martin Luther King Jr.'s
Letter from Birmingham Jail rather than
nostalgia for a prior American Christian utopia that never was. As part of the January 6 rally, a coalition of Christian groups organized what they called the "
Jericho March", a name the group now uses. Conservative
Orthodox Christian writer
Rod Dreher and theologian
Michael Horton have argued that participants in the original march were engaging in "Trump worship", akin to
idolatry. In the
National Review, Cameron Hilditch described the movement as "[a] toxic ideological cocktail of grievance, paranoia, and self-exculpatory rage was on display at the 'Jericho March,' ... Their aim was to '
stop the steal' of the presidential election, to prepare patriots for battle against a 'One-
World Government', and
to sell pillows at a 25 percent discount. ... In fact, there was a strange impression given throughout the event that attendees believe Christianity is, in some sense,
consubstantial with American nationalism. It was as if a new and improved Holy
Trinity of 'Father, Son, and
Uncle Sam' had taken the place of the old and outmoded
Nicene version. When
Eric Metaxas, the partisan radio host and emcee for the event, first stepped on stage, he wasn't greeted with psalm-singing or with hymns of praise to the Holy Redeemer, but with chants of 'USA! USA!' In short, the Jericho rally was a worrying example of how Christianity can be twisted and drafted into the service of a political ideology."
Emma Green, in
The Atlantic, blamed pro-Trump, evangelical white Christians and the
Jericho March participants for the
storming of the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, saying: "The mob carried signs and flag declaring 'Jesus Saves!' and 'God, Guns & Guts Made America, Let's Keep All Three'." In April 2026, at an
Easter lunch event, Trump's spiritual adviser Paula White-Cain caused controversy when comparing Trump to Jesus, saying: “Mr President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price.
It almost cost you your life. You were betrayed and
arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our lord and savior showed us”. == See also ==