As the Trump administration continues to rack up outrage upon outrage, it’s easy to lose sight of the long-term implications of his presidency. A lot of attention has been paid to Trump’s debt to conservative evangelicals, such as Jerry Falwell Jr., especially those leaders who stood by him at the low points in his campaign.
But it’s worth noting that if the religious right is riding high now under Trump, had he lost, the group would have been in complete disarray. There was a bitter split among leaders about Trump’s fitness for the presidency. Moreover, throughout the campaign, there was clear signs that conservative evangelical leaders were divided not just about Trump but about their role in politics and in particular the merits of replaying the culture wars. If Trump had lost, there would have been a struggle over direction comparable to the debate that progressives are now facing.
Of course (and to our great misfortune), Trump didn’t lose. Instead of struggling with their waning influence, the religious right is poised to wield unprecedented power in government and policy. While Trump couldn’t tell the difference between a communion wafer and a Triscuit, he does recognize loyalty and rewards it.
Here are six ways that Trump has made a downpayment to the religious right for their support…
1. Neil Gorsuch
The choice of Gorsuch as Trump’s Supreme Court nominee has evangelical leaders doing cartwheels, even if they grumbled when the story that he congratulated a friend on his same sex wedding. The idea of stealing a seat from Obama and ensuring that the Court still tilted to the right was the reason why many evangelicals stood by Trump. If the Senate approves his nomination, Gorsuch, 51, will be the gift that keeps on giving for decades to come.
2. Cabinet choices
There’s no unifying thread among Trump’s Cabinet members, but a large subgroup have close ties to the religious right. Betty DeVos has given buckets of money to antigay causes. Rick Perry ran a 2012 presidential campaign steeped in homophobia. Ben Carson launched his political career by trashing gays. Jeff Sessions is reflexively homophobic. And that’s just a few members of the Cabinet. There are plenty more, to say nothing of the country’s first religious right Vice President Mike Pence.
3. His other appointees
Trump is filling his administration with hard-core members of the religious right. His choice to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, John Gore, was the attorney defending North Carolina’s repulsive HB2 law. Falwell Jr. will lead Trump’s education task force. Mike Huckabee’s daughter, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, is a deputy communications offer. Huckabee-Sanders ran a group attacking Liz Cheney for supporting marriage equality during her 2012 Congressional campaign, even though she was against it. The administration has been slow to populate open positions, but given the track record so far, we’re in no hurry.
4. Making white Christian nationalism a core principle
A rigorous political theorist, Trump is not. But there is a guiding principle emerging in the administration, thanks to the power that former Breitbart head Steve Bannon has amassed as Trump’s number one advisor. Bannon views the world through the ludicrous lens of white Christianity locked in a war with radical Islam. A lot of attention has been paid to his focus on Islam, thanks to the Muslim travel ban. But the Christianity part is equally scary, particularly in a nation where being secular means you are far more likely to be pro-gay. The religious right knows just what it means, though. That’s why Trump made a point of stressing that Christians will be given favored status under the travel ban.
5. Repealing the Johnson Amendment
Right now, thanks to a law that Lyndon Johnson introduced when he was a Senator, nonprofits can’t engage in political activity. Trump wants to “totally destroy” the measure, which would allow churches to spend money they collect on political campaigns. No wonder that far-right groups like Alliance Defending Freedom are gung-ho for its repeal. If you think it’s bad now, imagine how much worse it will be when pastors can start throwing money around as well. Of course it will open the doors for liberal pastors to do the same, marking the start of the religious fundraising wars at a time when denominations should surely be focusing on helping the needy.
6. Access for Christian media
Where did Trump turn to talk about his Muslim ban? Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network. The White House has decided that the mainstream media is, in Bannon’s words, “the opposition party.” (Which is true, in the sense that the media is opposed to lies.) That means that friendly outlets are going to be Trump’s preferred vehicle. Jerry Falwell Jr. is boasting that Trump is paying attention to the Christian media, who in turn can boost Trump on their programs and social media accounts.
DCguy
Countdown to the same Right Wing anti-gay trolls who tried to tell us what a Great Guy Peodophile Milo Yianopolus was to scream that Trump is wonderful and that LGBTS are evil bullies for daring to point out anything anti-LGBT he does.
The one thing Trump has REALLT done though is prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the REligious Right doesn’t base their policies on religion, just hate, bigotry, and fear mongering.
Kangol
Yep. And yet a day later Queerty remains strangely silent about the Milo Y scandal. Why? And where are all the CONservative gays who defended the hateful, anti-gay, racist, misogynistic, transphobic creep’s right to free speech, now that he’s also been revealed, though the videos and transcripts have been out for a while, that he was also a champion of pedophilia and ephebophilia? Are they demanding CPAC bring him and that Simon & Schuster, a private corporation, publish his book? Are they raising money for him, since he’s clearly so desperate he’s now pleading his case on YouTube?
permatt71
Not a fan of Milo’s recent rant but if you calling him out and hating him you damn sure better be calling out Lena Dunham. Milo was a participant at 14 yo, lena molested her 1 yo sister abd bragged about it. shes still all in the ratings with the left. On a high pedestal
1EqualityUSA
Haven’t heard from MoBro since Yiannopoulos was let go. Odd.
dwes09
@permatt71:
“Not a fan of Milo’s recent rant but if you calling him out and hating him you damn sure better be calling out Lena Dunham.”
You regressives are never very good at understanding either subtlety or nuance are you? Nor are you ever particularly bright. Milos talked about the sexual exploitation of adolescent and just post pubescent boys by men considerably older, and condoned it. DUNHAM TALKED ABOUT EXPLORATION OF HER TODDLER SISTER’S BODY WHEN SHE HERSELF WAS A CHILD, AND EXPRESSED HER AMBIVALENCE ABOUT IT. Are you so stupid that you cannot see the difference? Are you so intent on pushing the idiot regressive agenda that you are totally removed from reality?
There is no equivalence between the odious, self-hating minstrel-fag Milos, and the self-examining, self deprecating Lena. You just feel you have to hate her because your regressive overlords tell you to. Learn to think, you fool!
Heywood Jablowme
Ugh – I had been unaware, before reading this, that there exists a Jerry Falwell JUNIOR! I was so happy when Senior kicked the bucket.
Low Country Boy
And this BS comes from a man who never stepped foot in a Church, except for high profile weddings and funerals.
Heywood Jablowme
Unfortunately it’s a little more complicated than that. As a kid Trump faithfully attended the Marble Collegiate Church of Rev. Norman Vincent Peale who was a powerful influence on him (and who officiated at Trump’s first wedding).
Peale was the author of a huge bestseller, “The Power of Positive Thinking,” which is a toxic stew of pseudo-Christian and pseudo-psychological jibber-jabber. It was widely criticized by both theologians and psychiatrists. The book was a baleful influence all through the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and into the ’80s, it was that “yuge.” It may very well explain Trump’s mental illness and inability to face any facts/reality he dislikes.
1EqualityUSA
The rube cannot spell. Some school. No wonder he wants Betsy to head up education.
Kangol
The Talebangelicals are using Drumpf just like he used them to get elected. Talk about a marriage made in hell!
MediaGuy
In case the libs didn’t notice, this is the way democracy works. The guy in charge gets to make the decisions. But that’s why we have the courts, to provide checks and balances. So, suck it up libs, just like we had to do during the catastrophic Obama years. So, Trump won, he’s gonna be there for 4 more years. No, you don’t always get your way. Grow up and move on.
DCguy
Please point out what your comment was referencing. Which part of the story were you responding to, or which comment?
Oh, wait, your comment didn’t respond to ANYTHING, it was just a desperate Troll comment supposed to deflect the conversation.
Wow, that’s the best you’ve got? Hopefully Putin cuts your salary this week, because that was not the best effort.
Paco
@MediaGuy – I really wish you people that say the Obama years were catastrophic, would follow that up with verifiable examples and why those examples were Obama’s fault.
I thought the Obama years were just fine after he cleaned up Dubya’s catastrophic economic mess. His presidency would have been even better had he not had a Republican congress refusing to allow him to help the American people no matter how far to the center he went.
dwes09
Please, given the actual statistics regarding the economic recovery, military involvements, quality of life in the USA, explain how the Obama years were “catastrophic”. It is not enough for the idiot regressives to simply make statements without any support. Just because you swallow the bullshit of the right, or imagine things to be horrible does not make it so.
If you don;t have the facts, it is simply fantasy (and it IS simply fantasy). Plus, the guy in charge better watch his back: He did not win the popular vote, all the candidates in the past several elections had greater victories in the electoral college than he did, and in most cases had the popular vote. He has no political capital, and not much support from the international community.
I know you regressives imagine the world can be looked at as if it is still 1890 or so, but you are wrong. And it is very unlikely that Trump will be in office 4 years. He has demonstrated an incredible lack of understanding of both the structure of our republic, and what constitutes a conflict of interest. There is certainly an impeachment in his future.
And finally, hetero trolls like you are not particularly welcome here. And don;t claim you are homosexual. We will see that is a lie.
captainburrito
It’s the Senate that provides checks on his appointments and some of them were rather close. Had Jeff Sessions been confirmed first, then Betty wouldn’t have gotten confirmed since 2 Republicans voted against her.
Free speech and the right to protest are part of democracy. Voting once every 4 years and doing nothing else contributes to the decline of western nations.
KaiserVonScheiss
I think this is a bit hyperbolic.
1. I don’t really know what this is in reference to. I’m guessing the Hobby Lobby case where the courts made a decision base on how statutes are written and passed by congress, which is their job.
2. Unfortunate, but totally expected.
3. Also unfortunate.
4. We are at war with radical Islam. Radicals kind of want to kill us. Islam is more than a religion. It demands control over not just the individual, but also the political apparatus. It also declares itself the final revelation of God, which make it really hard to reform. Islam needs reform. That obvious.
5. I have no idea. I don’t like religion, but it’s there. I’m sure there are loopholes that allow churches to donate money.
6. I don’t see a problem. They’re going to be biased as hell, but so are all the other media outlets.
davidkohl
Why do you consistently try to defend the indefensible? Oh yes – you are a Trump lackey! ‘At war with radical Islam’? What part are you playing in that war? Oh yes – stirring up hatred through false accusations and suggestions.
KaiserVonScheiss
@davidkohl
That which is evil should be hated.
davidkohl
Are you for real? This the 21st century man not the 12th. ‘That which is evil should be hated’? Maybe you are the reincarnated version of an old testament prophet rebuking the masses? Wake up Jeremiah!
1EqualityUSA
You are evil, Scheiss, so we should hate you. Alistair Wiseman needs a life, pretentious f__k.
dwes09
Hey guys, he calls himself the “king of shit”. He is clearly not particularly bright.
Not necessarily evil. Just stupid and easily manipulated by the regressives he admires. And quite possibly a heterosexual here to stir shit (after all, he is the king of it).
Interestingly he seems unaware of the promises his idol Trump made to the evangelicals during the campaign; that they would pretty much get everything they want from him, beyond their wildest hopes!
ErikO
Trump did not do this at all.
surreal33
The religious right was never dead (evil never dies) it just lying in wait for the opportunity to strike.
We have lulled into a false sense of security. Hatred of gays, blacks, jews is STRONGER than ever.
davidkohl
I could not agree more – though I would not use one of their religious terms like ‘evil’ when describing them or their behaviour. They go into hiding when the extreme right wing lose elections and reappear when morons like the odious Trump somehow manage to convince their moronic uneducated followers to get out and vote. And that is the issue the Democrats should have been focussing on at the election – getting the vote out. The American religious right will never go away – their hate is too great. Which I find strange – my understanding is that their ‘founder’ was very inclusive – and in fact never made any comments about gay people.
1EqualityUSA
Not a word about gays the entire 33 years that the “founder” graced our planet.
Bob LaBlah
Don’t rule out the possibility that they, the religious right, aren’t fighting amongst themselves as to who the leader of them will be. Rev. Falwell and Pat Robertson were not friends even when Robertson almost got the nomination back in 1988. There is no unity amongst thieves and brainwashing does amount to thievery in my book.
Realitycheck
LOL The religious right cannot roll back time, young people still have their iPhones and net access and tv/movies are not religious themed forms of entertainment.
This is just the luckiest moment the RR has had in decades and they fail, watch as the swan doe this death song….