The Republican Presidential hopeful is upsetting the plans of Hillary Clinton! And he is garnering support by the day! Anti migration, Anti Muslim and Pro Christian; he has shared his goals and objectives clearly! He has made a clear sketch of himself and etched it in people's minds with no qualms! He is taking US by storm!!
Donald Trump is running as Christianity’s savior. And it might work.
By Greg Sargent January 19 at 9:14 AM
Christianity is under siege, and only The Donald can rescue it.
THE MORNING PLUM:
Donald Trump’s lead over his GOP rivals seems to be holding strong in today’s polling, and his battle with Ted Cruz for front-runner status seems to be intensifying. Central to the war between Trump and Cruz are evangelical voters. Trump and Cruz are dominating among them, with Trump commanding the support of 42 percent of evangelicals to Cruz’s 25 percent in one recent poll.
And so, today the Post and the New York Times both weigh in with big reported pieces that ponder one of the most interesting subplots of the 2016 presidential contest: Why are evangelical voters apparently so drawn to The Donald, who has been married three times, wants to deport millions, favors a religious test for entry into the U.S., and regularly boasts about his spectacular wealth (and pretty much everything else about himself, too)?
The Times talks to dozens of evangelicals in multiple states and answers the question this way:
But even if Trump is not a very good Christian in the eyes of some evangelical leaders, the Times interviews with evangelical voters suggest that Trump’s personal morality may not matter much to them. Instead, Trump’s success among evangelical voters may be rooted in the fact that, more than any other GOP candidate, Trump is able to speak to their sense of being under siege. Trump somehow conveys that he understands on a gut level that both Christianity and the country at large are under siege, and what’s more, he is not constrained by politically correct niceties from saying so and proposing drastic measures to reverse this slide into chaos and godlessness.
I recently talked to Robert Jones, the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, who has been studying evangelical opinion for many years. His research has led him to believe that Trump is very good at speaking to evangelicals’ sense of a lost, mythical golden age in America that predates the political and cultural turmoil of the 1960s.
Recent PRRI polls have shown that large majorities of evangelicals think the American culture and way of life have “mostly changed for the worse” since the 1950s, think that “the growing number of newcomers from other countries” is a threat to “traditional American culture and values,” and think the values of Islam are at odds with American values and the American way of life.
Trump appears to be consciously trying to appeal to those sentiments, and tie them to a sense that Christianity itself is besieged. In his speech at Liberty University yesterday, Trump said, “Christianity, it’s under siege,” adding: “We’re going to protect Christianity. I don’t have to be politically correct.” In an interview with David Brody, Trump repeated that Christianity is “under siege,” tying that notion to persecution of Christians in Syria (and of course, Trump has seized on the Syrian refugees coming to the U.S. in order to argue for his Fortress America approach).
And so, if Trump does not exactly comport himself as a model of piety, and if Trump flubs the details about Christianity and the Bible, none of that may matter much at all. Instead, what really matters, as one evangelical voter put it, is this: “He is the only one who can pull us back from the abyss.”
If it turns out that millions of voters actually believe this, then, er, God help us.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...ng-as-christianitys-savior-and-it-might-work/
Donald Trump is running as Christianity’s savior. And it might work.
By Greg Sargent January 19 at 9:14 AM
Christianity is under siege, and only The Donald can rescue it.
THE MORNING PLUM:
Donald Trump’s lead over his GOP rivals seems to be holding strong in today’s polling, and his battle with Ted Cruz for front-runner status seems to be intensifying. Central to the war between Trump and Cruz are evangelical voters. Trump and Cruz are dominating among them, with Trump commanding the support of 42 percent of evangelicals to Cruz’s 25 percent in one recent poll.
And so, today the Post and the New York Times both weigh in with big reported pieces that ponder one of the most interesting subplots of the 2016 presidential contest: Why are evangelical voters apparently so drawn to The Donald, who has been married three times, wants to deport millions, favors a religious test for entry into the U.S., and regularly boasts about his spectacular wealth (and pretty much everything else about himself, too)?
The Times talks to dozens of evangelicals in multiple states and answers the question this way:
In dozens of interviews with evangelical voters in 16 states, from every region of the country outside the Northeast, those supporting Mr. Trump sounded a familiar refrain: that his heart was in the right place, that his intentions for the country were pure, that he alone was capable of delivering to a troubled country salvation in the here and now….
For many others, Mr. Trump speaks the truth and mirrors what they are feeling: fevered anger at President Obama, distress about the economy and fear that terrorists could pose as Syrian refugees to infiltrate the American heartland. Rather than recoiling from his harsh language about immigrants and insults of people he dislikes, these voters said Mr. Trump was merely being honest.
All this has deeply puzzled some evangelical leaders. The Post quotes one evangelical leader describing Trump as a “thrice married owner of casinos with strip clubs,” and adding that he is “the most immoral and ungodly man to ever run for President of the United States.”For many others, Mr. Trump speaks the truth and mirrors what they are feeling: fevered anger at President Obama, distress about the economy and fear that terrorists could pose as Syrian refugees to infiltrate the American heartland. Rather than recoiling from his harsh language about immigrants and insults of people he dislikes, these voters said Mr. Trump was merely being honest.
But even if Trump is not a very good Christian in the eyes of some evangelical leaders, the Times interviews with evangelical voters suggest that Trump’s personal morality may not matter much to them. Instead, Trump’s success among evangelical voters may be rooted in the fact that, more than any other GOP candidate, Trump is able to speak to their sense of being under siege. Trump somehow conveys that he understands on a gut level that both Christianity and the country at large are under siege, and what’s more, he is not constrained by politically correct niceties from saying so and proposing drastic measures to reverse this slide into chaos and godlessness.
I recently talked to Robert Jones, the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, who has been studying evangelical opinion for many years. His research has led him to believe that Trump is very good at speaking to evangelicals’ sense of a lost, mythical golden age in America that predates the political and cultural turmoil of the 1960s.
Recent PRRI polls have shown that large majorities of evangelicals think the American culture and way of life have “mostly changed for the worse” since the 1950s, think that “the growing number of newcomers from other countries” is a threat to “traditional American culture and values,” and think the values of Islam are at odds with American values and the American way of life.
Trump appears to be consciously trying to appeal to those sentiments, and tie them to a sense that Christianity itself is besieged. In his speech at Liberty University yesterday, Trump said, “Christianity, it’s under siege,” adding: “We’re going to protect Christianity. I don’t have to be politically correct.” In an interview with David Brody, Trump repeated that Christianity is “under siege,” tying that notion to persecution of Christians in Syria (and of course, Trump has seized on the Syrian refugees coming to the U.S. in order to argue for his Fortress America approach).
And so, if Trump does not exactly comport himself as a model of piety, and if Trump flubs the details about Christianity and the Bible, none of that may matter much at all. Instead, what really matters, as one evangelical voter put it, is this: “He is the only one who can pull us back from the abyss.”
If it turns out that millions of voters actually believe this, then, er, God help us.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...ng-as-christianitys-savior-and-it-might-work/
