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Why (evangelical) Christians Support Trump

Michael Gerson, an evangelical Christian who was formerly George W. Bush’s speechwriter, has written a searing article published in The Atlantic.  He asks the question, why is it that so many white evangelical Christians–4 out of 5, far more than voted for Ronald Reagan–support Donald Trump, even though he would seem to be the antithesis of everything Christians hold dear.

His article is worth reading, but it has provoked some equally interesting responses.  I’ll link to those and add my own thoughts about issues that Gerson, in my opinion, is missing.  Then I’d like to hear from you.

First, the article that is stirring up the controversy.  From Michael Gerson, Trump and the Evangelical Temptation, The Atlantic:

Trump’s background and beliefs could hardly be more incompatible with traditional Christian models of life and leadership. Trump’s past political stances (he once supported the right to partial-birth abortion), his character (he has bragged about sexually assaulting women), and even his language (he introduced the words pussy and shithole into presidential discourse) would more naturally lead religious conservatives toward exorcism than alliance. This is a man who has cruelly publicized his infidelities, made disturbing sexual comments about his elder daughter, and boasted about the size of his penis on the debate stage. His lawyer reportedly arranged a $130,000 payment to a porn star to dissuade her from disclosing an alleged affair. Yet religious conservatives who once blanched at PG-13 public standards now yawn at such NC-17 maneuvers. We are a long way from The Book of Virtues.
Trump supporters tend to dismiss moral scruples about his behavior as squeamishness over the president’s “style.” But the problem is the distinctly non-Christian substance of his values. Trump’s unapologetic materialism—his equation of financial and social success with human achievement and worth—is a negation of Christian teaching. His tribalism and hatred for “the other” stand in direct opposition to Jesus’s radical ethic of neighbor love. Trump’s strength-worship and contempt for “losers” smack more of Nietzsche than of Christ. Blessed are the proud. Blessed are the ruthless. Blessed are the shameless. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after fame.

Gerson then traces the history of evangelical involvement in politics, which has often been positive, but has degenerated into little more than reactionary, fearful cultural resentment.  One problem, he says, is that unlike Catholics, evangelicals don’t have a theological basis for social involvement that can guide their political action.  (Catholics have “subsidiarity,” the authority of mediating social institutions, and the “consistent pro-life ethic” that relates opposition to abortion to opposition to war and capital punishment and support of immigrants and the poor.)

Gerson is especially hard-hitting with his assertion that evangelicals’ uncritical support for Trump has led to the discrediting of the Christian message.  “Evangelical,” he says, quoting Tim Keller, has “become a synonymous for ‘hypocrite.'”  The spectacle of prominent pastors and Christian leaders continually covering for Trump’s transgressions–including an adulterous affair with a porn star–have utterly destroyed their credibility and turned them into jokes.

The moral convictions of many evangelical leaders have become a function of their partisan identification. This is not mere gullibility; it is utter corruption. Blinded by political tribalism and hatred for their political opponents, these leaders can’t see how they are undermining the causes to which they once dedicated their lives. Little remains of a distinctly Christian public witness.

Now read the critiques of Gerson’s article.

My fellow Patheos blogger Scott McKnight has written What Gerson Got Seriously Wrong.  He says that evangelical Christians do have a theology for social and political involvement.  He cites specifically the work of the Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper, which was popularized in the United States by Francis Schaeffer.  He says that the Kuyperian approach encourages a transformative Christian influence in all spheres of life.