June 11th 2020

By News Corpse (of the Daily Kos community)

Daily Kos

From the earliest days of Donald Trump's presidential aspirations he has disingenuously exploited America's faith community. Never mind that he's a thrice married adulterer and sexual predator. Or that he robs and cheats without remorse. Or that he is greedy, prideful, envious, wrathful, gluttonous, and profane. His pandering to supposedly devout Christians has been a hallmark of his political persona.

America's evangelicals were all to willing to prostrate themselves before their new Messiah. Not because he represented their spiritual ideals, but because he promised to deliver on their right-wing political agenda. If he could seat some ultra-conservative judges and abolish safe and legal abortions, they would abandon their faith and reward him with their votes.

Well, those days may be behind us. A new poll by Politico has some bad news for Pastor Don. Despite Trump's success in appointing unqualified, but radical right-wing jurists, his support among the Jesus weasels has fallen into the depths of political Hades. He cannot get a majority of voters to buy his alleged religiosity. Even worse, majorities of the faith community don't buy it either:

"Only 27 percent of registered voters in a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll said they somewhat or strongly agree that Trump himself is religious, while 55 percent somewhat or strongly disagree. Among subgroups, just over a third of all Christians view the president as religious (50 percent do not), while 23 percent of Catholics and 18 percent of independents see him that way."

The poll went on to show that among evangelicals, Trump could convince only 40% that he was one of them. In fact, the only demographic groups that did regard Trump as an actual Christian were conservatives (55%) and Republicans (60%). Proving that the whole charade was purely a political strategy that gained no ground outside of the rabidly partisan crowd.

It's notable that this survey was conducted after Trump's photo-op outside of St. John’s Episcopal Church across the street from the White House. Obviously, very few people, including believers, were fooled by Trump standing awkwardly in front of a boarded-up church, scowling as he held a bible upside down, and declining to say a single word. And the reports of how he cleared the way for this farce by having law enforcement beat and teargas peaceful demonstrators probably didn't win any hearts or minds either.

Trump has never been very good at articulating his religious beliefs. He was unable to cite a single passage of scripture when asked. He often mangles the biblical parables he attempts to misappropriate. He frequently displays his utter ignorance of spirituality with bizarre responses to simple questions. For instance, he was once asked if he had ever asked God for forgiveness, which all Christians must do to receive salvation for original sin. He responded by saying that he didn’t need to because he has never done anything wrong:

“I’m trying to lead a life where I don’t have to ask God for forgiveness. [...] Why do I have to repent? Why do I have to ask for forgiveness if you’re not making mistakes?”

So in addition to referring to himself as "The Chosen One," Trump sees himself as infallible. What's more, his orientation to faith is strictly wound around himself. He was recently asked whether he’s “grown in his faith” since becoming president. Trump replied, "I think maybe I have, from the standpoint that I see so much that I can do. I’ve done so much for religion."

Everything in Trump's narcissistic world revolves around Trump. So it isn't surprising that his most reliable base of support is crumbling beneath his feet of clay. Another recent poll found that his support among evangelical voters declined a whopping 20% since March. At this rate the only people supporting Trump will be his family, the white nationalist militias, and a smattering of Deplorables who are still trying to figure out how to peel a banana.

Posted with permission