White Christians supported Trump despite his apparent moral violations

Evidence

How could self-described born-again Christians who placed so much emphasis on morality champion a philandering, arrogant, and cruel politician like Donald Trump? How did wearing a mask during a viral pandemic become an issue of “religious freedom?” Why did so many Christians who quote Romans 13 about being subject to the governing authorities support an attempted insurrection at the Capitol building? Do racism and white supremacy form the subtext of all their beliefs? — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross, 18

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: White evangelicals supported Trump because of their beliefs, not despite them. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 8; Perceived loss of white Christian status, not economics, drove Trump support — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 603; Trump won white Christians by appealing to racism, not despite it. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 53 (+13 more)

Broader Connections

• White evangelicals supported Trump because of their beliefs, not despite them. #corroborates (0.90) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 8
• Trump won white Christians by appealing to racism, not despite it. #expands (0.85) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 53
• Forty-two percent of white evangelicals backed Trump before the Iowa caucuses #exemplifies (0.85) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 2
• 81 percent of white evangelical voters elected Trump in 2016 #exemplifies (0.85) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 600
• Perceived loss of white Christian status, not economics, drove Trump support #expands (0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 603
• Trump won white Christian support through explicit appeals to white supremacy. #expands (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 53
• White evangelicals’ embattlement mindset, not hypocrisy, primed them for Trump in 2016 #complicates (0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 558
• White evangelical Trump support reflects prior populist and authoritarian dispositions #expands (0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 11
• Trump’s 2016 evangelical support suggests racism never left the Religious Right’s core #expands (0.80) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 145
• The Christian right supports Trump for autocratic power, not shared Christian values #complicates (0.80) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 169
• White Catholics and mainline Protestants joined evangelicals in majority-supporting Trump in 2016. #expands (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 52
• Christian nationalism, not evangelical identity, drives conservative support for Trump #expands (0.80) — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 90
• Trump framed white evangelicals as a persecuted majority needing to claim power #expands (0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 576
• Prominent evangelical leaders publicly opposed Trump over his moral character #qualifies (0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 598
• White evangelical leaders lost control of their own flocks to Trump’s appeal #expands (0.75) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 573