The MAGA movement has spent the better part of the past decade trying to portray their leader as a Christ-like figure with a loving heart.
But Donald Trump’s recent musings on hatred and his prospects for making it to heaven appear to be testing his evangelical followers.
Effectively portraying Trump — an authoritarian who embraces violence and was found liable for sex abuse — as a picture of religiosity has always been a difficult task for his followers. However, the president has largely leaned into the rhetoric portraying him as evangelicals’ savior, even hawking his own Trump-branded Bibles.
But he’s let his facade of religiosity slip in recent weeks, in ways that could cause some awkwardness for the MAGA movement if they continue.
One such example came during Trump’s appearance at the Arizona memorial for slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, where the president portrayed Kirk as a godly figure who, unlike him, loved his opponents and wanted “the best” for them.
Setting aside the fact that Kirk actually promoted political and public executions, Trump’s claim — that “I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them” — received applause despite its open contradiction of the messianic persona so many of his followers associate with him. And despite Trump’s remarks coming right after Erika Kirk’s widely praised offering of forgiveness to her husband’s shooter.
My colleague Jarvis Deberry wrote this fitting assessment of the spectacle at the time:
The Christian implications of Trump’s statement are damning, to say the least. Despite professing Christianity, Trump rejects a direct command from Jesus himself to love one’s enemies, and doesn’t appear to feel any shame or embarrassment at admitting it.
It’s as if the president was giving his followers an ultimatum: “You can either follow my path or a godly one — a loving one or a hateful one — but they are distinct.” Conservative evangelical writer David French framed the contradiction Trump’s remarks creates for evangelicals another way for The New York Times:
Cheering Trump’s hatred is tantamount to cheering Trump’s corruption and abuse because hatred is at the root of his administration’s poisonous tree.
Trump’s remarks over the weekend, about whether he thinks he’ll make it to heaven, arguably create a similar tension for the president and his Bible-thumping movement.
The president’s comments marked the second time in recent months he’s doubted his prospects of making it to the pearly gates:
Needless to say, these remarks weren’t met with universal glee from the MAGA horde, whose members have followed Trump on a path he’s now openly declared is unlikely to lead him to heaven. Responses from staunch followers of the president included claims he was being “sarcastic,” condemnation of his religious advisors for supposedly failing to adequately teach him the word of God and scripture-heavy posts like the following — from Christian extremist Sean Feucht — calling on Trump to accept God into his heart before it’s too late:
Despite his contradictions, there’s no sign that Trump’s evangelical followers are beginning to abandon him en masse. But his increasingly open and self-described misalignment with the Bible’s teachings is inopportune for a movement that has sought to wrap itself and its leader in scripture.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
