The New York Times has a long piece cobbling together the various far-right sticks and planks that together make up the only discernible Trump administration "policy" for governance. This gives us another chance to marvel at how supposedly deeply religious figures are willing to put up with even the likes of Donald Trump if it will allow them to bend American government to codify their religious beliefs as more "protected" than any others. This is allowing them to make great advances in such deeply religious issues as who gets to carry guns where, who has to bake wedding cakes for who, as well as who can serve in our nation's military and who can't.
You know, Jesus stuff.
The turnabout stems in part from lobbying by evangelical Christians and other conservative groups. In interviews, these groups said they have regular discussions on domestic and foreign policy with the administration — more so than during the presidency of George W. Bush, the last Republican to occupy the White House and someone who identified as a Christian conservative. [...]
Richard Land, president of the conservative Christian Southern Evangelical Seminary in North Carolina, has worked with Republican administrations dating from Ronald Reagan. Never has he felt his advice and input were more welcome in the White House since Mr. Trump became president.
We can all sincerely understand why so-called “prosperity gospel” preachers would gravitate toward President Golden Toilet as the epitome of their movement. The rest of them appear to be in it as simple quid and quo. They stand by the man who stands against all of their usual drivel about compassion and generosity; in exchange they get White House meetings to discuss how best to write their other religious concerns, mostly the ones about wommenfolk and The Gays, into federal policy.
During the [July] session, attendees advocated the appointment of an “ambassador at large” to promote religious freedom in foreign policy, according to Mr. Moore, the Trump religious adviser, who attended the meeting. Within weeks, Mr. Trump appointed Sam Brownback, the conservative Republican governor of Kansas, to the position.
And we were mostly fine with that, because prying Sam Brownback off of the husk of Kansas government was worth putting him in a new position as largely impotent advocate for a Talibanesque interpretation of "religious freedom" that most of our allies find ridiculous and insulting. But let's not pretend that Sam Freaking Brownback is anything resembling a voice of Christian wisdom, evangelical or otherwise. (Oh—and our apologies in advance, rest of the world. My advice is to shun him. You will never meet a man more deserving of a top-notch shunning, so go to town with that.)
At the same meeting, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a conservative religious lobbying group, broached the topic of banning transgender people from the military, Mr. Moore recalled, also adding that some participants disagreed with that stance.
Tony Perkins is not a "religious conservative." Tony Perkins is the head of an anti-LGBT hate group. A good chunk of the problem here is that nobody in the Republican Party or the conservative evangelical movement can tell the damn difference, which really ought to come up more often. The notion that groups of evangelical leaders are getting together at the White House to decide who can or can't serve in this nation's military is, either way, a deeply disturbing notion.
It feels like we are just hearing the beginning notes of this particular song. Trump does not particularly care what policies he does or does not promote, but as the Bannonites lose power—and with it, their battle to whittle government down—the true believers seem to just be getting started.