It's official! Thanks to a Fox News poll released Thursday, we now know that a solid majority of Americans consider Donald Trump's elevation to office profoundly unholy. When asked, "Do you believe God wanted Donald Trump to become president?" 62 percent of registered voters said, "No."
The biggest counterbalance to the conclusion that God wasn't necessarily on Trump's side came from the segment of the population that perhaps most believes it has cornered the market on holiness: white evangelicals, God bless 'em. As the Washington Post's Philip Bump notes, white evangelicals were the only segment of the population polled in which a majority—55 percent—say Trump had God's endorsement. Whatever helps you through the day, I guess.
Not even a majority of Republicans think that. But as Bump also points out, white evangelicals have coalesced like a rock around Republicans ever since Barack Obama became president in 2009. In the 20-year period prior to that, the percentage of evangelicals who identified as Republican vacillated between the high 50s and mid-60s, according to Pew Research polling. In 2009, 63 percent of white evangelicals counted themselves as Republicans. By 2017, 77 percent did, a number that had grown steadily throughout Obama's presidency. Only 18 percent of white evangelicals identified as Democrats in Pew's 2017 survey.
That means white evangelicals have happily embraced Trump, a completely morally bankrupt swindler who would run over absolutely anyone to get what he wanted without giving it a second thought. The fervent support of white evangelicals for a man who is the most selfish and debased president in generations, if not ever, exposes a bogus double standard within their religion. They can stick happily together in their supposed godliness, but they have sold out the most laudable teachings of the Bible for the political power they hope to wield over others. In other words, if the goodness of your spirituality isn't persuasive enough to change hearts and minds, then sell your soul for political power so you can force others do what you want, whether they like it or not. I'm pretty sure that's not what Jesus had in mind.