God’s Protection (of Trump)

CW for homophobic language and racism.

It’s been a wild ride these past few weeks. Part of that craziness has been watching evangelicals further drift towards Christian nationalism. The attempted assignation of Donald Trump has brought the religious language out even further.

Within hours I saw posts claiming God’s divine protection of Trump. Expressing the idea that god has personally chosen this man and has placed a mantel of protector around him. Or at the very least placed set of spiritual armor around trump as this post below claims. ^{1 2}

“Two days ago, evil came for the man we admire and love so much. I thank God that his hand was on President Trump,” Marjorie Taylor Greene³

Dr. Ben Carson Brings Down the House with Epic Trump Tribute

“I saw President Trump, a dear friend, escape death by mere inches. And my thoughts immediately turned to the book of Isaiah that says, ‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper.’”

• “First, they tried to ruin his… pic.twitter.com/MFsVLE781F

— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) July 17, 2024

I know it’s a bit of trite argument, but how can you claim god’s protection solely for your political leader? A man did die during this shooting. Was God’s protection not also on Corey Comperatore? Or what about the other two individuals that were shot (David Dutch and James Copenhaver)? By all accounts these individuals were all injured much more severely than our former president.

GOD protected President Trump yesterday…

ironically, just as He miraculously protected George Washington from a gunfire ambush on July 9, 1755 – also in Pennsylvania, less than 50 miles from the Trump rally stage. https://t.co/95XeJ3Ne3p

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 14, 2024

The religious right has also embraced a certain sense of special religious (Christian) blessing on their leader. As far back as 2018 religious leaders were calling Trump a modern day “Cyprus.”⁴ Indicating at least some evangelicals viewed trump as god’s chosen leader for America. This language has only seemed to escalate.

“Proverbs 28 reads, ‘The wicked flee, though no one pursues. But the righteous are as bold as a lion.’ And that truly epitomizes Donald Trump. He is a lion. He is bold, he is strong, he is fearless, and he is exactly what this country needs right now.” Laura Trump⁵

More religious imagery. This time invoking the image of a lion. Giving the idea that the authority of god and divinely given power are draped over Trump.⁶

With many evangelicals loudly declaring this to be a spiritual battle.^{7 8}

“’We must re-elect President Trump for the third time,’ Tenney said, echoing Trump’s ‘big lie’ rhetoric. He then said that the upcoming election ‘is part of a spiritual battle’ with ‘demonic forces at play.’”⁹  Rev. Joel Tenney

“Barney Bornhoft, a pastor, prayed at the beginning of an Ankeny, Iowa, rally in December for ‘a hedge of protection’ around Trump”¹⁰

Trump himself has even personally seemed to embrace this idea as well.

“‘In a certain way I felt very safe because I had God on my side, I felt that,’ Trump told attendees at the final night of the 2024 Republican National Convention Thursday.”¹¹

He also claims to be shielding his Christian followers from the attacks of the “godless”¹² leftist against them. ¹³ And has made promised that religious symbols such as the cross and ten commandments will be protected under his potential presidency.^{14 15 16} This sentiment is something that his evangelical followers have also quoted.

“He’s putting himself out there against those people that are guiding and ruling you that aren’t with God,” Wisconsin Republican state Rep. Chuck Wichgers¹⁷

Rev. Joel Tenney the same pastor quoted earlier in this post also stated.

“‘Whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.’ Tenney added in his own words that ‘judgment is coming.’ He said: ‘When Donald Trump becomes the 47th president of the United States, there will be retribution against all those who have promoted evil in this country.’” Rev. Joel Tenney¹⁸

It’s very clear many evangelical voters believe god has chosen Donald Trump as a leader of the United States. And some of these same evangelicals also feel that Trump will enact god’s divine judgement on the godless when he is elected as leader of this country. Whether that is in some followers eyes a Qanon style victory over the “deep state,”¹⁹ or in Caroline Sunshine’s eyes a more spiritual victory of godly vs. the godless.²⁰ In their eye’s god’s power protected him,²¹ and god will continue to guide Trump to (political) victory. Trump has been chosen by god “For such a time as this.”²² Christianity will “regain” its place as the controlling religion in America and the “godless” left will be defeated.²³

“And when God is with us, nobody can stand against us. With this assurance from the Almighty, even the face of evil itself cannot shake our resolve. We will keep fighting, we will keep praying, and by the grace of God, we will save our country and reelect President Trump together with Vice President Vance this November.” Ben Carson²⁴

Let the spiritual “fight” commence.

I honestly have no patience for any of this. This religious language was the language of my childhood. Everything was draped in spiritual language with a hint of judgement and anger under the surface. This is exactly what right wing leaders are using to pull evangelicals deeper under the surface. Fear and anger are great political motivators.

Right wing politicians want you to fear the unknown. Whether that be your trans cousin²⁵ or the local 1st generation immigrant working at a local dairy farm.²⁶ In their eyes these strangers are all rapists,²⁷ drug dealers,²⁸ and pedophiles.²⁹

The leftists are coming to rip you from your churches and arrest you for your beliefs. And you need a big powerful leader to protect you. We have him right here and look he believes the exact same as you do…never mind his actions don’t actually show that belief. He’s on your side. /s

God himself has chosen your leader. Now give into that anxiety and commit to a powerful (possibly fascist) new president. /s ³⁰

1. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/steve-bannon-reacts-to-trump-shooting-from-prison/ar-BB1q17fe?ocid=socialshare (Steve Bannon directly stated “Thankfully, President Trump wears the Armor of God. Today, our leader showed total command presence, stood tall, and said ‘FIGHT’!”) ↩︎
2. Caroline Sunshine (and several others) also repeated this same comment about Eph. 6:11 after Trump’s assassination attempt. https://www.yahoo.com/news/rnc-trumps-attempted-assassination-proved-222312185.html? ↩︎
3. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4774100-marjorie-taylor-greene-says-gods-hand-was-on-trump-during-saturday-attack/mlite/ ↩︎
4. A religious figure from the bible that freed the Jewish people from their Babylonian captivity. The Jewish people were allowed to return to their homeland during his political reign. He’s a savior figure. Politically leading his people back to their promised land. Cyprus was considered to be appointed by the divine / prophesied to return the people of Israel back to their promised land. ↩︎
5. https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/lara-trump-speaks-at-rnc-2024-night-two ↩︎
6. https://christianfaithguide.com/what-does-a-lion-symbolize-in-the-bible/ (I also think of the term “Lion of Judah” being often equated with Jesus himself.) Extreme fundies such as my past self would also be reminded of Aslan, the allegoric stand in for Jesus in the Narnia series. ↩︎
7. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/we-are-witnessing-the-power-of-god-trump-basks-in-bonkers-fan-rant-claiming-trump-chosen-by-god/ar-BB1qtFB6?ocid=BingNewsSerp (A truth social repost by Donald Trump dog whistling to Qanon all the while embracing this role of being chosen by god) ↩︎
8. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/us/politics/trump-followers-devotion-shooting.html ↩︎
9. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/spiritual-battle-pastors-embrace-trump-grievances-prayers-rallies-rcna132615 (Rev. Joel Tenney at a Coralville, Iowa Trump Rally) ↩︎
10. Often these are “prayers of protection” used by evangelicals for Christians and Christian leaders. The idea is that you will be supernaturally protected by god. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/spiritual-battle-pastors-embrace-trump-grievances-prayers-rallies-rcna132615 ↩︎
11. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/07/19/trump-faith-god-rnc/74462802007/ ↩︎
12. “I think the left is godless” Trump campaign Deputy Director of Communications Caroline Sunshine https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/the-left-is-godless-why-a-maga-spokeswomans ↩︎
13. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/us/politics/trump-followers-devotion-shooting.html ↩︎
14. https://nationalpost.com/news/world/trump-christian-values Former President “Donald Trump promised to use a second term in the White House to defend Christian values and even suggested he’d shield the faith’s central iconography, warning a convention of religious broadcasters on Thursday night that the left wants ‘to tear down crosses.’” ↩︎
15. https://apnews.com/article/trump-evangelicals-voters-faith-freedom-presidential-election-042cd25750a43a1f9a474e793c86c0a9 ↩︎
16. See also the very extreme language of the GOP 2024 Platform.
    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-platform-christian-nationalism_n_668ee032e4b0fb744166d0e3
    “The draft says immigration laws would be used ‘to keep foreign Christian-hating Communists, Marxists, and Socialists out of America.’”
    “‘Republicans will champion the First Amendment Right to Pray and Read the Bible in school,’ the education section reads, ‘and stand up to those who violate the Religious Freedoms of American students.’”
    “And the Christian nationalist credo that Christians in America face widespread persecution is the animating belief behind one of the platform’s few concrete policy promises: to appoint a federal task force on ‘Anti-Christian Bias’ that ‘will investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment, and persecution against Christians in America.’”
    By all accounts Trump supports this GOP Platform and had a great deal of control in shaping the language used in the official platform. ↩︎
17. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/us/politics/trump-followers-devotion-shooting.html and https://www.yahoo.com/news/republican-national-convention-attendees-saw-091011262.html? (I was struggling with the paywall and found the quote elsewhere). ↩︎
18. https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-evangelical-christians-joel-tenney-1861995 ↩︎
19. “The deep state wanted the world to see Trump’s death and God intervened. To me there’s no other possible explanation,” said one commenter on TheDonald. Said another: “God Protect Our GEOTUS” — the acronym for “God-Emperor of the United States.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/07/16/trump-religion-messiah/ ↩︎
20. “I also think it’s important to remember—maybe I’m just feeling a little old-fashioned today, but—it’s important to remember that good does defeat evil. What President Trump did in that moment by getting up is remind us that good does defeat evil when we have the courage to stand up and fight. Fight for God, fight for our families, fight for our country. I think President Trump is the great American fighter.” https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/the-left-is-godless-why-a-maga-spokeswomans?hide_intro_popup=true ↩︎
21. “One man, wearing a red University of Wisconsin Badgers T-shirt, invoked Leviticus 8 in describing how Trump being shot in the ear meant he had likely been anointed by the Lord. The worship service was run by a group called Intercessors for America, which believes in ‘spiritual warfare,’ or praying for certain political outcomes. Members of the group passed out a pamphlet titled ‘Praying About the Attempted Assassination,’ instructing people on how to pray for Trump. ‘The world witnessed undeniable video proof of God at work,’ it said. ‘Pray that the full truth of the ability of God to intervene and to save continues to be central to the news story.’” https://www.yahoo.com/news/rnc-trumps-attempted-assassination-proved-222312185.html? ↩︎
22. https://x.com/BrianKaylor/status/1813022543437054156 (Gov. Kristi Noem quoting Ester in reference to Trump) ↩︎
23. “White-Cain concluded her address by describing the ideology of the Biden administration as ‘against God, against our faith’ and vowing to the audience that ‘we will put a stop to it come November.’” Paula White (Spiritual Advisor to Trump) https://www.christianpost.com/news/paula-white-says-trump-asked-what-god-thought-about-president-run.html ↩︎
24. https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/dr-ben-carson-speaks-at-rnc-2024-night-two ↩︎
25. I strongly believe that you do not have to go far in your own family (and friend groups) to find someone that may not fit the idea of gender or sexuality that was assigned to them at birth. Is that not a good place to start to try and find empathy for the LGBTQIA+ community? Your own family and friends. ↩︎
26. Many of the immigrants in the rural MI community I grew up in worked in agriculture. They often worked for minimum wage and no overtime pay (agriculture doesn’t have to pay overtime rates) to send some cash back to their families. ↩︎
27. I’ve directly been told this by my ex-pastor and his wife. Immigrants (illegal ones at least) put his daughters at risk of being raped. (his words) And he could not find any sympathy for someone who came to this country in an illegal manner. ↩︎
28. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fact-check-immigration-doesnt-bring-crime-u-s-data-say ↩︎
29. Also heard this in person spoken about my (now ex friends) friends spoken about their gay neighbors. My friends felt unsafe leaving their son outside to play. Because their neighbors might rape their son. ↩︎
30. If you can’t tell any of those last two paragraphs are sarcasm this is your official notification. ↩︎