Trump’s Rhetoric on Christian Persecution in America

Trump continues to try to appeal to evangelical Christians and their perceived persecution.

CW: Homophobia. Racist Language.

In the past he’s made wild claims that Christian conservatives will be hunted down by law enforcement while Hamas runs their cities.

(Speech to CPAC in early 2024 about what America would look like if he isn’t elected) “While weaponized law enforcement hunts for conservatives and people of faith, religious, Hamas and Antifa will terrorize our speech while their brutal ideology…takes over our schools.” ¹

He’s now trying to appeal to Christian conservatives at Turning Point. Pushing the narrative that Kamala Harris is a violent leftist that is militant towards anyone of faith. A wild lie, as Kamala Harris has Hindu roots but currently identifies as Baptist. Her partner is Jewish. If anything, our Vice President probably has more experience with and sympathy for multiple world religious. A woman well suited to the pluralistic society that currently makes up America. ^{2 3}

Trump at the Turning Point Believers Summit (16:17) “The radical left ideology Kamala supports is really militantly hostile towards Americans of faith.”⁴

He then continues the same theme except with callouts to more specific religious groups.

(16:56) “I don’t know how a catholic can vote for the democrats because they’re after the Catholics almost as much as they are after me.” (17:56) “They want to put you in jail they want to persecute you. How does a Jewish person vote for a democrat?” ^{5 6}

The same theme I have brought up my last post. They are persecuting you. Look at how much the “left” hates Jews and Christians. Ignore the fact that within the USA we currently have a catholic president and a Baptist vice president (with a Jewish husband). He insists these “leftists”^{7 8} leaders are out there attacking your faith, and that democrats want to place people of faith in jail.

He then makes his case as a defender of Christian liberty.

(21:58) “In my first term I defended, and like nobody, Christians against hate and bigotry…No president has ever done what I’ve done for Christians. I restored religious liberty for doctors, nurses, teachers, and faith groups…I stopped the IRS from using the Johnson Amendment…We don’t want them to be silenced because these pastors are incredible people”^{9 10}

(24:20) “I issued guidance making clear that the right to freedom of worship does not end at the door of a public school.”¹¹

(33:13) “I will once again appoint rock solid conservative judges who will protect religious liberty and not let Marxists lunatics rewrite our constitution. In my first four years we will totally transform the federal bench.”¹²

(37:34) “As soon as I take the oath of office, I will stop the Biden / Harris administration’s weaponization of law enforcement against Americans of faith.” “No longer will their DOJ and FBI be allowed to target persecute or round up Christians or prolife activists¹³ and throw them in Jail for living out their religious beliefs. And that’s what they’ve been doing they’ve been doing that at levels (stammers) that this country has never seen before.”^{14 15}

These claims are wild and completely unsubstantiated. The IRS rarely peruses enforcement of the Johnson Amendment. Pastors and religious leaders are also still allowed to bring in political leaders to speak at their places of worship.¹⁶ It is not illegal to pray or read religious texts in schools.¹⁷

Marxists? Where are the Marxists? While some Marxist ideas may be a part of the democratic socialist parties¹⁸ there are no true Marxists (or communists) in the US government. ¹⁹

This last statement is why I say perceived persecution. Trump and many Christian conservatives see their way of life fading. Pluralism is slowly seeping into the United States.²⁰ And I can see how Harris would exacerbate that feeling given her pluralistic religious history. However, this does not mean that Christianity is under attack. Evangelical Christians are just having to face the idea that they will also have to share the pollical and public sphere with non-Christian’s as well.²¹

The case of religious persecution that trump individually brought up was a prolife protester, Paulette Harlow. However, she was jailed not for her verbal protest or her faith; but because she physically blocked the entrance to an abortion clinic.²² He also vaguely gestured towards those jailed after January 6th as being religious and political prisoners.²³ There is no proof of Trump’s ridiculous claim that Christians are being persecution in the US at unheard of levels.

However, he doesn’t mince words when it comes to his enemies.

(32:54) “Instead of pandering to the Jihad sympathizers and America hating radicals, we will deport them. We will deport them very quickly.” ^{24 25}

During this same speech, he makes it clear that public schools that disagree with any of his talking points will be defunded. You allow children to use their chosen name and pronouns – funding cut.²⁶ You force your students to be vaccinated – cut the funding.²⁷ Discussion of critical race theory, no funding for you.^{28 29 30}

While his deportation statement is worrying enough, he finishes with an even eerier statement.

“In four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed. It’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians,” “We’ll have it fixed so good. You’re not going to have to vote.”³¹

He’s made his case. He’s going to be the STRONGEST supporter of Christian rights. So strong that you won’t have to worry about voting again. Just get him in this once. He’ll strike down all of your enemies and deport those that disagree (like those pesky Pro-Palestine college kids).³²

Unless there is more bravery to stand up for what is fair and right, Christianity will perish

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2024

As the twitter post above claims.³³ Christians are being told that they need to rise up and take back power in America. Their power (or perception of it) is diminishing and they must take a stand against the godless who are persecuting them. And Trump is more than happy to take the reins of power. Guiding them to stronger Christian political influence.

Onward Christians it’s time to conquer the seven mountains.^{34 35} /s

1. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5107485/user-clip-trump-fear-mongering ↩︎
2. https://religionnews.com/2024/07/22/kamala-harris-multiple-religious-identities-is-a-map-of-the-future/ ↩︎
3. https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/kamala-harris-christian-faith-religious-freedom-rcna163011 ↩︎
4. (Transcribed from his Turning Point speech) https://www.c-span.org/video/?537386-1/president-trump-speaks-turning-point-believers-summit ↩︎
5. (Transcribed from his Turning Point speech) https://www.c-span.org/video/?537386-1/president-trump-speaks-turning-point-believers-summit ↩︎
6. Later in this same speech he also stated that Kamala does not like Jewish people. (She’s married to a Jewish man). ↩︎
7. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are not leftist in any sense of the term. And Joe Biden is probably a moderate democrat (not left leaning). ↩︎
8. There are VERY few nonreligious elected political leaders at the national level in the United States. ↩︎
9. (Transcribed from his Turning Point speech) https://www.c-span.org/video/?537386-1/president-trump-speaks-turning-point-believers-summit ↩︎
10. Please note the Johnson Amendment mention. It’s the law that (theoretically) keeps religious institutes like churches from officially endorsing political candidates. This isn’t some wild persecution of pastors like Trump is making it sound. It has also been rarely used to prosecute churches in the past and it is very rarely enforced. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/10/30/johnson-amendment-elections-irs/ ↩︎
11. Let’s be clear here. This right already exists. You can worship your own deity and read religious texts in a school building already. This is a nod (dog whistle) towards the idea that Christianity should be taught in public school and public schools should be leading children in Christian prayers. ↩︎
12. Freudian slip there? First four years? It’s long since been clarified that trump is not eligible for a third term if he gets in office this November. ↩︎
13. During this conference he makes a wild statement that democrats believe that children can be euthanized after they are born. That a doctor will sit down and ask you if you want to keep the baby after it’s been born. If you say no…then there are options to kill the baby. (This a wild statement. And I’m surprised no one is calling him out on it.) https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/06/politics/fact-check-donald-trump-abortion-babies-executed/index.html I did find that he’s used similar language before, and he has had some pushback. ↩︎
14. (Transcribed from his Turning Point speech) https://www.c-span.org/video/?537386-1/president-trump-speaks-turning-point-believers-summit ↩︎
15. I don’t think I need to say this. But this is wildly untrue. ↩︎
16. https://people.com/politics/rep-lauren-boebert-denounces-separation-of-church-state/ (Remember when Lauren Boebert denounced the separation of church and state – while speaking from a church pulpit?) Christians often welcome politicians into their churches and places of worship to speech. With no persecution or fear of retaliation from the government. ↩︎
17. https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1176476800/the-department-of-education-updates-guidance-on-public-school-prayer ↩︎
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_socialism Please note democratic socialists oppose Marxist–Leninism. They do not support the overthrow the constitution or a democratic government. Unlike what Trump is trying to imply in his speech. ↩︎
19. I grew up in a home where my father would use the term “commie bastard.” Despite the end of the cold war the insult lives on. It’s a simple way to insult. Commie. Marxist. Communist. Leftist. Pedophile. Just find something that those around you accept as an insult and turn it into a dumb meaningless insult. The true meaning of any of those words are far gone. It’s just another way to degrade and insult without trying to add any context or get to the true meaning of any of those words. I struggle with this type of bending of langue, and I truly wish people would say what they mean instead of hiding behind twisted insults. ↩︎
20. There was a time not that long ago that Catholic and Protestants were at each other’s throats (In the US and in Canada). There is a long history of anti-Irish (predominately catholic) sentiment in the US. And many protestants wanted to greatly limit immigration into the US (from Catholic Countries). If you are curious look up the orange riots in the US and Canada or the “know nothing” political party. There was a period of time in history of multiple anti-Catholic riots occurring in the “new world.” The idea of Turning Point working to unite conservative Catholics and Protestants would have been unheard of (not that long ago). ↩︎
21. Trump and the religious right have very clearly rejected this idea of a pluralist society instead insisting that Christians must take back (political) power. As Trump suggest they must pack the courts with conservative judges and do all in their power to keep conservatives in power. Christianity must remain the dominate social and political power in America. ↩︎
22. https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/paulette-harlow-convicted-blocking-abortion-clinic-not-praying-2024-06-11/ ↩︎
23. https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/04/politics/fact-check-capitol-insurrection-january-6-lies/index.html This doesn’t need to be controversial. Those facing legal retribution for their actions on January 6th are not political or religious prisoners. They are facing legal consequences for forcing their way into a political building, harming law enforcement, and threating to kill politicians (Like Mike Pence). ↩︎
24. Yes, deport those that disagree with you. Not worrying at all. (Transcribed from his Turning Point speech) https://www.c-span.org/video/?537386-1/president-trump-speaks-turning-point-believers-summit ↩︎
25. Remember also Rev. Joel Tenny’s statements from my last post.
    “‘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.’” https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-evangelical-christians-joel-tenney-1861995 ↩︎
26. Trump has made it very clear trans children are not welcome in his vision for America. ↩︎
27. Almost every public school has some type of vaccine mandate or recommendations. This has also been a major tool in fighting vaccine preventable public diseases. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/trump-vows-to-defund-schools-requiring-vaccines-for-students-if-hes-reelected Even my conservative Christian college had vaccine mandates for attendance.
    I’m uncertain about the whole of the homeschool movement, but my homeschool group was very antivax and would have been wildly excited about Trump’s antivax remarks (if this has been published while I was still a part of the group). ↩︎
28. https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-threatens-cut-school-funding-1922482 ↩︎
29. This isn’t a one-off mention either. Trump has made anti public-school rhetoric a routine part of his more conservative rallies. https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-rhetoric-vaccines-defunding-schools-matters-rcna157912 ↩︎
30. Discussion of school defunding shouldn’t be a huge surprise. Private schools and homeschooling were specifically mentioned in the GOP 2024 platform.
    “Republicans believe families should be empowered to choose the best Education for their children. We support Universal School Choice in every State in America. We will expand 529 Education Savings Accounts and support Homeschooling Families equally.”
    “Republicans will ensure children are taught fundamentals like Reading, History, Science, and Math, not Leftwing propaganda. We will defund schools that engage in inappropriate political indoctrination of our children using Federal Taxpayer Dollars.”
    Homeschoolers and the Christian right would also quickly jump on board with any mention of moving public school funding towards private Christian school and homeschooling. Homeschooling and private Christian schools are largely unregulated and would allow for greater control over the education of their children. Unregulated Christian curriculums allow for religious rhetoric and anti-science ideas like young earth creationism to flourish. ↩︎
31. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-urges-christians-to-vote-says-they-won-t-have-to-again-if-he-wins-2024-election/ar-BB1qJz1n?ocid=socialshare&cvid=386a6163076b4ca19ee17b855c6e4dcf&ei=22 ↩︎
32. Palestinian supporters were who he was referencing as being “pro-jihad” and “pro-Hamas.” Mind you most of these Palestinian supporters are more than happy to condemn acts of terror and terrorism. It’s a nonsensical argument that supporting Palestinian people automatically equals support for Hamas. But trump or his Turning Point supporters do not care to clarify that. ↩︎
33. He’s also been quoted recently as describing Christianity as “toothless.” https://www.christiantoday.com/article/olympics.opening.ceremony.criticised.over.offensive.drag.queen.last.supper.parody/141970.htm ↩︎
34. “Family, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, and government.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mountain_Mandate ↩︎
35. This is a sarcastic sentence. However, I sense that many Christians unfortunately feel that it is true. They feel they MUST take back social and political life for their faith. It’s the only way to prevent the downfall of American society.
    
    William Wallace was intentional as well. He’s a bit of an icon in conservative circles. ↩︎