Donald Trump never even tried to sell himself as an actual Christian to earn blind evangelical obedience. Rather, he easily attracted voters sympathetic to Christian nationalist ideas by branding himself as a defender of “Christians under siege.” Which is to say he pandered to and played up the persecution complex: “I will tell you, Christianity is under tremendous siege, whether we want to talk about it or we don’t want to talk about it…. And we’re going to reverse that trend big league.” January 30, 2016, campaign event in Dubuque
