The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American

by Andrew L. Seidel

This masquerade was laid bare as believers, and especially evangelical Christians, supported Donald Trump as scandal after immoral scandal broke over his candidacy and presidency. Numbers highlight the pretense. In 2011, a mere 30 percent of white evangelicals thought that an elected official who committed an immoral act in their personal life could still behave ethically and fulfill their public duties. Things had changed by the 2016 presidential race and no group had shifted more than those moral absolutists, the white evangelicals, who swung 42 points, with 72 percent believing that an immoral person could be a moral public figure.77 Evangelicals’ view of Trump actually became more favorable over the scandal-ridden first eighteen months of his presidency. A year and a half after the election, 75 percent of white evangelicals had a favorable of Trump, about ten points higher than on Election Day.78