One of my puzzlements over the last eight years is why evangelicals prefer Donald Trump. Why do they support a man who is, by almost every measure, antithetical to the teaching of Jesus?
Evangelicals believe, I am told, that not only is the Bible the inspired and authoritative word of God, but also that it is their duty to spread the “good news” of Jesus’ message of salvation. Wouldn’t it follow, then, that evangelicals should find Trump’s disdain of Jesus’ counsel reprehensible?
Until recently, I had two evangelical friends with whom I, a humanist, could candidly discuss religion. Neither particularly liked Trump the man, though one admired his “strongman” authoritative persona. The other, when I asked who he was going to vote for in the 2016 election, said “I am going to hold my nose and vote for Trump.” That was a clue.
Last year, I took a course on artificial intelligence at Washington College’s WC-ALL (college for old folks) wherein I discovered the AI program called ChatGPT. The basic version is free and downloadable as an app on your phone or computer. You can ask any question (and I mean any question you can think of) and ChatGPT will give you a reasonably unbiased answer of usually less than one page. In other words, it’s a very succinct version of Wikipedia if all you want is a brief summary rather than the Full Monty.
I asked ChatGPT “Why do Evangelicals like Trump?” It responded with eight reasons, with this summary at the end:
Evangelicals’ support for Trump is not based on an alignment with his personal lifestyle or moral character, but rather on his policy positions, political pragmatism, cultural defense, and his administration’s actions in areas they deeply care about.
The principal reason was that Evangelicals view Trump as a “means to an end” who advocates for policies they favor. Putting it in my words, Evangelicals view Trump as a useful scoundrel.
Let’s explore the concept of “the end justifies the means”, a phrase attributed to Italian Renaissance political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli, from whom the term “Machiavellian” has come to mean cunning and unscrupulous political behavior.
For you who believe that the end justifies the means, consider these questions:
- In order to accomplish your goals (the end) is it worth creating distrust in our democratic institutions and Constitution (the means) which have served us well for more than two centuries?
- Would you advocate for a person who falsely accuses his opponent of crimes he himself commits, repeatedly displays contempt for the law of our land, and lives only to enrich and empower himself?
- Would you promote a person who intimidates election officials with threats if they do not illegally rig results in his favor, i.e., break the law for him?
“We end up becoming the thing we hate when we sacrifice our principles to achieve our goals.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“Love gained by lies is not true love. A victory obtained by cheating is no true victory. An outcome obtained illegally is illegitimate.” Philosopher James Bellerjeau
“If one takes care of the means, the end will take care of itself.” Mohandas Gandhi
For evangelicals, Mark 8:36: “For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul.”
I don’t believe the destination matters more than the road one travels. If you can do a little good along the way, isn’t that what life is about?
The end does not justify the means!
Bob Moores retired from Black & Decker/DeWalt in 1999 after 36 years. He was the Director of Cordless Product Development at the time. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from Johns Hopkins University
James Nick says
Carl Sagan defined religion as belief without evidence. Indeed, being evidence-free is the defining essence of religion. To believe in, say, the existence of God, of heaven and hell, in the divinity of Jesus, and the efficacy of prayer requires faith. If there were evidence, religion wouldn’t need faith. It would be taught in science class along with the laws of motion, thermodynamics, and planetary motion.
An empirical observation is that the more religiously devout someone is, the more willing they seem to be to suspend disbelief and not question the tenets of their faith. And they can be quite intolerant of anyone who does. As in medieval Christianity, the penalty for apostasy, blasphemy or heresy in Islam even today, for example, is death.
It’s just an easy hop, skip, and a jump to transfer that level of devotion and evidence-free belief structure to a charlatan that makes the case that he and only he can miraculously fix ALL the problems of the world be they economic, political, cultural, or of natural origin.
Another empirical observation is that many Christians have elevated trump to near demigod status. It’s quite common to see T-shirts, bumper stickers, and other MAGA paraphernalia proclaiming as much.
You can also see this unquestioning devotion in action at his rallies. At a recent rally trump focused on what he said were dangers that immigrants posed to Americans: “And you see how bad it’s getting. When you look at what’s going on with the migrants attacking villages and cities all throughout the Midwest, in particular right now, but it’s all over.” He conjures images of immigrant armies traveling across the Midwest attacking Americans. “A vote for Kamala Harris means 40 or 50 million more illegal aliens will invade across our borders, stealing your money, stealing your jobs, stealing your life.” “Countries are emptying their jails and prisons and sending them to America”. Cue the raucous and approving hooting, hollering, and applause.
None of this remotely true, of course, but the faithful eat it up.
Many (but not all) Evangelical Christians are among trump’s most ardent and dug-in supporters. I’d like to say that trump hijacked the belief structure of these people but it wasn’t a hostile takeover by any means. It was more like a mind meld. Are these people Ok with the-ends-justify-the-means Machiavellianism? You bet.
Margaret McVicker says
Well said! I really enjoyed reading your article, it matches my thoughts (and many other people’s). Thank you for writing/printing it!