Trump is their candidate, and Jesus is their Saviour – Trump’s backers

Donald Trump is appealing more to Christians as he runs for president again. His support from evangelicals and other conservative Christians is still very strong.

Kimberly Vaughn from Florence, Ky said, “Trump believes in Jesus, and thinks America will fail without Jesus. ” She said this as she joined other people who also support the former president at a rally near Dayton, Ohio.

A lot of T-shirts and hats at the rally in March had religious messages on them, like “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president” and “God, Guns & Trump. ” One man was wearing a shirt that said, “Make America Godly Again,” with a picture of Jesus and Trump.

A lot of people said in interviews that they thought Trump has the same Christian faith and values as them. Many people said they are against abortion and the rights of 2SLGBTQ+ community, especially when it comes to transgender people expressing themselves.

No one talked about Trump’s past actions or the criminal charges he’s facing now. This includes claims that he tried to keep secret payments to a porn star during his 2016 campaign. Fans believed that Trump stood for giving people another chance.

Many people see Trump as a supporter of Christianity and love for their country.

“I think he has faith in God, our military, and our country, America,” said Tammy Houston from New Lexington, Ohio.

Sherrie Cotterman from Sidney, Ohio said, “I prioritize my family and, in a bigger way, I prioritize America. ” “I would choose a president who openly admits he needs God’s strength more than his own, any day of the week. ”

In a lot of ways, this story is like ones we already know.

Approximately 80% of white evangelical Christians supported Trump in 2020, and a similar number supported him in 2016 according to two different surveys.

This campaign is new, but support for Trump has stayed strong. Even though there were other conservative Christian candidates to choose from, none of them had the legal problems and misconduct allegations that Trump has. In the Republican primary elections in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Trump got a lot of support from white evangelical voters. He received between 55 and 69 percent of their votes.

Trump criticized another politician, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for making strict rules about abortion. In the past, some people who speak for Trump have said he is supportive of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

Trump was the only Republican running for election who had a lot of legal problems. He was accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election and also of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election with hush money.

Trump was the only GOP candidate who had owned casinos and been divorced twice. He was also accused of sexual misconduct, and one of the accusations was confirmed by a court.

Most voters in the Republican primary chose Trump by a large majority.

This has made some conservative evangelicals very upset because they think Trump is pretending to be religious and only using the Bible and prayer for show. People think he doesn’t have strong beliefs and is dealing with serious accusations of bad behavior while using aggressive speech and wanting to have a lot of power.

Karen Swallow Prior, a Christian writer and expert on literature, has criticized other evangelicals for supporting Trump. She said that the support in 2024 is even stronger than before.

She said in the past that Trump supporters wanted to believe that he shared their Christian faith, but they weren’t sure.

“Now his followers think they are right,” she said. “Even though Trump is unsure about abortion and LGBTQ issues, people just pretend those things don’t exist and don’t talk about them. ”

At the Ohio rally, many people said they think Trump has changed his ways and started living like a Christian.

“We have all done wrong. ” Vaughn said that Jesus spent time with sinful people, so he will also spend time with Trump. “It’s not important where Trump started, but where he is going and what he is trying to do with our country. ”

The Ohio rally had a recording of the national anthem sung by people who were found guilty of crimes during the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. Trump called them “patriots”.

At the beginning of the rally, a group gave out papers encouraging people to trust Jesus for salvation and to support the J6 patriots.

Caleb Cinnamon, a 37-year-old man from Dayton, said he is a Christian and cares a lot about stopping abortion. He mentioned that Trump picked three people for the Supreme Court, and in 2022 they made a big decision to overturn a previous ruling that made abortion legal all over the country.

“Donald Trump is the first president to openly oppose abortion and take action to support his stance,” he said. “Republicans have been promising to make changes to abortion laws since the 1990s, but they haven’t followed through on their promises. ”

Jody Picagli from Englewood, Ohio, said that her beliefs as a Catholic and her thoughts on abortion are very important to her.

“I believe in the right to live,” she said. “That’s really important for me. ” Just being good and having good values. I think people’s sense of right and wrong is off track. “We need to bring religion and the church back here. ”

She said that because the US Supreme Court is letting each state decide on abortion laws, a future President Trump may not have much influence on those laws.

“But I know he won’t ever go to an abortion clinic and visit it, like our vice president did,” she said, referring to Kamala Harris visiting a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota in March.

Christians who support Trump also mentioned .