White Evangelicals Love Trump And Aren't Confused About Why. No One Should Be.

Anthea Butler offers a brutal (but for the most part, accurate) take in this opinion piece for NBC News.

She’s a bit bold with some of her statements, and I think she misses the fact that a lot of white evangelicals have good intentions, but she also makes some very astute and well articulated points:

Their imagined powerlessness, and the need for a strong authoritarian leader to protect them, is at the root of their racial and social animus. Their persecution complex is a heady mix of their fear of “socialists,” Muslims, independent women, LGB[&]T people and immigration. Their feelings of fragility, despite positions of power, make them vote for people like Donald Trump — and morally suspect candidates like Roy Moore. Rhetoric, not morality, drives their voting habits.

She’s spot on in pointing out that white evangelicals are driven by a persecution complex and deep seated fear (so deep that most of them probably aren’t even aware of its existence) that the status quo is changing in a manner that could put them in a position where they’re no longer the dominant social authority in America.

Trump delivered evangelicals from the shame of losing, and they will back him again in 2020 to avoid losing again. So perhaps we should take evangelicals at their word that they will support Trump come hell or high water, rather than twisting ourselves into knots trying to figure out why.

This hits the nail on the head. They aren’t wearing red hats because they think that’s what Jesus would do, they’re wearing them because they represent the vindication they felt in the wake of the 2016 election, and a hope that they can return to an America in which their authority wasn’t questioned. Perhaps they could regain some the respect and authority that’s been eroded if they were to focus less on their pride and more on actually helping people and being a legitimate moral authority. Fat chance.