ANNALS OF RELIGION UNDER GOD

How Christian is Christian nationalism?

- KELEFA SANNEH

Seven years ago, during the Republican Presidential primary, Donald Trump appeared onstage at Dordt University, a Christian institution in Iowa, and made a confession of faith. "I'm a true believer," he said, and he conducted an impromptu poll. "Is everybody a true believer, in this room?" He was scarcely the first Presidential candidate to make a religious appeal, but he might have been the first one to address Christian voters so explicitly as a special interest. "You have the strongest lobby ever," he said. "But I never hear about a 'Christian lobby." He made his audience a promise. "If I'm there, you're going to have plenty of power," he said.

"You're going to have somebody representing you very, very well."

By the time Trump reluctantly left office, in 2021, his relationship with evangelical Christians was one of the most powerful alliances in American politics. (According to one survey, he won eighty-four per cent of the white evangelical vote in 2020.) On January 6th, when his supporters gathered in Washington to protest the election results, one person brought along a placard depicting Jesus wearing a MAGA hat; during the Capitol invasion, a shirtless protester delivered a prayer on the Senate floor. “Thank you for filling this chamber with patriots that love you, and that love Christ,” he said.