It's the power-hungry who support Trump: Kirsten Powers

When Mike Pence received the call to join The Donald’s ticket, the Indiana governor says he asked himself, “Who am I, oh Lord?” to be called to such a high office.

The Lord had nothing to do with it. It was about electoral math, pure and simple. Pence is an outspoken evangelical culture warrior. He’s just the man Donald Trump needs to help motivate the 55% of white evangelical voters who told Pew Research in a new survey that they are dissatisfied with the choice of presidential candidates. As white evangelical voters make up about a third of GOP voters, Trump can’t afford to see even a small percentage of them stay home.

Despite viewing Trump as an imperfect vessel, Pew found that white evangelicals are registering a higher level of support for Trump than they did at this time in 2012 for Mitt Romney. If the election were held today, 78% of white evangelical registered voters say they'd vote for Trump. That’s more than the 73% of white evangelicals who supported Romney at a similar point during the 2012 election. 

Pence seems to have been drafted in part to help evangelicals justify their support of a thrice-married presidential candidate who mangles Bible verses, has said he never asks God for forgiveness and whom 44% of white evangelical Republicans view as “not too” or “not at all” religious, according to Pew.

What’s behind evangelical support of Trump then? Hillary hatred is surely part of it. Pence made it clear a major factor in joining the Trump ticket is that “Hillary Clinton must never be president of the United States.” The Pew survey found that more white evangelicals — 45% — are backing Trump as a vote against Clinton as opposed to the 30% who say their vote is for Trump. 

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There is something else, though. Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute, says that during the primaries, “evangelicals were converted from values voters who care about the character of candidates to nostalgia voters” who want someone who will reverse the clock on American demographic and cultural changes. Jones points out to me that unlike Ted Cruz — who promised “white Christian America” he'd be championing exemptions from the changes to culture through religious liberty laws — Trump is making a wholly different promise. Trump is telling WCA that its best days are ahead, that it will be dominant again.

In researching his new book, The End of White Christian America, Jones found WCA alarmed at the shift of the country from 54% Christian at the beginning of the Obama presidency to 45% in 2015. Two-thirds of WCA members say it bothers them when they come into contact with immigrants who speak little English. Two-thirds also believe that discrimination against whites is as big of an issue as discrimination against other racial groups.  

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What do these things have to do with being a Christian? Nothing. Is there something in the Bible about needing people to speak English or endorsing this kind of disconnect from reality, personal grievance and entitlement? Of course not. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Conservative white evangelicals who are supporting Trump do so because they are mad that they can’t impose their worldview on the rest of the country, whether it relates to gays and lesbians, transgender people and non-whites. They — and this includes Pence — should stop portraying their thirst for influence as some Christian mission and be honest about their motivations in supporting Trump. This is not about God. It’s about power.

Or as Jones told me, “With the selection of Mike Pence, it’s no exaggeration to say that Donald Trump has firmly positioned this election to be a referendum on the end of white Christian America.”

Kirsten Powers, author of The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech, writes often for USA TODAY. Follow her on Twitter: @KirstenPowers

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