Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen
Evangelicals Quit Nixon: Why Do They Stick With Trump?
When Nixon lied, it was an earthquake. Now Trump lies many times a day. Does it matter? Why is it that evangelicals remain solid with Trump? How is it that evangelicals no longer care about his personal immorality? Do Christian values jibe with his policies? In an insightful discussion, Elesha Coffman, assistant professor of History at Baylor University, a Christian evangelical college, answers these puzzling questions. She says evangelicals want a tough guy who will fight for them when they felt victimized by other presidents. And that evangelicals see the government as encroaching on what is rightfully their power. They are economic libertarians with ties to big oil, though some sectors do see their role as being stewards of God’s creation, the earth. Perhaps above all, a priority is restoring the rule of white masculinity. They eventually gave up on Nixon; what about Trump?