I had read the Politico article earlier, hoping that Trump might be losing his support among evangelicals, but I came away disappointed. Evangelicals might whine a little, but they’re still staunchly loyal.
Question:
So it worth trying again and again? Or should those opposed to Trump move on to something else?
To answer this, it helps to know the power structure of evangelicals. It’s simple feudalism, with only two levels: The Lord of the Manner and the serfs.
In evangelicalism, there are many Lords of the Manor: ministers, televangelists (even the Pink Haired Lady), theocratic politicians, and others. They are folks who assure the serfs that (to paraphrase Alexander Haig) the Lords of the Manor are in charge. They tell the serfs what to believe and how to believe it.
Neither the knowledge of the Lords (seminarians and college teachers — even at religious schools — are serfs) nor their questionable actions (“Hey kids, Jimmy Swaggart’s back in town, washed in the blood of the Lamb and good as new”) have any bearing on the status of the Lords. All they have to do is assert their lordliness. If a cheeseburger could talk, it could become a Lord of the Manor. What makes people serfs is their fear of asserting any authority or autonomy.
From the Politico article:
“We all wish he would be a little more careful with his language, but it’s not anything that’s a deal breaker, and it’s not something we’re going to get morally indignant about,” said Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., one of Trump’s earliest supporters among religious leaders.
Falwell Jr. is a Lord of the Manor. Note the royal “we.”
Two pro-Trump pastors, both of whom requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation, admitted in interviews that they’ve winced and cringed their way through some of the president’s more provocative speeches, or the ones that contained multiple expletives.
Although these two men are pastors, they are not Lords of the Manor. We know they’re serfs because they “requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation.”
Unless someone comes up with a video of Trump urinating on the King James Bible, AND unless Trump acknowledges the video is authentic, then Trump has a lock on the evangelical voters in 2020.
Answer:
Move on to something else.
