Enter Donald Trump

The most startling impact of the apparently unwavering evangelical support for the Republican Party was the election of Donald Trump as president–who until his political campaign–exemplified everything evangelicals had, to that point–claimed to oppose in his personal, business, social, religious, and political, life. Simply put, evangelical support for Republican candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election represented an abandonment of traditional evangelical morals and beliefs in favor of political expediency. However, evangelical support for issues such as the Iraq War is consistent with given traditional Evangelical/Republican/American populist belief in American exceptionalism [hence MAGA]. Mr. Trump surprised the nation and the world.

Of Republican primary voters across all 50 states, over 48% identified as Evangelical, and 80-82% of Evangelicals ultimately voted for Donald Trump in the general election–extremely high and unexpected number. The country has had to rethink its priorities and even its very traditions as the 2024 election approaches. How could such a staggeringly high number of evangelicals support a thrice-married Hollywood star,  who misquotes the Bible, is a quasi-member of a main stream Christian church and decidedly not an evangelist, was pro-choice, and had identified as a Democrat until several years ago?

On December 7,  2015, at a Trump rally aboard the USS Yorktown in South Carolina, Mr. Trump called for the banning of one religious group–all Muslim–from entering the United States. He and his new evangelical friends called his opponent—Barack Obama—the hateful “M” word (Muslim) and even claimed that he was not an American who could be president because of his birth history.

The question that pesters the American body politic is: are the outlandish claims and attacks voiced at the candidate’s rallies the fanaticism of a few extreme individuals utterly enraptured by the populism Donald Trump and can be ignored as momentary lapses? Has Trump’s “Prosperity Gospel” supplanted religion and moral high ground aspirations of evangelicals and the GOP as a party? Has the NRA and gun loving segment of the American culture taken over the ethos and practical governance platforms of the Grand Old Party for their own borderline acceptance of the need for violence to further their ambitions—a veritable new revolution, and an acceptance of a near certain need for a cleansing civil war?

Mr. Trump continues to appeal to the prosperity gospel and its followers, evangelicals, sympathetic Catholics, and LDS members, who have quietly had to shift their definitions of religion and evangelism to go along. The man has been phenomenally successful in convincing the followers of the new evangelical definition as implacable members of the ever-Trump MAGA.

Evangelical support for Trump has been a culmination of decades of drift toward the extreme political right. Trump winning the election with a solid majority of religious voters was not a coincidence the first time around and is very likely to hold through the 2024 election despite his convictions for felonies,  his eminently false statements based on conspiracy theories, and his obvious biases.

“You can’t deny the power of God on this man’s life, you can’t deny that God protected him,” Pastor Sewell said in his July 18 speech at the recent Republican convention.

 

So, what would appear to be the Trump plan for a return to power in the White House? Not the admittedly biased observations of his many critics, but his own stated aims?

Simply put, Donald Trump plans include ending the Russo-Ukraine war by a one day agreement with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin including ceding Ukraine territory to Russia; deportation raids for millions and in severely rapid operations; an economy based on tariffs, exclusion of old national trading partners; further alienation of old opponents instead of compromise, conciliation, or negotiation; mass reprisal firings of old enemies and potential dissidents to his policy; restructuring of the America democracy to bring the Department of Justice under his direct, and nonnegotiable power; to eliminate the education system in favor of something more favorable to his faction and himself; to reshape the American military as the personal security system for  himself and in furtherance of his ambitions; and to extricate the US from the western free world security system—NATO–thereby achieving the far-right’s long held ambition to have America go it alone with nativist, select population, favoring nationalism.

His economic proposals are perhaps the most appealing aspect of a new presidency under the populist champion. The following is  much abbreviated synopsis of the former president’s stated plans for his second term as president.

 

Taxes

Mr. Trump and Harris have competing tax plans. Mr. Trump has proposed so far:

• Trump’s plan would result in tax cuts for all. Under Trump, everyone would receive a tax cut, but the lowest earners–those making under $19,600–would just see a $320 difference in take-home pay. The very highest earners under Trump would receive a tax break of  $376,910, according to the Penn Wharton analysis.
• Trump proposed to eliminate federal taxes on tips.
• Trump promises to end income taxes on Social Security benefits, thereby helping middle-and upper-middle income seniors the most.
• Trump pledged to end the “inflation nightmare,” by adding tariffs to all imported goods. A growing number of economists state that that policy would likely fuel inflation and reverse some of the progress of the last two years.
• Trump and his vice-presidential running mate have announced their intention to increase the child tax credit to $5,000, up from the current top tax break of $2,000. The increase would extend to all Americans, including higher earners. His opponent has not released income eligibility thresholds, but it is likely that it would phase out for those at higher income levels.

 

Abortion 

Trump and Harris have opposing views on abortion access, an issue that could be a crucial motivator for voters in November.

• Trump lauds his nomination of three of the five justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and states that the issue should be left up to the voters of each state.
• While Trump has stopped short of backing a federal abortion ban, he said during a March radio interview that “people are agreeing on 15, and I’m thinking in terms of that.” He has also said, “I’m not signing a ban.” Further, Mr. Trump has also called a six-week bansigned into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a “terrible thing and a terrible mistake,” because it is too long. He stated that he  is “going to be voting that we need more than six weeks”. Mr. Trump faced swift backlash from conservatives, and did some backpedalling.

 

IVF

• Trump unveiled a planthat would require the federal government or insurance companies to cover the costs of IVF treatments, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

 

Immigration 

• Trump has promised to launch the largest deportation operation in American history, invoking “Operation Wetback” roundup of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans in the 1950s under President Dwight Eisenhower. The operation would involve deporting millions of unauthorized immigrants, some of whom have US citizen children.
• Trump vowed to try to end birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants living in the country illegally. That could raise a constitutional question.
• Trump has stated that—when elected president–he plans to reinstate his hardline border policies, including a program requiring migrants to remain in Mexico while their asylum cases are reviewed. He further plans to militarize the US-Mexico border and to deputize the National Guard to arrest migrants crossing into the country unlawfully.
• Trump has neither ruled in or ruled out reviving the practice of separating migrant parents from their children as a way to deter migration.
• Trump has spoken on several occasions about denying entry to legal immigrants based on their ideological beliefs, saying the move would target “Marxists” and “communists”, but he has not made a definitive statement that could appear in the formal platform.
• Trump states that he would suspend refugee admissions from the Middle East, and suggested he would reinstate and expand the travel ban his administration issued for certain countries, most of them predominantly Muslim.

 

Education 

• Trump says he wants to break up the Education Department. He also says he wants to cut federal spending for any school pushing “critical race theory” or transgender matters.
• Trump states that he is a proponent of school choice–enabling parents to use tax dollars toward private institutions, rather than public schools.
• In addition to eliminating the Education Department, Mr. Trump has repeatedly stated that he also wants to exert enormous influence over local school districts and colleges.
• Trump will push the federal government to give funding preference to states and school districts that abolish teacher tenure, adopt merit pay to reward good teachers, and allow the direct election of school principals by parents.
• Trump states that he will cut funding for any school that has a vaccine or mask mandate.
• He will promote prayer in public schools.
• Trump also wants a lasting say about school curricula. He vows to fight for “patriotic education,” to “teach students to love their country, not to hate their country like they’re taught right now”, and will promote “the nuclear family” including “the roles of mothers and fathers” and the “things that make men and women different and unique.”
• To protect students, he says he will support school districts that allow trained teachers to carry concealed weapons. He has indicated that his second administration will provide federal funding; so, schools can hire veterans, retired police officers, and other trained gun owners as armed school guards.

 

Climate

• Trump has summed up his energy policy curtly with the slogan “drill, baby, drill.” He vows to make America the world’s leading producer of oil and gas, in part by lifting restrictions on energy production favored by ecologists.
• Trump’s energy plan is to cut energy and electricity prices by more than half.
• During his first term as president, President Trump proposed large cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, which were ultimately rejected by the Democrat-led House Appropriations Committee. His response was, “One of the things that’s so bad for us is environmental agencies. They make it impossible to do anything.” Although that could be suggestive, Mr. Trump, the candidate, has not put out anything more definitive.
• President Trump pulled out of the landmark Paris climate agreement in 2020 and his campaign sayshe would again exit the international treaty if he wins another term. The US rejoined the agreement in 2021–a decision announced the day Mr. Biden took office.
• Trump vowed he will undo what he calls President Biden’s “electric vehicle mandate” on day one in office.

 

Guns

• The NRA endorsed Trump in May at its annual convention, and he has addressed the group several times, including in 2022 shortly after the Uvalde shooting. At another NRA event in February, he vowed “no one will lay a finger on your firearms.”

 

Israel and Gaza

• Neither Mr. Trump nor Vice-president Harris has threatened to pull support for Israel in the current Middle East war.
• Trump, who portrays himself as a staunch defender of Israel—has however criticized the Israeli government’s handling of the war in Gaza, saying“Israel has to do a better job of public relations, frankly, because the other side is beating them at the public relations front,” and called on Israel to “get it over with”.
• As president, President Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and ended decades of US opposition to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Biden administration reversed the settlement decision.

 

Ukraine and Russia

• Trump has repeatedly claimed that he can end the war in Ukraine in a day. His statements have not included details of a plan. He has also claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin would never have invaded Ukraine under his administration.
• Trump himself pushed for a loan frameworkfor aid to Ukraine during debate over an aid package in February. At a rally in June, he suggested aid to Ukraine could stop if he returned to office.
• Trump has suggested he would not protect NATO members from Russia if they do not increase their commensurate with what the US has been contributing. Certain Trump advisers have described a ‘radical reorientation’ in which Washington takes a back seat to Europe and cuts a deal with Putin over Ukraine. That indicates NATO might survive a second Trump term intact. However, the bulk of infantry, armor, logistics, and artillery, would ultimately pass from American to European hands “significantly and substantially downsizing America’s security role — stepping back instead of being the primary provider of combat power in Europe, somebody who provides support only in times of crisis.”
  •           Another part of the emerging Mr. Trump game plan is institute two-tier NATO system. means that member countries that have not yet met the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense “wouldn’t enjoy the defense largess and security guarantee of the United States.” Trump actually appeared to invite a Russian attack against NATO deadbeats, said that he would “encourage” the Russians to “do whatever the hell they want” with member countries that have not yet met the defense spending target.
• Mr. Trump is apparently mulling a deal whereby NATO commits to no further eastward expansion [into Ukraine and Georgia] and would enter transactional negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin over how much Ukrainian territory Moscow can keep. Mr. Trump’s tentative plan also involves pressing Ukraine to cede Crimea and the Donbas border region to Russia. Such a plan would scuttle NATO’s vague promise of future membership to Ukraine.

The US contribution to NATO is more than 10 times that of Germany, the second largest-spending country ~3.5 percent of US GDP. The Pentagon has legitimate concerns that there is not enough to go around in the world of Ukraine and Middle-East wars and Chinese bellicosity. Mr. Trump has made it clear he has as little love for Ukraine as he does for NATO, telling House Speaker Mike Johnson during a visit to Capitol Hill that Ukraine is “never going to be there for us” and “we should pay OUR TROOPS more instead of sending $60b to Ukraine.”

• Mr. Trump plans on asking European allies to reimburse the US for the cost of rebuilding stockpiles.
• European nations are developing tentative plans for “Trump-proofing” NATO by pledging more spending.

 

China

• Mr. Trump has continued to talk tough against China while praising its leader Xi Jinping. He has also stated that Taiwan should pay for US protection. Trump has repeatedly said that he “respected” China and Xi, adding that he has had a “rather have a good relationship with China.” He also regularly accuses China of taking advantage of the US and will deal with that with the imposition of harsh tariffs—suggesting a tariff of 60% or moreon Chinese goods.
• Trump has also proposed revoking China’s Most Favored Nation trade status, phasing out all imports of essential goods from China and banning China from buying US farmland.

 

The US-Mexico Border

• Candidate Trump has pledged to “immediately stop the invasion of our southern border” and end illegal immigration and rid the US of the hordes of Hispanic criminals pouring over the porous border. He states that he will immediately direct US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to undertake the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.
• In addition, Mr. Trump has stated that he will target people who are legally living in the United States but harbor “jihadist sympathies” and revoke the student visas of those who espouse anti-American and antisemitic views.
• Mr. Trump says he will move thousands of troops currently stationed overseas and shift federal agents–including those at the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI–to immigration enforcement along with building more of his border wall.
• Mr. Trump wants to reimpose his travel ban that originally targeted seven Muslim-majority countries and expand it to “keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the country.” In the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel, he has pledged to put in place “ideological screening” for immigrants. His aim: bar “dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots, and maniacs,” as well as those who “empathize with radical Islamic terrorists and extremists.”
• To deter migrants, he has said he would end birthright citizenship, using an executive order that would introduce a legally untested interpretation of the 14th Amendment. The order would prevent federal agencies from granting automatic citizenship to the children of people who are in the US illegally. It would require that at least one parent be a US citizen or lawful permanent resident for their children to be eligible for passports, Social Security numbers, and other benefits.
• Trump says he will institute a system of tariffs of perhaps 10% on most foreign goods. Penalties would increase if trade partners manipulate their currencies or engage in other unfair trading practices.
• Along with trying to keep the Philippines firmly in the US camp, a second Trump administration would likely put immense pressure on states like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, and possibly others to go along with US efforts to push multinationals, including those based in Southeast Asia, to leave China, moving their supply chains to the US or at least to Southeast Asia.

He is likely to apply other types of pressure on key Southeast Asian partners, pledging to cut down defense cooperation or assistance unless they promised to follow the United States’ lead in regional security. Trump focuses heavily on a belief that virtually all foreign countries are unfairly trading with America, also would be less shy, in a second term, to impose tariffs on Southeast Asian states themselves that are major exporters to the US.

• If Mr. Trump’s administration ramps up pressure on Southeast Asia, China will do the same, making it finally impossible for Southeast Asian states to avoid choosing sides. And despite great confidence among US policymakers from both parties, the US might not win if countries are forced to choose. China is by far the dominant economic power in the region and increasingly provides the infrastructure for the region to function. A bullying approach like Mr. Trump’s style usually does not work in Southeast Asia.
• He will urge that Congress pass a “Trump Reciprocal Trade Act,” giving the president authority to impose a reciprocal tariff on any country that imposes one on the US.
• Much of the agenda focuses on China. Mr. Trump has proposed a four-year plan to phase out Chinese imports of essential goods, including electronics, steel and pharmaceuticals. He wants to ban Chinese companies from owning vital US infrastructure in sectors such as energy, technology and agriculture, and says he will force Chinese owners to sell any holdings “that jeopardize America’s national security.” It is difficult to see how a complete divorce from the world’s second economy can benefit America’s.

 

Iran nuclear deal

During his term as president, President Trump rejected the Obama-era deal–the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action–and unilaterally removed the US from the international agreement in 2018.

 

Dismantling the “Deep State”

• Mr. Trump declares that he will strip tens of thousands of career employees of their civil service protections. That way, they could be fired as he seeks to “totally obliterate the deep state.” Trump has said he would require every federal employee to pass a new civil service test of his own creation.
• He intends to accomplish that by reissuing a 2020 executive order known as “Schedule F.” That would allow him to reclassify masses of employees, with a particular focus on “corrupt bureaucrats who have weaponized our justice system” and “corrupt actors in our national security and intelligence apparatus.” There have been multiple suggestions that he will seek reprisals against the FBI and federal prosecutors pursuing criminal cases against him and will—in all probability–target people linked to those prosecutions.
• In addition, Mr. Trump states that he intends to crack down on government officials who leak to reporters. He also wants to require that federal employees pass a new civil service test of his devising. Some suggest that the test will require specific loyalty to Donald Trump.

 

Transgender Rights

• Mr. Trump says he will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that “only two genders,” as determined at birth, are recognized by the United States.
• As part of his crackdown on gender-affirming care, Mr. Trump has announced that he will declare that hospitals and health care providers that offer transitional hormones or surgery no longer meet federal health and safety standards and will be blocked from receiving federal funds, including Medicaid and Medicare dollars.
• Mr. Trump has stated that he will push Congress to prohibit hormonal or surgical intervention for transgender minors in all 50 states.

 

Energy

• Mr. Trump’s goal is for the US to have the lowest-cost energy and electricity of any nation in the world, including China.
• Under the mantra “DRILL, BABY, DRILL,” Mr. Trump has frequently asserted that he will ramp up oil drilling on public lands and offer tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal, producers. •Mr. Trump will roll back Biden administration efforts to encourage the adoption of electric cars and reverse proposed new pollution limits that would require at least 54% of new vehicles sold in the US to be electric by 2030.
• Mr. Trump asserts that he will exit the Paris Climate Accords, end wind subsidies, and eliminate regulations proposed and imposed by the Biden admiration targeting incandescent lightbulbs, gas stoves, dishwashers, and shower heads.
• As to climate change, especially as to it being manmade, a few quotes by Mr. Trump will suffice: “We must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse.” “I don’t think it’s a hoax; I think there’s a difference, but I don’t know that its manmade.” “It’s freezing in New York; where the hell is global warming?” “I don’t believe it.” “The concept of global warming was created by the Chinese in order make US manufacturing noncompetitive.” “The environment is very important to me. Someone wrote a book that I’m an environmentalist.” “The badly flawed Paris Climate Agreement protecting the polluters, and it cost a fortune.”

 

Homelessness

Mr. Trump plans to force the homeless off city streets by building tent cities on large open parcels of inexpensive land. He also says that, as president, he will work with states to ban urban camping, giving violators the choice between being arrested or receiving treatment.

He also wants to bring back large mental institutions to reinstitutionalize those who are “severely mentally ill” or “dangerously deranged.”

 

Public Safety

• In keeping with his assertion that he is the ‘law and order’ candidate and that the GOP is the ‘law and order’ party, Mr. Trump will endeavor to send the National Guard to cities such as Chicago that are struggling with violence. He will use the federal government’s funding and prosecution authorities to influence local governments to do the right thing as he defines it.
• Mr. Trump states that he will require local law enforcement agencies that receive Justice Department grants to use policing measures such as stop-and-frisk. Mr. Trump is on the record as stating that local police should be empowered to shoot suspected shoplifters in the act as a deterrent. “Very simply, if you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store.”
• Mr. Trump has called for the death penalty for drug smugglers and those who traffic women and children.
• Mr. Trump has also pledged a federal takeover of the nation’s capital, calling Washington a “dirty, crime-ridden death trap” unbefitting of the country.

 

Political Violence

Warnings that democracy is on the ballot in the 2024 election by critics of Donald Trump point to the January 6th insurrection, campaign statements by the former president and the Project 2025 agenda. Researchers and pollsters have concluded that the negative campaign statements and threats are more than just opposition rhetoric. The prime example is that Mr. Trump’s rhetoric has already led to violence in the past, on January 6, 2021.

“And we fight, we fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore,” then President Trump during his rally at the Ellipse in Washington, DC before the insurrection in the US Capitol.

“I’d call January 6th a dry run, except it wasn’t. It was a real attempt,” a capitol police officer present during the insurrection said.

“I think Donald Trump manifestly poses a threat to the American political system, and I don’t think that’s theoretical any longer,” said an author and former host of a popular Milwaukee conservative talk radio show… “Donald Trump has said that his next presidency would be a presidency of retribution.

In the interim, a jury convicted Mr. Trump of 34 felonies for falsifying business records.

There do not appear to be limits to the extent Mr. Trump will go to be successful at his continuing quest to be a successful billionaire and to be reelected. Those two ambitions are interconnected. Mr. Trump must become president in order to pardon himself, to be able to continue his financial debts and quests unhindered by such trivialities as laws and restrictive controls. His Supreme Court has already ruled that he is immune from prosecution for past, present, and future, criminal acts, however egregious. Failing to be elected would men a loss of such power sufficient to impede his progress for the future.

“Regardless of whether people voted for anti-democracy and regardless of who the president is, if they consolidate power in a certain way, that’s still anti-democratic,” a prominent sociology professor said.

Mr. Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him has spread public mistrust in our electoral system. Again, in the 2024 election, the GOP candidate is setting the stage for him losing and being able to overcome the voting public by casting doubt on the 2024 election, saying he will accept the results “if everything is honest.”

Truth—as opposed to “Fake News”, honesty, and him winning the presidency, are inextricably linked. The only truth Mr. Trump can accept is good news for him, election to the presidency, and the elimination of his opposition.