Evangelical Christians are crucial voters in Republican primaries. Would they support DeSantis or Trump?
"Florida Supreme Court justice targeted in challenges to appeals court candidates "Records show more payments for migrant flights. Where did Florida’s $3.4 million go? "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Hired Longtime Hillsboro Company to Ferry Migrants to Martha’s Vineyard"" "
Published: December 5, 2022 6.01am AEDT
Author David Smith Associate Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney Disclosure statement ..Partners...inside
Ron DeSantis’s re-election as governor of Florida was one of the few bright spots for Republicans in an otherwise disappointing 2022 midterm election. DeSantis originally won the governorship by less than half a percentage point .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Florida_gubernatorial_election .. in 2018. in 2022, he defeated his Democratic opponent (and former Republican governor) Charlie Crist by more than 19% of the vote.
For the first time in years, Donald Trump may have a serious challenger to his domination of the Republican Party. Donors, media figures and other conservative elites are flocking to DeSantis.
The contrasts with Trump are obvious. DeSantis won re-election while Trump lost, and many Republicans hold Trump responsible for their losses this year. DeSantis’s allies also point to his policy victories, something largely missing from Trump’s presidency.
One of the most important Christian narratives is triumph over death, embodied in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and promised one day to all God’s people. Death is not just beaten, but humiliated. In the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians .. https://www.bible.com/bible/1/1CO.15.55-58.KJV , the Apostle Paul taunts “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
There will be other reversals of earthly fortune, because God’s grace does not follow established social convention. In the parable of the vineyard workers .. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zd76rj6/revision/5 , Jesus tells his followers that in the Kingdom of God “the last shall be first, and the first last”.
This passage has historically inspired .. https://harvardichthus.org/2015/04/the-god-who-delivers/ .. enslaved and oppressed peoples to find a message of liberation in the gospels. But it has also encouraged relatively well-off people to imagine themselves as the persecuted “last” who will one day be first by God’s grace.
For orthodox Christians (referring not to Eastern Orthodox churches, but all adherents to core Christian creeds), politicians are not supposed to promise the Kingdom of God. The state and the Kingdom of God are separate realms, as Jesus himself explains. Nonetheless, political power has had important uses for Christians ever since Emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.
--- INSERT: [F6 December 22, 2009] - Why is Christianity the Largest Religion on Earth?
[Yet conservative trolls here freak out about children being brainwashed by liberals. Children must not be tempted by material which might conflict with their parents' beliefs. If that isn't brainwashing then our trolls are geniuses. No wonder so many conservative parents are so against developing critical thinking skills in their children.]
DeSantis’s message of victory on election night was “Florida is where woke goes to die”.
DeSantis learnt from Trump that evangelical Christians don’t care much about the personal piety of their candidates.
But there are limits to how much DeSantis can emulate Trump. While DeSantis sounds like a politician with a law degree, Trump sounds like a tent revival prophet. Rather than rearguard culture war actions, Trump promises the redemption of America.
The Kingdom of Trump In his first presidential run, Trump was notable for his scathing “American carnage” speeches about the fallen state of the nation. It was rare to hear an American politician talk his country down like that, but it appealed to Christians who thought that even their own leaders didn’t understand how bad things were.
Trump’s vows to restore America’s glory and punish its enemies without mercy resonate with evangelicals, who long for a day of reckoning when everyone will be held to account. As president, Trump always hinted that bigger things were around the corner. In the words of Kimberley Guilfoyle at the Republican National Convention, “the best is yet to come! .. https://news.sky.com/video/the-best-is-yet-to-come-belts-out-trump-adviser-at-republican-convention-12056169 ”.
For many Pentecostals and Charismatics, Trump was such a radical break from political norms that he represented the fulfilment of biblical prophecy. They likened him to biblical figures like Cyrus the Great, a pagan king who was nevertheless chosen to save God’s people.
[Personally i'm not overjoyed by these millions of religious zealots spending their entire adult lives working diligently to bring about their apocalypse. How about you?]
This apocalyptic style does not appeal to all conservative evangelicals, but in 2016 more orthodox-minded Christians couldn’t unite around a single candidate in opposition to Trump. Now, after six years of Trump influencing evangelical subculture .. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/evangelical-trump-christians-politics/620469/ .. and bringing previously marginal views to the centre of it, any challenger to Trump seeking evangelical votes faces a daunting task.
Any presidential candidate trying to wrest evangelical votes from Donald Trump faces a daunting task. Lynne Sladky/AP/AAP
How abortion could make or destroy the 2024 Republican candidate
The most complicated issue in any contest between Trump and DeSantis could be abortion.
Both Trump and DeSantis would have difficult decisions to make about whether to try to outflank each other on the abortion issue, or to distance themselves from Republican extremism. Abortion bans are increasingly unpopular even in the Republican Party, but these are among the most prized goals of religious activists who vote in Republican primaries.
Primary contests are highly unpredictable, and there is little current polling on how evangelical Christians compare the two most likely candidates. Trump secured 81% of the white evangelical vote in the 2020 election, but a contest with DeSantis could open deep divides among evangelical conservatives – at least until the winner faces a Democrat.
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