It surprised many: a movement known for preaching morality and humility threw its weight behind a man famous for neither. But the strong support Donald Trump received from American evangelicals wasn’t a fluke or a betrayal of faith—it revealed how much the meaning of that faith had already changed.
Over recent decades, a significant part of evangelical culture shifted from focusing on personal virtue to defending group identity. As American culture became more diverse and secular, many white evangelicals began to feel sidelined. They no longer saw themselves as moral leaders, but as a misunderstood, even persecuted minority. This loss of status bred resentment and fear.
Trump didn’t share their theology—but he spoke to their sense of threat. He promised to fight for them, to “Make America Great Again,” which many heard as restoring their place in the cultural mainstream. He didn’t need to be Christ-like. He just needed to be loyal to their side.
In this new mindset, traditional virtues like kindness or humility became less important than toughness and loyalty. Supporting Trump became a signal—not of shared values, but of shared enemies. Faith, for many, became less about living like Jesus and more about winning a culture war.
This shift didn’t happen overnight. It was the result of years of mixing faith with politics, fear with identity. Trump didn’t cause the change. He exposed it.
Further Reading
Kristin Kobes DuMez – Jesus and John Wayne
David French – essays on faith and politics
Tara Isabella Burton – Self-Made
Alain de Botton – Status Anxiety
Nancy LeTourneau – “The Status Anxiety of White Evangelicals”