As Donald Trump increasingly infuses his campaign with Christian trappings while coasting to a third Republican presidential nomination, his support is as strong as ever among evangelicals and other conservative Christians.

“Trump supports Jesus, and without Jesus, America will fall,” said Kimberly Vaughn of Florence, Kentucky, as she joined other supporters of the former president entering a campaign rally near Dayton, Ohio.

Many of the T-shirts and hats that were worn and sold at the rally in March proclaimed religious slogans such as “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president” and “God, Guns & Trump.” One man’s shirt declared, “Make America Godly Again,” with the image of a luminous Jesus putting his supportive hands on Trump’s shoulders.

Many attendees said in interviews they believed Trump shared their Christian faith and values. Several cited their opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, particularly to transgender expressions.

Nobody voiced concern about Trump’s past conduct or his present indictments on criminal charges, including allegations that he tried to hide hush money payments to a porn actor during his 2016 campaign. Supporters saw Trump as representing a religion of second chances.

    • credo@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      My life is needlessly difficult because I try to understand stupid people. It wears me out.

      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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        6 months ago

        It’s like somewhere in the ancient past someone wished that stupidity was painful, but forgot to specify who it should be painful for.

      • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        A historical context helps out with this. They’re just us from 500 years ago. Even this divinely ordained stuff is straight out of history textbooks, the divine right to rule that medieval kings claimed.

        • Gsus4@mander.xyz
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          6 months ago

          yea, sometimes these guys sound like the christian mobs from the early “dark ages”, the ones who destroyed pagan symbols e.g. Hypatia.

      • harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 months ago

        Same here. The other night I had to ask myself repeatedly “if I was awful at my job, where would I have put…” and it hurts. Being competent comes naturally to me so, to me, it seems that it takes way more effort to be that dumb.

    • aeronmelon@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      The irony being that the only way to understand it is to be that dumb. But if you were that dumb, you wouldn’t understand it nor would you try to because you’d think you are smart.

    • Gsus4@mander.xyz
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      6 months ago

      Some people are completely lost in the modern world. They shut down completely whenever anyone aims any critic at them and congregate to unquestioningly hold on to what they recognize. It is basic human instinct and being smart sometimes just pushes some of these people into taking advantage of the system and leading this herd mentality, instead of taking a risk trying to wake them up.

    • Franklin@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Unfortunately, it’s well understood that political engagement especially when in a debate is an emotional undertaking.

      Complicated further by the fact that we tend not to change our assumptions even when presented with data that proves otherwise.

      We are a tribal species whose emotions are not geared towards understanding the far reaching and nuanced decisions we are faced with.