Former President Donald Trump promised to use a second term in the White House to defend Christian values and even suggested he\u2019d shield the faith\u2019s central iconography, warning a convention of religious broadcasters on Thursday night that the left wants \u201cto tear down crosses.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember, every communist regime throughout history has tried to stamp out the churches, just like every fascist regime has tried to co-opt them and control them. And, in America, the radical left is trying to do both,\u201d Trump told hundreds of cheering attendees at the National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention in Nashville.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to tear down crosses where they can, and cover them up with social justice flags,\u201d Trump added. \u201cBut no one will be touching the cross of Christ under the Trump administration, I swear to you.\u201d Pledging protections for the symbol of Christianity recalled the former president recently telling the National Rifle Association, \u201cNo one will lay a finger on your firearms.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also comes as leading conservatives have increasingly called on Trump to openly build his second term around Christian values, should he win. Trump is favoured in a Republican primary where the once crowded field has dwindled to just him and his former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.<\/p>\n
The Christian media gathering, where sponsors distributed free red and white baseball caps emblazoned with \u201cMake America Pray Again,\u201d was exceedingly friendly territory for the former president, whose address often felt more like a rally than a staid convention speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe left is trying to shame Christians,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to shame us. I\u2019m a very proud Christian.\u201d Trump brought the crowd to its feet repeatedly and frequently championed his record on abortion, including appointing three conservative Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the Roe v. Wade decision.<\/p>\n
But he notably didn\u2019t mention the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that has prompted providers there to pause in vitro fertilization after justices ruled that frozen embryos could be considered children under state law. President Joe Biden\u2019s reelection campaign released a blank statement on the matter late Thursday, ironically calling attention to Trump\u2019s lack of reaction on the \u201cAlabama IVF ruling he is responsible for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Trump used his speech to boast that he had used his first term to do \u201cmore to uphold religious freedom than any administration in history.\u201d \u201cThe enthusiasm for this election coming up in November is far greater than it was in 2016 or 2020,\u201d he said. \u201cFar greater, it\u2019s not even a contest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tennessee holds its primary on Super Tuesday, March 5, when many states around the country vote and could move Trump to the cusp of claiming the Republican nomination. Some religious leaders were initially hesitant to get behind multi-divorcee Trump when he first ran for president in 2016, but now they are among his mostly solidly loyal \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d base.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s despite a personal history that has only gotten more checkered in recent years, including Trump being indicted in New York in connection with hush money payments made to a porn actress in an attempt to suppress an extramarital affair. \u201cWhen he came onto the scene, people were sceptical,\u201d said Troy Miller, president and CEO of the National Religious Broadcasters.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think, as they\u2019ve learned more and listened to Donald Trump speak, the one thing I hear all the time from people \u2026 is that they really feel like Donald Trump understands them and that\u2019s the biggest connection that people make is, \u2018This is a guy in politics who gets us, who understands us, who doesn\u2019t talk like he\u2019s an elitist and talk down to us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former President Donald Trump promised to use a second term in the White House to defend Christian values and even\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":31656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[10362,168,3231,10363,298,3530],"class_list":["post-31655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-christian-values","tag-donald-trump","tag-maga","tag-national-religious-broadcasters-international-christian-media-convention","tag-republicans","tag-us-2024-presidential-elections"],"reading_time":"4 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}