Although charged with trying to buy the silence of an X movie actress with whom he allegedly had an extramarital affair and convicted in civil court for sexual assault, Donald Trump remains the big favorite of American evangelicals.
The 45th president of the United States, who hopes to be re-elected in 2024, has nevertheless accumulated legal and ethical scandals for years, ranging from accusations of abuse of power to suspicions of electoral interference.
But the 77-year-old businessman remains the undisputed idol of the religious right, as evidenced by his reception with great fanfare on Saturday at the “Road to Majority” conference, organized in the federal capital by the evangelical and conservative movement ” Faith and Freedom”.
“Together, we are warriors in a righteous crusade to stop arsonists, atheists, globalists and Marxists,” Mr. Trump said in characteristic apocalyptic language, during his closing speech to thundering applause.
“We will restore our Republic as a nation under the guidance of God,” he added.
White evangelical voters, however, were slow to rally behind Trump’s candidacy during his 2016 presidential campaign. But, once convinced, nothing seems to be able to change their minds.
His success, he owes it according to Suzzanne Monk, a 50-year-old conservative activist, to his qualities as a “leader”.
“A lot of politicians that we have known for decades (…) were satisfied with the bare minimum in order to be re-elected. Donald Trump (…) tried to rectify things,” he explains. she told AFP.
– “Personality cult”-
Former vice-president Mike Pence, a conservative Christian, nevertheless appeared to be the ideal candidate for evangelicals.
But he was booed during the Road to Majority rally in 2021 for not refusing, as asked by Donald Trump, to validate the election of Joe Biden, and received only timid applause this year.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was booed by the crowd as he accused the ex-president of betraying the country on Friday.
However, Donald Trump has also at times angered some leaders of the Christian right, suggesting that anti-abortion candidates were responsible for the lackluster results of Republicans in the last midterm elections.
But still, the twice-divorced man is the star of the gospel rally — held one year to the day after the Supreme Court’s reversal on abortion rights.
“I am charged for you and I believe that you are more than 200 million people who love our country,” he told the crowd, saying “it’s a great show of courage” .
Opening the conference, Ralph Reed, the founder of the “Faith and Liberty” movement, denied any “personality cult” of Trump among evangelicals.
“There is only one person we worship, and that is Jesus Christ,” he said.
The officials present at the conference also welcomed Donald Trump’s record more easily than his personality.
According to them, the former president fights for his supporters like no one else, and was the president who most respected his electoral promises, in particular by bringing in three conservative judges to the Supreme Court, which later returned. on the constitutional guarantee of abortion.
“The question is not: (…) are we the same?” “It’s: who will transform my values ??into actions”, explains Suzzanne Monk. “That’s why all these people love Donald Trump.”
Enzo Alcindor, head of a real estate agency in Florida, says he opposes the candidacy of Republican Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.
“He has no place in this race,” says the 50-year-old, from Haiti.
“The others (candidates) don’t have the build (…) there is only one and only one candidate for me. And that’s President Donald Trump”, he abounds.
25/06/2023 02:59:13 – Washington (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
