Almost 7 of 10 white evangelicals (think, Southern Baptists) hold a favorable opinion of Donald Trump.
With the unique exception of white evangelical Protestants, majorities of all other major religious groups have an unfavorable opinion of Trump. Majorities of black Protestants (80%), religiously unaffiliated Americans (75%), Hispanic Catholics (74%), non-Christian religious Americans (73%), white mainline Protestants (52%), and white Catholics (52%) have a negative opinion of Trump. By contrast, almost seven in ten (68%) white evangelical Protestants have a favorable view of Trump, including 28% who have a very favorable view.
Though most Southern Baptists ‘know’ that the Bible is inerrant, most have no idea at all that The Donald is not a fine Christian man. After all, Pastor Bubba fools around, too, and tells lies and says mean things about non-club members all the time.
The unhappy truth is that Trump’s followers, like the typical Southern Baptist congregation, comprise a cult. I don’t know what the psychological name for the behavior is, but many of Trump’s followers have simply transferred their devotion to one charismatic leader to a different or additional charismatic leader.
Donald Trump exploits the identical grievances as skillfully as the two greatest leaders in Christian history, so it should be no surprise that his following includes a lot of self-identified Godly types.
The Jesus Movement of the 1st-century was no less a political movement than a religious movement; once upon a time, recall, there was no distinction. Jesus excoriated the rich (It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven.), and celebrated and promised riches to the underclass (The meek shall inherit the earth.).
Skip forward 1500-years, and consider Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Excepting perhaps his objection to indulgences, it’s a slam-bang certainty that his oppressed and illiterate peasant followers had no idea what his 99 Theses were about or could weigh a theological argument. What they knew is that Luther hated the Jews, hated the Catholic Church, and held a disdainful attitude toward women — a regular guy, just like themselves! YAAAY!
I wouldn’t call the Fabulist-in-Chief a spiritual leader but, given his devoted and unreasoning followers, it is entirely proper to call him a cult leader and, in a narrow sense, no less a religious leader than Haile Selassie or Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.