Donald Trump seems to believe he will get to Heaven when he dies, but according to an analysis from The Bulwark, he has created a "dangerous" force by engaging in violence on behalf of Christianity.
Amid the ongoing concerns about Trump's advanced age and physical health, observers have often cited the president's frequent comments about getting into Heaven when he dies, arguing that they are a sign of a person grappling with mortality. Trump most recently made such comments during Wednesday's National Prayer Breakfast event in Washington, D.C., where he suggested that he ought to make it to Heaven, given all that he claims to have done for Christianity.
"I really think I probably should make it,” Trump said. “I mean, I’m not a perfect candidate, but I did a hell of a lot of good for perfect people.”
Analyzing Trump's comments on Friday, Andrew Egger, White House correspondent for The Bulwark, argued that Trump views himself not as a proper Christian, in a way that he views someone like House Speaker Mike Johnson, but as someone willing to commit violence and other transgressions in the name of protecting the religion.
"He sees himself as Christianity’s Punisher, the guy who will blacken his own soul to do what must be done to protect the righteous," Egger wrote.
To this point, Egger also highlighted comments Trump made about his military campaign against Islamists in Nigeria: "When Christians come under attack, they know [their attackers] are going to be attacked violently and viciously by President Trump. I know it’s not a nice thing to say, but that’s the way it is.”
"That violently and viciously isn’t just rhetorical window-dressing," Egger continued. "This is the service Trump explicitly offers to conservative Christians: There’s dirty work that needs doing. Let me be the one to do it for you. And it isn’t just a political pitch. Trump sincerely seems to believe he has reached a moral accommodation with God for his unique services rendered."
Egger further argued that, despite how Trump and his Christian allies might feel about his actions, his actions are, in fact, fundamentally incompatible with the faith's teachings.
"This is part of what makes Trump-brand Christianity as a cultural and political force so dangerous," Egger concluded. "Trump’s political project is seen by the MAGA faithful as utterly righteous, the work of God on earth against the forces of Satan. But he has broad license to transgress all moral boundaries as he does that work. When he does so, it doesn’t cause MAGA Christians to reevaluate whether he’s actually on the side of the angels. Instead, it makes them perversely grateful that he’s doing it so their hands can be clean. None of this, it should probably go without saying, is compatible in the slightest with the teachings of actual Christianity. Sin is sin, the faith teaches, no matter whom it’s directed against..."