Left Behind: Trump is abandoning the evangelical base that elected him

President Donald Trump long relied on evangelicals and other religious Christians to power his presidential campaign. Now, according to a recent report by The Bulwark, these same devout individuals are finding that Trump is abandoning their political interests.

"One of the major subplots in American politics over the past half-decade is evangelical Christians—the political constituency without which Trump would have never been elected president—becoming the dog that caught the car," wrote The Bulwark's Joe Perticone on Tuesday. "They just haven’t had much reason to go to the polls since June 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned the legal right to an abortion in its landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision."

Perticone added, "The Family Research Council’s Pray Vote Stand Summit was once a marquee political gathering for evangelicals and their allies in politics. But at this year’s event in Leesburg, Virginia, decline was evident everywhere, from the downsized venue far outside the Beltway to the sparse attendance and general lack of interest from elected officials. When the organization’s leader, Tony Perkins, addressed the audience, it became clear that he has been relegated to the D.C. sidelines after enjoying years of high-contact play as a leader in the anti-abortion movement."

The reporter added that Tony Perkins, who leads the Family Research Council, has called out Trump as well as a Democrat they more traditionally oppose, former President Joe Biden.

"Throughout the event, he expressed frustration with the Trump administration for a lack of interest in addressing abortion rates, and with Congress for claiming to be pro-life while showing little follow-through," Perticone observed. He quoted Perkins as saying that "we’re fighting for this life issue that many people thought was solved in 2022 when the Court overturned Roe, but it’s more of a battle today than it was then,” continuing that conservatives “have an administration that’s not as committed to it as we’ve seen before.”

Perticone also detailed how several prominent Republicans have snubbed the once-hot ticket of going to the Family Research Council events.

"House Speaker Mike Johnson moved from confirmed speaker, to no longer on the roster, to appearing via Zoom on the final day," Perticone wrote. "Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), and Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) all appeared on the confirmed speakers list at one point or another, but none was on the final roster. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who is struggling through a surprisingly tight race this November (ironically, facing a Democratic nominee who pastors a megachurch), also dropped off the confirmed speakers list at some point this summer."

While the Christian right today is rife with anti-Semitism, racism and misogyny, there are also individuals within the movement who criticize Trump for his intolerance. For example, earlier in September MAGA loyalist Tim Moore wrote an editorial for Washington Examiner arguing that Trump's anti-immigrant agenda is abandoning persecuted Christians in non-white countries.

"There’s one confusing inconsistency in Trump’s defense of Christians, though, and as a stalwart supporter, I fear he may be listening to some bad advice on this theme that could significantly depress evangelical turnout in November," Moore wrote.

After pointing out that Biden had welcomes 29,478 Christian refugees from 50 countries during his term, in 2026 Trump had invited none.

"Countries like Afghanistan, Burma, Iran, and the Democratic Republic of Congo," Moore wrote, saying that among the 50 countries on the Watch list roughly 388 million people are persecuted for their religious beliefs.

"And hundreds of thousands were newly forced to flee their homes because of religious persecution," he added.