Although President Donald Trump is not universally loved in Christianity, his popularity among far-right white evangelicals hasn’t wavered — and if he is reelected in November, it will be in part because of a heavy turnout among that demographic. But conservative writer Steven Waldman, in a January 6 listicle for The Bulwark, outlines four ways in which Trump has been deceiving evangelicals.
“To be clear,” Waldman writes, “conservative Christians have some real reasons to like Trump — the most important being the appointment of many conservative judges and the promotion of some pro-life policies. But on other issues, Trump has been less helpful than Christians seem to think.”
The first of the four lies, according to Waldman, is that “Trump repealed the Johnson Amendment.” Introduced in 1954 by Texas Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (who was sworn in as president after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963), the Johnson Amendment is a provision of the federal U.S. tax code that forbids nonprofits from endorsing political candidates. Of course, Christian Right nonprofits have violated the Johnson Amendment repeatedly over the years by promoting Republican politicians — usually without having their nonprofit status revoked. Continue reading.