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Trump: Emperor Of Conservative Donor World

Trump: Emperor Of Conservative Donor World

Last updated on: March 4, 2025 at 10:00 am by Rev. Rob Schenck

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Trump: Emperor Of Conservative Donor World 2025-03-04T10:00:31-05:00 Rev. Rob Schenck

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The agonizingly unanswered question haunting so many Americans is, “Why do they stay with Trump?”

In my context, “they” are generally the Republican politicians and religious right leaders who support the ex-president despite his chaotic, unseemly, profane, and possibly criminal behavior. It’s a vexing and even maddening quandary.

But I think I know part of the answer.

One Key is The Keys To The Treasury

The Bible warns, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” Love of money is also consistent with Donald Trump’s raison d’etre. For the New York real estate mogul, everything about life, family, relationships, the presidency, and religion is measured in dollars.

So, what does this have to do with conservative pols and religious-right luminaries?

Databases.

Yup, vast databases–filled with donor records.

Here’s some scratch math on the money:

About 86 million American adults self-identify as “evangelical.”

Nearly 60% of evangelicals self-identify as Republican–or roughly 52 million.

I couldn’t find a good number on how many evangelicals give to political campaigns. Still, it’s well-established that conservatives give away a lot more money than liberals do–and religious conservatives are among the biggest donors to anything, period.

So, Republicans gave a little over $2 billion to candidates during the last election cycle; 38% identify as evangelical. So, is it too sloppy to say evangelical Republicans are good for as much as $760 million for political causes during election seasons?

Whether my guestimates are anywhere near accurate to the dollar, I think the overall picture proves my point. Notwithstanding political mega-donors, many of whom aren’t religious, conservative evangelicals are reliable and significant religious and political donors, meaning their contact information ends up in ministry and Republican Party databases. To communicate with one base is to communicate with the other.

Enter The Diabolical Genius

Trump and his operatives know how to value and manipulate this vast donor universe. Evangelicals, by our very nature, are susceptible to larger-than-life personalities, and Trump is certainly that. In so many ways, Trump speaks, acts, and hyperbolizes like a TV evangelist. His fundraising messages read like the hundreds of millions of appeals from preachers, Bible teachers, and missionary enterprises.

The critical factor here is the crossover. The chances are very high that any evangelical donor to a mega ministry will also give to a Trump-related and controlled fund. So, Trump has most mega ministry donors under his spell and direction.

Ministry Leaders Dare Not Criticize

What does this mean? If evangelical Christian leaders cross or criticize Trump, the demagogic bloviator will talk trash about the errant gospellers in his donor communications, alienating ministry leaders from their financial supporters and cutting off those lifelines. Ministry executives know this–and Trump and his spokespersons aren’t shy to hint at it. When Trump warns he is his most politicized supporters’ “retribution,” it literally puts the fear of the “demigod” in any Christian luminary musing about challenging him.

By controlling so many of this country’s average politically conservative donors, Trump also controls the ministries they support. Of course, the same rule applies even more explicitly to conservative politicians, including the Republican Party itself, on both the federal and state levels. More and more Republican pols are evangelical and know this from both ends of the donor spectrum.

No Moses For This Pharaoh

Donald Trump has a vice grip on the purse strings of conservative politicians and politically-motivated evangelical organizations. Like the Egyptian pharaoh, Trump has no intention of letting God’s people go.

Sadly, when it comes to facing down the MAGA pharaoh, there is no Moses among national Christian leaders.

Evangelical

About Rev. Rob Schenck

Rev. Rob Schenck is a dissenting voice and a loving but fierce critic of American evangelicalism. He has spent nearly 50 years as a leading figure among U.S. evangelicals. An ordained evangelical minister, Rob was trained in evangelical institutions, has led national evangelical organizations, and is widely published in evangelical journals. You can read more about the author here.

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