Wait-and-See? Challenges Lie Ahead for Trump and Evangelicals

Posted By TheNewsCommenter: From Www1.cbn.com: “Wait-and-See? Challenges Lie Ahead for Trump and Evangelicals”. Below is an excerpt from the article.

While it's clear Donald Trump is all-in for 2024, his MAGA hold on evangelicals may have lost some strength. A lot has happened since last time around: January 6th; the fallout with Mike Pence; the Mar-a-Lago classified documents; the continued focus on the past election and just overall drama. So does he have work to do this time around with evangelicals?

"He has real work to do, let's not kid ourselves," says his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. "I'm sure that the team has a plan, but the work with the evangelicals and others that he may have taken for granted in 2020 is very real."

As it stands, some of the prominent faithful who fervently backed Trump last time are still in the pews, not yet willing to commit. There's been no official support from the likes of Franklin Graham, Jack Graham or Albert Mohler – all previous backers. As for Pastor Robert Jeffress, once a vocal Trump defender says he'll wait until the primary season comes into focus. Dr. Mike Evans, who helped mobilize evangelicals for Trump says the former president does not personify biblical values and has been quoted as saying he, "does not have the support of the evangelicals that he did." Christian TV Host James Robison has also been critical this time around saying, "If Mr. Trump can't stop his little petty issues, how does he expect people to stop major issues?"

Lewandowski has a reason as to why this may be happening. "Some of these people love the Trump policies, but they don't like the chaos that sometimes ensues around him," he says. "I think they are waiting to see - is Ron DeSantis going to get in? Is Mike Pompeo going to get in? What is Mike Pence going to do? Are we going to see people like Chris Sununu or Kristi Noem get into the race for president as well? I think the field is still being developed."

Meanwhile, liberal media outlets like Vanity Fair are taking advantage of the budding controversy with headlines that scream, "We will get destroyed: evangelicals are quietly ditching Donald Trump's 2024 bid." The overall message is that evangelicals will consider other options like DeSantis, Pence and others if they get in. So what does Donald Trump think of all this? "Well, I don't really care, that's a sign of disloyalty," the former president tells CBN News. "There is great disloyalty in the world of politics and that's just disloyalty...nobody has ever done more for 'right to life' than Donald Trump."

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