Former President Donald Trump has criticized evangelical leaders for what he perceives as a lack of loyalty.
For two of Trump’s presidential bids, Evangelical leaders were vocal in their support of him, serving as a critical coalition in Trump’s first win.
But, as he mounts his third bid for the White House, these same leaders have gone silent.
Appearing on Real America’s Voice’s “Water Cooler,” Trump told host David Brody he believed evangelical leaders were displaying disloyalty in their reluctance to support him, despite having announced his White House bid in November.
Trump decried their lack of vocal support, calling it “a sign of disloyalty,” and saying that no one “has ever done more for right to life than Donald Trump.”
The former President pointed to how he delivered on his promise to seat conservative Supreme Court justices who “all voted [to overturn Roe v. Wade],” adding that evangelicals “won, they finally won!”
Trump went on to blame evangelicals for the Republican Party’s dismal showing in the midterm elections.
He expressed being disappointed because he believed the group “could have fought much harder during the election,” adding that evangelicals’ diminished presence during the midterms “did energize the Democrats.”
The former President then reiterated, “nobody… did more for the movement than I have,” explaining that he meant the “movement of evangelicals and Christians and… ‘right to life.'”
Despite Trump dominating polls assessing GOP frontrunners, the lack of evangelical support, which helped him secure the 2016 election, could taper his standing among the Republican Party’s more conservative base, which he’ll need to win the GOP’s primaries.
