Former President Donald J. Trump typically characterizes his presidential marketing campaign as a battle for America’s future. However talking at a Christian broadcast media conference in Nashville on Thursday, he wrapped that depiction inside a stark good-versus-evil framework, portraying his political opponents as a part of a “wicked” system.
Mr. Trump additionally revived his declare that America’s “greatest threat is not from the outside of our country” however “from within,” language that drew alarm last year from consultants who noticed in it echoes of autocratic leaders.
Throughout Thursday’s speech on the Nationwide Non secular Broadcasters conference in Nashville, Mr. Trump portrayed the menace as liberals — extra particularly, a “radical left, corrupt political class” — whom he broadly solid as intrinsically bent on attacking Christianity.
“Christians, they can’t afford to sit on the sidelines in this fight,” Mr. Trump stated. He later added, with out providing proof, that liberals had been persecuting Christians as a result of “they know that our allegiance is not to them. Our allegiance is to our country, and our allegiance is to our creator.” (There are numerous Christians who’re Democrats.)
Earlier than operating for workplace, Mr. Trump made little present of being notably spiritual, which he acknowledged early in his speech, and he doesn’t typically give faith-focused speeches on the path. However evangelical voters in 2016 had been drawn to his populist message and his pledges to nominate “pro-life” judges, they usually have remained loyal to him.
Throughout his third run for workplace, Mr. Trump has typically solid himself as a staunch defender of the Christian proper. He additionally typically boasts of his appointment of three justices to the Supreme Courtroom who, in 2022, voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
On Thursday, he praised these justices — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — from the stage, calling them “great justices” and “great people.” (All three shall be deciding on constitutional points tied to Mr. Trump’s felony circumstances and his election bid.)
Mr. Trump has typically appeared uncomfortable or unwilling to debate abortion at size on the marketing campaign path. Throughout his speech, he took credit score for the Supreme Courtroom’s resolution to overturn Roe v. Wade, with out utilizing the phrase “abortion” or mentioning the case by title.
“I was able to bring this issue for the first time in 54 years back to the states,” Mr. Trump stated, earlier than falsely declaring that “on both sides, everybody agrees that’s where it should be.”
Many citizens didn’t need to see Roe v. Wade overturned, a indisputable fact that turned extra evident after abortion rights emerged as a marketing campaign subject that lifted Democrats in elections throughout the nation in 2022 and 2023.
Mr. Trump has averted taking a transparent place on restrictions to abortion within the wake of these elections, and his emphasis on states’ rights throughout Thursday’s speech is a part of that sample.
He additionally didn’t deal with a latest Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos in check tubes must be thought of kids, a call that cited anti-abortion language. The Biden marketing campaign has criticized Mr. Trump’s silence on the difficulty.
Mr. Trump has beforehand stated Republicans should discover a solution to speak concerning the subject that doesn’t threaten them on the poll field, and he beforehand criticized a six-week abortion ban signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican and a former political rival, as a “terrible mistake.”
However Mr. Trump has instructed advisers and allies that he likes the thought of a 16-week nationwide abortion ban with three exceptions, in circumstances of rape or incest, or to save lots of the lifetime of the mom, The New York Times reported last week, citing two individuals with direct information of Mr. Trump’s deliberations.
On Thursday, he tied the difficulty to his authorized troubles, criticizing the Justice Division for prosecuting six anti-abortion protesters who in 2021 obstructed a reproductive health clinic in Tennessee in violation of federal legal guidelines. They had been convicted by a jury within the state final month, in a case that has been a flashpoint for conservative activists.
He additionally repeated a vow to create a federal activity pressure to concentrate on “anti-Christian” bias. Mr. Trump has tried to enchantment to Christian voters by accusing the Biden administration of criminalizing People for his or her religion, although consultants have stated that lots of his claims are baseless or misleading.
However Mr. Trump — who faces 91 felony counts in 4 felony circumstances, together with one tied to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election — makes use of these characterizations to assist a bigger theme of his marketing campaign: that President Biden and Democrats are extreme threats to democracy.
That tendency was on show on Thursday. Earlier than Mr. Trump was launched, loudspeakers sounded out “Justice for All,” a music that includes the J6 Jail Choir, which consists of males who had been imprisoned for his or her components within the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
That music — which options the boys singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” whereas Mr. Trump recites the Pledge of Allegiance — is a part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump and his supporters to reframe the trouble to overturn the 2020 election as an act of patriotism.
Throughout his speech, Mr. Trump referred to the singers as “the J6 hostages,” a time period he has repeatedly used to explain these serving sentences in reference to the Jan. 6 assault.
