Evangelicals have buyer's remorse for 'deal with devil' that let MAGA devour church: op-ed

The evangelical fervor for Donald Trump isn't likely to go away after he fades from the political scene, writes Michelle Goldberg for The New York Times — and that's causing concern for some evangelicals who supported Trump and are now watching their movement be devoured by MAGA.

Goldberg cites Tim Alberta's recent book “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory,” which is full of preachers and evangelical activists expressing second thoughts about their unwavering support for Trump. One is Texas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, who said that he had "perhaps" crossed a line with his boosting of Trump.

There's also former member of Trump’s evangelical advisory board Mike Evans, who wrote in an essay saying that he left a Trump rally “in tears because I saw Bible believers glorifying Donald Trump like he was an idol.” Even the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins told Alberta that Trump "went a little too far."

Also read: 'Tuned out': Expert says voters switching off because they can't believe GOP is for real

"But if the polls are right, Iowa’s evangelicals don’t care what their ostensible leaders think. Trump’s rise has been accompanied by a collapse in trust in many American institutions once valued by the right, including the F.B.I. and the military, and that loss of faith extends to many religious authorities," Goldberg writes.

"As Alberta, the son of a conservative evangelical pastor, documented, preachers who’ve balked at parts of the MAGA agenda have been abandoned by many of their congregants."

According to Goldberg, the Trump-evangelical phenomenon has caused a version of evangelicalism "that sometimes seems like a brand-new religion" to emerge.

"There’s no way to know if evangelical leaders could have prevented this devolution of their faith by joining together to stand up to Trump before he became such a mythic figure. But now, more than seven years into their deal with the devil, it’s probably too late."

Read the full op-ed over at The New York Times.