Evangelical leaders trade slurs in bitter feud over Trump-DeSantis endorsements

A prominent evangelical leader in Iowa has publicly endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over former President Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential election — and one pro-Trump pastor, Jackson Lahmeyer, is enraged over it, according to Newsweek.

"Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of Christian conservative Iowa-based nonprofit The FAMiLY Leader, endorsed DeSantis for president on Fox News on Tuesday," reported Rachel Dobkin. "Lahmeyer, who heads the coalition of pastors supporting former President Donald Trump's 2024 presidential run, took multiple jabs at Vander Plaats the next night."

"As the founder of Pastors For Trump, I can confidently state that I didn't receive $95k from the Trump campaign. Real faith leaders support @realDonaldTrump. Shame on @bobvanderplaats," Lahmeyer wrote on X. "I'd say @bobvanderplaats has damaged the integrity of evangelicals by prostituting out his endorsement for $95k... not good."

Another pro-DeSantis pastor, Dr. Patrick McGuinness, replied, "You are repeating a slander. Your false witness is unbecoming any pastor. Shame on YOU. You endorse a narcissistic liar who cheated on all 3 of his wives, was found liable of malicious lying, and has 91 indictments on charges, most related to various lies and dishonesty," to which Lahmeyer replied, "The behavior of @bobvanderplaats is indistinguishable from a common street whore."

Prior reports have confirmed that the DeSantis camp spent $95,000 on an influence campaign to try to win Vander Plaats' endorsement. Vander Plaats has been critical of the Trump campaign for months, in particular expressing the fear he cannot win the presidency again, and the Trump team has been preemptively moving to downplay the significance of a split in the evangelical community.

Current polling aggregations find that DeSantis, who was once competitive with or leading the former president in some surveys, is now trailing Trump by nearly 50 points and barely maintaining his lead over other competitors like former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.