MAGA evangelicals' 'desire for doom' explored by journalist

Many American evangelical Christians have taken on an apocalyptic view of the world in which they see former President Donald Trump as their sole savior against demonic forces, according to journalist Tim Alberta.

In an interview with New York Times columnist Jame Coaston, Alberta discusses how evangelicals came to rationalize designating Trump as their savior despite his decades of documented un-Christian behavior.

In reading Alberta's work, Coaston said she was struck by how much the evangelicals he covers have a "desire for doom" in which the end of the world brings about a final reckoning between the forces of good and evil.

"I think when you spend so much time swimming in these waters of ‘The end is near, they’re coming for us, brace yourself for this collision between the forces of good and evil,’ you actually start to not only anticipate it, but you start to look forward to it," Alberta explained.

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He then cited the temporary closure of churches during the novel coronavirus pandemic that fed into evangelicals' belief that there were sinister forces at work intent on blocking their ability to worship rather than a generational health emergency that caused the deaths of more than one million of their fellow American citizens.

"When Gavin Newsom says, 'Hey, we’re shutting down houses of worship as a public health measure for a few weeks here,' suddenly it was, I think for so many of these people, it was like the prophecy was being fulfilled," Alberta explains.