The New York Times has published a lengthy report about evangelical Christians in Iowa who have stopped going to church on a regular basis but who have grown an increasingly religious attachment to former President Donald Trump.
In a series of interviews, Iowans who identify as evangelical Christians but who don't regularly attend church told the Times that they felt a sense of devotion to Trump.
“I voted for Trump twice, and I’ll vote for him again,” Cydney Hatfield, a retired corrections officer, told the publication. "He’s the only savior I can see."
Karen Johnson, another Iowa evangelical who no longer attends church, similarly spoke of Trump to the Times in explicitly religious terms.
“Trump is our David and our Goliath," she told the Times.
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While Johnson has stopped attending church, the Times notes that she has increasingly turned to podcasts and YouTube channels about politics that have reinforced her belief in Trump's destiny to lead America.
A survey conducted by Denison University political scientist Paul Djupe recently found that around 30 percent of Americans believe that God has personally chosen Trump as His choice to lead the United States, despite the fact that he's a twice-impeached, thrice-married, four-times indicted former reality television host who has never been overtly religious.
Trump himself has promoted this idea, as last week he posted a video on his Truth Social account declaring that "God gave us Trump."