Evangelicals are bailing on Trump as his 'impotence as a lame duck' grows: report

Donald Trump's relationship with the evangelical community that delivered his presidency is fracturing under the weight of his increasingly erratic behavior and blasphemous rhetoric, according to new reporting.

According to an analysis from the Washington Post's Karen Tumulty, the Christian right's legendary patience with Trump's apostasies has reached a breaking point. His latest offense — comparing himself to Jesus — has appalled even his most devoted religious supporters.

Conservative evangelical radio host Erick Erickson addressed the crisis plainly, explaining, "Trump is forcing his supporters into awkward places, and if they don't support him, he attacks them. This is not a way to sustain a coalition. These things add up in a way that begins to alienate evangelical voters."

The calculus for religious conservatives is shifting. While Trump can still draw from a reservoir of trust and loyalty built on concrete victories, that well has limits. "Still, Trump can draw from a deep well of trust and loyalty among religious conservatives. He has put them at the forefront of his coalition and produced victories on issues that Republican presidents before him had only talked about, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade, made possible by his appointments to the courts," Tumulty wrote.

However, she warned that past support has reached the point of withering away.

"Gratitude for what Trump has done in the past can go only so far. His religious supporters may grow less tolerant of his antics and volatility as his impotence as a lame duck becomes more pronounced and his poll numbers continue to sink," she explained before concluding, "Which means, increasingly, that they will be looking to a future beyond his presidency — and perhaps beginning to pray for someone who won't constantly put their faith to such tests."