Journalist tells Bill Maher evangelicals see Trump as their 'barbarian' 'protector'

A journalist and author told comedian Bill Maher on Friday night that "clear-eyed" evangelicals view former President Donald Trump as an "imperfect" protector from a "culture that has slipped away and a country they don't recognize."

Tim Alberta, a staffer at The Atlantic, joined "Real Time" on HBO to talk about evangelicals his book "The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism."

Maher said he was glad to have Alberta on the show to talk about the key voting subgroup of evangelicals, noting that white evangelicals "break huge" for Trump at more than 80 percent.

The comedian cracked a joke about how he could ask why the group supports "the least religious" and "most immoral" man in the world, but said he'd rather know if evangelicals see a "bigger picture" than the left sees in Trump.

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Alberta replied that he sees the group as having what he called a "persecution complex."

While that may seem "silly" to outsiders, not so to them, he said.

"For folks inside the church who believe that the country is slipping away from them, that they no longer recognize the Christian America of their youth, and they believe that Donald Trump is an imperfect vessel for God's perfect will," said Alberta. "And they look at him and say, 'Well, the barbarians are at the gates, maybe we need a barbarian to protect us.'"

Alberta said it resembles a mercenary relationship, as Trump's "bad behavior almost reinforces their support," as a good Christian man wouldn't be as capable of protecting them as Trump. That dynamic allows the former president to have a license to say things that many disagree with.