Speaking on the Real America’s Voice network this week, former President Donald Trump took aim at evangelical leaders who've yet to endorse him for 2024, CNN reports.
“That’s a sign of disloyalty. There’s a great disloyalty in the world of politics and that’s a sign of disloyalty,” the former president told The Water Cooler host David Brody.
Trump claimed he doesn’t actually care about getting endorsements from evangelicals, but said he deserves their support since he’s done more for evangelicals than an other president.
“Nobody has ever done more for right to life than Donald Trump,” Trump said, adding that evangelicals haven't done enough to support his preferred candidates in the midterms.
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“A lot of them didn’t fight or weren’t really around to fight, and it did energize the Democrats. But a lot of the people that wanted and fought for years to get it, they sort of … they were there protesting and doing what they could have done,” he said.
\u201cTrump just slammed evangelical leaders who haven't yet pledged support for his 2024 presidential campaign as 'disloyal.' That'll surely win them over.\u201d— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) 1673909088
As CNN points out, Trump criticized pro-life conservatives for losing “large numbers of voters” in the 2022 midterm elections, “especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother.”
"The comments on his Truth Social platform drew sharp retorts from several prominent religious conservatives and anti-abortion activists, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser, who, in a thinly veiled critique of Trump, criticized Republicans who have advocated for an 'Ostrich Strategy' on abortion, preferring to ignore the issue than elevate it in critical elections," CNN's report stated.
Some of Trump's allies and advisers are baffled over his choice to attack evangelicals as he gears up for another run at the White House.
“There’s no path to the nomination without winning the evangelical vote. Nobody knows that better than President Trump because, to the surprise of almost everyone, he won their support in 2016,” said Ralph Reed, executive director of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, who is a close ally of Trump's.
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“He’s going to get a very fair hearing from voters of faith. But this will be a contested primary with a lot of pro-life candidates and all of them will get to make their case,” Reed added. “No one should assume the evangelical vote is spoken for or foreclosed to them.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (C-SPAN)
