According to Du Mez, evangelical leaders have spent decades using the tools of pop culture - films, music, television, and the internet - to grow the movement. This is the argument Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a historian at Calvin University, makes in her new book Jesus and John Wayne. (See, for example, the Court’s decision on Wednesday that allows the Trump administration to expand religious exemptions for employers who object to the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate.)īut what if Trump wasn’t a trade-off for evangelicals? What if an obsession with manhood and toughness made a figure like Trump the natural fulfillment of their political evolution? They may not like him, the argument goes, but he’s a useful political vehicle. Conventional wisdom says that evangelicals held their noses and voted for Trump purely for pragmatic purposes - the biggest reason being the Supreme Court. It’s well-known that evangelicals are one of Trump’s most loyal constituencies, but it’s still not clear why. It’s a surreal shot that somehow captures the performative dimension of his entire presidency.īut why the Bible? And why go through all that trouble to do the photo op in front of a church? The image, now infamous, shows Trump awkwardly holding up the Bible as though he’s never held a book in his life.

John’s Church, which sits across from the White House.

In early June, President Donald Trump had federal officers use tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a peaceful protest so he could stage a photo op outside St.

Jesus and john wayne shirt