Southern Baptists and Trumpism

Post-debate thoughts from Pastor Ben Marsh

After watching Kamala Harris trounce Donald Trump on the debate stage, a guy on Twitter asked this succinct question:

“How the eff did we get here?”

It was a good question, given all that we’d just seen—from the surreal spectacle of Trump’s false and inflammatory tropes about immigrants eating people’s pets, to his eye-rolling answer about having “concepts of a plan” for health care, and so much more.

How indeed did such an angry, falsity-spewing, hate-filled, unserious man become, yet again, the Republican party’s candidate for president of the United States of America?

Pastor Ben Marsh posted this in reply:

“The answer to this question is Southern Baptists. Without them, Trump is gone a long time ago.”

Marsh hits on an important aspect of the Trump phenomenon that I think most people overlook—the relationship between Trumpism and Southern Baptists.

Thankfully, Marsh went on to succinctly explain and illustrate, and it’s such a good piece of work that I’m just going to quote his Twitter thread in full. (And lest some of you are wondering about who Marsh is, let me just point out that Marsh was educated at a Southern Baptist seminary.)

“If we can’t wrestle with that reality [that without Southern Baptists, there is no Trumpism], there’s no conversation to be had about how we got here or where we go from here.

“Without Southern Baptist Mitch McConnell holding out on the Supreme Court to force Southern Baptist pastors to tell their parishioners they have to vote for him for the pro-life cause, he is never elected in 2016.

“Without Southern Baptist Kevin McCarthy flying to Mar-A-Lago after January 6 as the House Speaker to rehab Trump, there’s no run in 2024.

“This map? The entire South/Southeast is dominated by which denomination?” [Answer in case it’s not obvious: the Southern Baptist Convention]

“Despite EVERYTHING we know about Trump, who does the pastor of one of the largest SBC churches criticize?”

“The entire House of Representatives saw massive turnover in leadership in the last term so that Trump could land on … Southern Baptist Mike Johnson, who even now is facing revolt from the Trumpist wing as he tries to keep the government open … because Trump.

“The pastor of one of the historically most important SBC churches has a Shrine to Donald Trump in his office and shows up on Fox News often to protect Trump.

SBC pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church of Dallas, standing to the left of Trump and praying over him

“The head of the flagship SBC seminary regularly goes on his briefing podcast to attack Harris with only minimal mention of Trump, and has called for people to vote for Trump, even after he was a strong NeverTrump in 2016.

“The SBC has had Mike Pence speak at their annual convention while Trump was president.

“The SBC ERLC ejected Russell Moore because he spoke out against Trump.

“Trump gets invited by SBC leaders on the regular to speak.

“To be Southern Baptist, outside of very narrow enclaves in larger cities, is to support Trump. It’s just a fact—ask SBC insiders out here. They can tell you.

“You have had Trump for over a decade because SBC Republicans keep choosing him and love him.”

Then, of course, the question arises as to why Southern Baptists love Trump.

This is something I talk about a bit in my new book, Baptistland. By and large, Southern Baptists promote Trump, not despite his terrible flaws but rather because of them. They like his authoritarianism, racism, and misogyny.

With an identity and beliefs rooted in an authoritarian theology, Southern Baptists champion an authoritarian president.

He is a reflection of who they are.