While President Donald Trump has courted far-right evangelical Christian voters by picking former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate and posing for photos with Bibles and religious leaders, even his most vocal defenders admit he is hardly a role model for Christians.
Maybe that’s because he thinks evangelical Christianity is “bullshit,” according to the president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Related: Pence tells evangelicals to pray for “four more years” if they want to get rich
Cohen’s new book, Disloyal: A Memoir, is packed full of choice tidbits about his former boss and contains numerous warnings about Trump’s duplicitousness. Cohen was sentenced for multiple crimes related to his involvement with hush money payments made on Trump’s behalf to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Trump’s standing among Pentecostals and evangelicals skyrocketed after he scored endorsements from religious leaders like anti-LGBTQ hate group leader Tony Perkins and Jerry Falwell Jr., the former head of Liberty University.
Falwell, one of the President’s first evangelical supporters, has gone down in flames over a sex scandal involving his wife and another man. Other men have also come forward to say they had relationships with both of the Falwells; photos and screenshots of phone messages have been offered up as proof of the allegations.
Cohen was also representing Falwell around the time the religious leader endorsed the Trump campaign. Cohen was caught on audio telling actor Tom Arnold that a man had compromising photos of Falwell’s wife, sparking speculation that Falwell’s endorsement was coerced.
During the lead-up to the election, then candidate Trump held a meeting at Trump Tower with evangelical leaders who wanted to bless his campaign. They “laid hands” on the President, physically touching him while praying in a blessing that serves as part of their religious beliefs.
“Can you believe that bullshit?” Trump asked Cohen after the group left. “Can you believe people believe that bullshit?”
Trump has continued to meet with far-right evangelical leaders while holding office, including an early 2017 meeting where Republican politicians and televangelists “laid hands” on the famously germophobic president.
In addition to giving conservative Christians the Supreme Court nominees that they want, Trump has also done his best to fulfill the right’s dream of rolling back LGBTQ rights. As a bonus, Trump even created an Evangelical Advisory Board stuffed full of televangelists and hate group leaders, giving them direct access to the highest levels of the administration.
