As part of a survey by experts on the crossover between religion and politics, the question was asked about how Donald Trump went from TV pitchman to president and now, in the eyes of some of his followers, to a "messiah" who is battling for the soul of America came about.
In interviews with Salon's Chauncey DeVega, they were asked about the religious fervor that has engulfed the former president's MAGA followers, with DeVega proposing, "Trump’s delusions of grandeur have been escalating as he continues to proclaim that he is some type of messiah-prophet, chosen by 'god' and 'Jesus Christ' to lead the MAGA movement in an epic End Times battle of good and evil against President Biden and the Democrats and 'the left' to 'save America' by winning the 2024 election."
With that in mind, Katherine Stewart, author of “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism," suggested that the former president may have reached a point where he has begun to believe it himself.
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Calling Trump's increasingly hyperbolic and apocalyptic rhetoric ("I am your retribution") "anything but normal," Stewart suggested the embattled former president and his base have reached a point where they have lost touch.
In her interview with DeVega, she explained, "As for Trump’s claims about being a prophet or some type of messiah, I think we have here a convergence between what appears to be Trump’s mental disorder and the needs of a base that has been primed for fascism. The only surprising thing about Trump’s claims is he has not yet said he is better than Jesus. That is sure to come! "
Adding, "It is what it is, and anybody who has been watching this unfortunate man for the past decades knows exactly what I’m talking about. It’s just sad," she later continued, "Many MAGA voters have been drawn into a fear-filled, fact-free world. They continue to believe the Big Lie that the 2020 was stolen; they think Trump was the greatest president ever; they say that his indictments are just political persecution from a 'weaponized' system of justice; and they have been persuaded that a global cabal is trying to strip away from them everything they hold dear – and that Trump is the savior who will face down the demons and set the world aright."
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Dr. David P. Gushee, a Christian ethics professor at Mercer University is of the same mind as Stewart, telling Salon's DeVega, "Idolatry is when a false god or no god is worshipped as God. Trump's narcissism enables him to see himself in idolatrous ways. Trump is using increasingly idolatrous language to describe himself. I think this may be because he actually believes it but it certainly is because he finds that the language works with a part of his base."
He then warned, "Nothing I have seen to this point shows me that Trump's hardcore religious base can be pried away from him. Not even imprisonment is likely to make a difference with this base. Sometimes in politics, and in history, a malignant force must simply be defeated, and then defeated again, and then defeated again. That is where we are."
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