Anti-Trump Republicans target his evangelical base with 'MAGA Church' campaign: 'Beware of false prophets'
Anti-Trump Republicans have launched a fresh campaign against the president by targeting evangelical Christians in a new ad released Thursday, arguing their support for him is hypocritical in nature. The Lincoln Project released a video titled "The MAGA Church", a play on the word "megachurch" and Trump's 2016 campaign slogan "Make America Great Again." The video shows a heavily edited mashup of several evangelical Trump supporters spliced along with crude comments from the president.
"Beware of false prophets," the ad warns, adding, "If this is the best American Christians can do? God help us all."
The video notably follows the launch of "Evangelicals for Trump," a congregation of more than 70 pastors at one of the largest Latino megachurches in Miami extending their support for the commander-in-chief. It also comes just weeks after Christianity Today editor-in-chief Mark Galli wrote an editorial pushing for the removal of Trump from office for his "gross immorality and ethical incompetence."
"Evangelical leaders who lay their loyalty and faith on the altar of @realDonaldTrump are betraying their congregants and their country," the Lincoln Project tweeted. The Lincoln Project was co-founded by Rick Wilson, who authored a book likening the president to the devil, and John Weaver, a strategist for John Kasich's 2016 presidential run. Weaver said evangelical leaders like Paula White-Cain -- Trump's personal pastor and faith adviser in the White House -- were "trying to transform America into their greedy image," branding them "false prophets," "professional grifters" and "cult makers."
Another prominent board member of the project is George Conway, husband of White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway.
"Christians can do better, and Americans can do better, than having [an] amoral con man in the White House," Conway tweeted, before sharing a link to the video and captioning it: "Make America Not Hypocritical."
Launched last month, The Lincoln Project aims to persuade "enough disaffected conservatives, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in swing states and districts to help ensure a victory in the Electoral College, and congressional majorities that don’t enable or abet Mr. Trump’s violations of the Constitution."
In the last election, the president raked in the majority of the evangelical vote, and his campaign is looking to increase their support in 2020. Trump's faithful supporters tout the major accomplishments of his administration, including pro-life policies, the appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices, support for Israel, as well as upholding religious liberty.