Former President Donald Trump has warned in a speech to a conference of religious broadcasters that the ‘radical left’ wants to tear down crosses.
Trump vowed to use a second term in the White House to defend Christian values and even suggested he would protect the faith’s central iconography.
“Remember that every communist regime throughout history has tried to eradicate the churches, just as every fascist regime has tried to co-opt and control them. And in America, the radical left is trying to do both,” Trump told hundreds of cheering attendees at the National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention in Nashville.
“They want to tear down crosses where they can and cover them with social justice flags,” Trump added.
“But under the Trump administration, no one will touch the cross of Christ, I swear to you.”
“Remember that every communist regime throughout history has tried to eradicate the churches, just as every fascist regime has tried to co-opt and control them. And in America, the radical left is trying to do both,” Trump told hundreds of attendees at the convention in Nashville
It comes as leading conservatives have increasingly called on Trump to openly build his second term around Christian values if he wins.
Trump is favored in a Republican primary where the once-crowded field has shrunk to just him and his former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.
The Christian media event, where sponsors handed out free red-and-white baseball caps emblazoned with “Make America Pray Again,” was unusually friendly territory for the former president, whose speech often felt more like a rally than a sedate convention speech.
“The left is trying to shame Christians,” Trump said. “They are trying to shame us. I’m a very proud Christian.’
Trump repeatedly brought the crowd to its feet and repeatedly defended his record on abortion, including the appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the Roe v. Wade decision.
But he notably made no mention of the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling, which prompted providers there to pause in vitro fertilization after judges ruled that frozen embryos could be considered children under state law.
Trump will address the 2024 National Religious Broadcasters Association International Christian Media Convention on Friday as part of the NRB Presidential Forum in Nashville, Tennessee
President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign issued a blank statement on the issue late Thursday, ironically drawing attention to Trump’s lack of response to the “IVF ruling in Alabama for which he is responsible.”
Instead, Trump used his speech to boast that he had used his first term to “do more to uphold religious freedom than any administration in history.”
“The enthusiasm for the November election is much greater than in 2016 or 2020,” he said. “Much bigger, it’s not even a competition.”
Tennessee will hold its primaries on Super Tuesday, March 5, when many states across the country vote and could put Trump on the cusp of claiming the Republican nomination.
Some religious leaders were initially hesitant to side with the multiply divorced Trump when he first ran for president in 2016, but they are now among his largely loyal “Make America Great Again” base.
That’s despite a personal history that has only become more checkered in recent years, including Trump’s indictment in New York in connection with hush money payments to a porn actress in an attempt to suppress an extramarital affair.
“When he came on the scene, people were skeptical,” said Troy Miller, president and CEO of National Religious Broadcasters.
“But I think as they’ve learned more and listened to Donald Trump’s speech, the one thing I hear from people all the time… is that they really feel like Donald Trump understands them, and that’s the biggest connection that people make is, ‘This is a man in politics who understands us, who understands us, who doesn’t talk like he’s an elitist and talks down to us.’