Trump has since transformed the line into his own personal preacher’s refrain, ululating it during speeches and even posting a video to his official Instagram account of himself saying it. “In America we worship God, not government,” the President of the United States declared, pausing to soak up applause from the heavily evangelical Christian audience.
Trump loved it (he tweeted a music video of the song on July 4), and echoed its sentiment a few minutes later by invoking his go-to ideology when speaking to his base: Christian nationalism. Robert Jeffress, and shortly before the president took the podium, a Southern Baptist church choir burst into a rendition of “Make America Great Again”-an original composition based on the president’s campaign slogan. But the July 1 event, which was designed to honor veterans, accented its patriotism with a distinctly religious flair: it was hosted by megapastor (and vocal Trump devotee) Rev. Technically, he was at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., preparing to address the crowd at a “Celebrate Freedom” concert on Independence Day weekend. It was Saturday, but Donald Trump was already at church.
You can read the second, more historical piece in the series here, and the third more data-driven piece here. This is the first in a series on Christian nationalism and the religious groups supporting Donald Trump.
