Examining evangelicals' support for Trump
Lance Wallnau, a firebrand leader of the nation's growing grassroots evangelical movement, says it initially took some convincing to persuade evangelical Christians to recognize former President Donald Trump as divinely chosen to navigate these chaotic times.
"I got a lot of pushback after he got elected," Wallnau said in a rare network television interview with CBS News, "because there was searching around for how — how could the evangelicals justify voting for some barbaric character like Trump? I said, 'Listen, give the guy some time. He doesn't know who we are, but his values resonate with our community.'"
By the look of those assembled on a recent, rainy summer day in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Wallnau appears to have succeeded.
Wallnau leads the so-called "Courage Tour," a roving event that targets key battleground counties across the country with a blend of religious and political activism. The events encourage attendees not only to get out the vote, but to sign up to be election workers and poll watchers.
His efforts fit into an idea he popularized that calls on Christians to achieve religious and political dominion. He calls it the "Seven Mountain Mandate," referring to government, family, religion, arts and entertainment, media, education and business. Once a fringe belief, it's become a popular refrain that blends religious and political messages, says Matthew Taylor, an author and religious scholar.
Wallnau is trying to recruit pro-Trump evangelicals willing to look beyond the former president's past conduct and instead focus on his views about abortion, gender issues and Israel.
"You are literally seeing two sets of values and worldviews on display," said Joshua Standifer, one of the speakers on the Courage Tour who runs Lion of Judah, a group that recruits evangelicals to become poll workers and watchers. "And it just so happens, one naturally aligns more to what we believe right now at this moment."
Hundreds attended the Wisconsin event led by Wallnau last month, with tens of thousands more watching the revival online — a religious road show that is unapologetically political.
The goal is to motivate fellow independent charismatic Christians to proselytize for Trump ahead of the November election, and to sustain the effort beyond Election Day if that's what it takes for him to win the presidency. "Charisma" in Greek means "gift," and charismatic Christians, many of whom are nondenominational, emphasize the gifts of the Holy Spirit, like miracles and speaking in tongues.
In his interview with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett, Wallnau described the tour as a "combination platter" of spiritual revival and political activism. "It's about spiritual activism," he said.
"You can't make America great again until you restore an awakening with God again," Wallnau told the Eau Claire audience, later adding, "Unless you learn how to mobilize and how to move in at a local level, then you're letting the devil dominate your culture."
"We're going to flood election poll stations across the country with spirit-filled believers," Standifer told the crowd. "We believe it's time to release the roar of Christian voters across America."
One of the revival's attendees, Jacqui Brokaw, said she wants to elect Trump "because he stands for something." She's hoping to galvanize others in the area and swing Wisconsin from blue to red.
"If we don't get our election this year, we're going to lose our whole country," attendee David Jansen warned.
"What we are seeing here today is the most targeted and tactical voter mobilization effort done by Christian nationalists ever," says Taylor. He believes the stakes are more than just political.
"If Trump wins, then that becomes a part of the impetus that Donald Trump can say, 'I don't just have a democratic mandate, I have a divine mandate to change the country in accordance with the biblical values that these folks claim to have,'" says Taylor.
Trump's relationship with the evangelical community goes back to his first race for the White House in 2015, when Paula White-Cain, a leading charismatic Christian figure, became one of his top religious advisers.
That year, White-Cain organized a gathering to introduce Trump to other leading charismatic figures, including Wallnau. After their initial meeting, Wallnau wrote that Trump was chosen as "God's trumpet," to be "a wrecking ball to political correctness."
"I caught that idea in 2015, when I first met Trump, and I said, 'Oh my gosh, this guy is like the character Cyrus in the Bible,'" Wallnau explained, referring to the Book of Isaiah, which describes Cyrus as an outsider chosen by God to liberate Jews from captivity.
Wallnau was one of the first charismatic leaders to spread the idea to his vast social media following that Trump had been anointed by God as a Cyrus for these times. His Trump is a conquering hero, and Wallnau sees his own role as convincing his followers to help with God's work of electing Trump.
"If at the end of the day, we haven't activated you to either be a poll watcher, a poll worker, somebody involved with election integrity or somebody that can help someone else get out a vote, I'm not sure that we've done what we have to do," Wallnau told the crowd in Eau Claire.
"You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians," Trump said at the Turning Point Action Believers' Summit in July.
After Trump lost the 2020 election, charismatic Christians backed Trump's claims that the election had been stolen from him in the weeks leading up to the insurrection on Jan. 6. Wallnau, too, supported him and was scheduled to speak at a rally at the Capitol that day before it was canceled.
In the tent in Eau Claire, Wallnau justified the riots that took place at the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago.
"Jan. 6 was not an insurrection," he said. "It was an election fraud intervention."
"Many of the people who were leaders in this movement also showed up on Jan. 6 because they really believed that the election was being stolen," Taylor said. "They had a gut feeling that Donald Trump was right."
Taylor says that that mindset extends to a "demonic conspiracy" that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
"[They] believed that a conspiracy of demons manifesting through the Democratic Party, manifesting through disloyal Republicans, manifesting through Mike Pence, was preventing Trump from winning the election and from fulfilling the will of God", Taylor said.
For Wallnau, this presidential election is no less than a battle of good versus evil.
"I don't see how anyone with moral clarity sits out an election like this. I mean, the issues are so clear," Wallnau said. "I tell Christians, I say, you know, what you — what would you say during the Civil War?"
Wallnau uses apocalyptic language at revivals, setting up a spiritual battle between pious believers and demons who speak through Democrats or liberals. In an address on FlashPoint Live, he told the audience, "You see the Left is loaded with demons."
Wallnau described what he sees as the multitude of forces arrayed against the former president.
"[Trump]'s like Samson. He's got his hands between two pillars," Wallnau explained. "He's virtually up against academia, media, government, the intelligence communities, and to an extent, a whole lot of corporate businesses."
But Wallnau is betting that he can channel the hyper-focused Christian political energy that he is fueling toward overcoming those obstacles.
"The tendency to just look at elections, pray about them, eat popcorn, watch the result, and then go to bed is over," said Wallnau. "Christians as believers probably should be engaged in this process of shaping culture far more aggressively and intentionally from now on because it's being shaped without them."