When I coined the phrase court evangelicals during the first Trump administration, I compared these Christians to the court clergy of late medieval and Renaissance-era Europe. These courtiers were motivated by one goal: to gain access to and win the favor of the monarch. As I wrote back in 2020, access to the court brought with it “privilege and power and an opportunity to influence the king on important matters.”
Today’s court evangelicals want a “seat at the table.” They flatter President Donald Trump and praise him for appointing pro-life Supreme Court justices; removing the teaching of critical race theory and other diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from schools; and protecting their religious liberty from the secular forces trying to undermine the Christian nation they are trying to reclaim.
Many Christians in America share the concerns of the court evangelicals. They are pro-family, opposed to abortion on demand, opposed to biological men playing women’s sports, and concerned about religious persecution around the world. But the political witness of the court evangelicals and other Trump-loving evangelicals is incomplete.
Rarely, if ever, do the court evangelicals criticize Trump. They believe the Bible is the Word of God, but they seem to have little use for Nathan—the Old Testament prophet who rebuked David for committing adultery with Bathsheba, as recorded in 2 Samuel 12.
When these Christians enter the Oval Office, they trade their prophetic edge for group photos. They behave politically as if there are no points of contention between the United States of America and the kingdom of God.
Court evangelicals were largely silent when Trump supporters staged an insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. When Trump faced multiple felony charges in 2024, court evangelicals claimed that the Biden administration was on a “witch-hunt” to prevent No. 45 from becoming No. 47.
In Trump’s second term, it is hard to find any major policy issue—refugees, the cutting of American aid abroad, deportations, Elon Musk’s government efficiency cuts, the teaching of racial diversity in schools—in which the court evangelicals publicly oppose Trump. They’ve even figured out a way to baptize tariffs.
The court evangelicals are easily identifiable. Just look for evangelical leaders who regularly visit Trump at the court: Greg Laurie, Eric Metaxas, and Paula White-Cain, to name a few.
The latest court evangelical gathering took place on the Wednesday of Holy Week. Trump invited evangelicals to the White House for an Easter dinner. Christianity Today reported on the event here. Franklin Graham preached an Easter message, and the Liberty University student choir performed.
Some of the court evangelicals gathered in the Roosevelt Room and sang “How Great Thou Art.” From all reports, they were singing to God. And of course there were photos—plenty of photos.
In April, Trump-supporting evangelicals came to the White House to learn more about White-Cain’s Faith Office and how the government might fight antisemitism and anti-Christian bias in the United States.
Sean Feucht, an itinerant worship leader and former candidate for Congress, led the group in praise songs. “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has become a house of prayer today,” he announced.
Feucht even had time to pose for a shot of him walking in the middle of a road toward the US Capitol carrying his guitar case and sporting a black jacket. He posted the pic with a reference to Psalm 33:12, which says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
On the same day, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias met to carry out Trump’s Executive Order 14202. Trump issued the order to correct what he sees as abuses of religious liberty under the Biden administration.
The witnesses at the hearing included Scott Hicks, the provost of Liberty University. He testified that the US Department of Education had unfairly targeted Liberty.
While the court evangelicals enjoyed Easter dinner, worshiped in the White House, and expressed their grievances about anti-Christian bias, other evangelicals in the United States and around the world were saving lives with vaccines, defending Christians in Ukraine, finding solidarity with the suffering, and bringing attention to the globally displaced.
John Fea is distinguished fellow in history at the Lumen Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
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