4th January, 2020
A few hours after he addressed newsmen about the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, US President Donald Trump returned to the hustings for his 2020 campaign, this time courting Christians.
It was in Miami, Florida where he launched “Evangelicals for Trump” coalition, at El Rey Jesus Church.
“Soleimani has been killed and his bloody rampage is now forever gone,” Trump said during his speech at the church.
He claimed Soleimani had been plotting attacks but they’ve been “stopped for good.”
“He was planning a very major attack, and we got him,” the president told a supportive audience.
He had said the same when he addressed reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate earlier.
Evangelicals, particularly white evangelicals, were a critical voting bloc in propelling the thrice-married president who says he’s never asked God for forgiveness to the White House in 2016. And he thinks he can improve upon that performance among evangelicals in 2020.
“I really do believe we have God on our side. I believe that, I believe that,” Trump said from the stage.
As CBS News reported, in courting the evangelicals, Trump is ensuring his grip on the bloc vote, after a widely circulated Christianity Today editorial denounced him in December as an immoral leader.
The day after that editorial ran, the Trump campaign announced the launch of the Evangelicals for Trump coalition in Miami.
On Friday, the president repeated his line that he has been a better president for people of faith than anyone else. He also issued his usual warning that anyone on the “radical left” who takes the White House will eliminate any policy gains for religious people.
“For America to thrive in the 21st century, we must renew faith and family as the centre of American life,” the president told the crowd.