Christians Identified with Trump?

It's almost 8 o'clock in Roseville. I got off work a bit earlier than usual; in fact, I didn't "work" at all this afternoon. When I got to work and tried to scan in a message popped up saying I couldn't... and the dispatcher told me just to go sit down in the driver room and wait. Soon they called my driver number, a manager met me and led me back to where a "DOT certified collector" was waiting. It was a random drug test -- the third since I've been at Metro Transit -- and that "test" made me just a few minutes too late to do my afternoon routes. I couldn't leave work though, so I waited there until dispatch gave me permission to go. So I came home, did a couple chores, had some supper, and now I (finally) have time to write, something I'm often wanting to do.

At right you'll see an excerpt from a facebook conversation. Writing on facebook (fb) is one of the ways I enjoy writing and communicating because it's a way to interact with others, some of whom I know well. The conversation at right was found on the fb "wall" (a.k.a. "timeline") of a pastor who is living in a distant part of the USA, someone I interact with fairly often. (It's great to stay in touch!)

The topic of THIS particular conversation is the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the comment I'd like to highlight is the one I've circled.

After someone else wrote "not my poster boy" (meaning they don't particularly care for President Trump), my pastor friend wrote:

Mine [n]either. But since we are both Christians, people identify us with him, since so many Christians support him. The damage to the Gospel is immense.

I wrote back:

[Name], do you know for sure that non-Christian people identify Christians with Trump?

The same "someone else" who said Trump wasn't their "poster boy" wrote that they hope not, saying that "45 is [the] opposite [of] Biblical justice and Christ's inclusiveness." And while that may be true (we could have a long debate about that!), that's not what I asked. I really want to know if "non-Christian people identify Christians with [Donald] Trump," whether most non-Christians somehow connect Donald Trump, his positions and/or way he speaks, with "Christians" in general.

Is it true that, as my pastor friend wrote, "people identify us with him"?

It's probably not a question that can be answered with any precision, but the answer is probably yes. Here are some reasons for that:

• Researchers found that it was evangelical Christians who brought Trump enough votes to give him an electoral college majority.
• It's been said, as in an article by Tim Alberta said it has been said that "Trump and the Religious Right" (who are mostly Christian) is "A Match Made in Heaven,"  
• Groups like the (mostly Christian) Family Research Council continue to cheer Trump on at events such as the recent "Values Voters Summit," even when there are grave differences between the values (morals) that have guided Donald Trump in his life and the values (morals) that conservative Christians espouse

I'm still wondering what my pastor friend will say. And then I'll go on to ask what influence that "Christian-Donald Trump" connection has on the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

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