Donald Trump He told a group of evangelicals that they “cannot sit on the sidelines” of the 2024 election, at one point imploring them to “go and vote, Christians, please!”
Trump also endorsed displaying the Ten Commandments in schools and other places while speaking to a group of politically influential evangelical Christians in Washington on Saturday. He drew cheers as he pleaded A new law was signed in Louisiana this week Requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.
“Has anyone read 'Don't Steal'? I mean, has anyone read this amazing stuff? It's unbelievable,” Trump said at the Faith and Freedom Alliance meeting. “They don't want it to go up. “It's a crazy world.”
The previous day, Trump posted support for the new law on his social media network, saying: “I love the Ten Commandments in public schools, private schools, and many other places, for that matter. Read it – How can we, as a nation, go wrong???”
Former President W hypothetical The Republican presidential candidate backed the move as he seeks to rally supporters on the religious right, which he strongly backed after initially being skeptical of New York's ultimate celebrity when he first ran for president in 2016.
This support continued despite its existence Belief In the first of four criminal cases he faces, in which a jury convicted him last month of falsifying business records in what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush-money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Daniels alleges she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade before Time, which he denies.
Trump The opposition declared To sign a national ban on miscarriage His reluctance to detail some of his views on the issue also runs counter to many members of the evangelical movement, a key part of Trump's base that is expected to help him woo voters in his November rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.
But while many members of the movement would like to see him do more to restrict abortion, they are cheering him as the issue's greatest champion because of his role in appointing the U.S. Supreme Court justices who struck down national abortion rights in 2022.
Trump highlighted that on Saturday, saying: “We did something that was amazing,” but the issue will be left for the people to decide in the United States.
“Every voter has to go with their heart and do what is right, but we also have to vote,” he said.
While he is still credited with overturning Roe v. Wade, Trump has also warned about the possibility of abortion Politically difficult for Republicans. For months, he deferred questions about his position on the national ban.
Last year when Trump directed Faith and Freedom Coalition, said there is a “vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life” but did not provide any details beyond that.
In April of this year, Trump said he believes this issue It should now be left to the states. He later stated in an interview that he would not sign a nationwide abortion ban if passed by Congress. He has it He still refuses the details of his position Regarding women's access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
About two-thirds of Americans say abortion should be legal overall, according to a poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research last year.
Attendees at the evangelical rally on Saturday said that although they would like to see a national abortion ban, Trump is not losing any of their deep support.
“I would rather he sign a national ban,” said Jerry Dickinson, a 78-year-old retired social worker and Faith and Freedom member from New Jersey. “However, I understand that according to the Constitution, this decision should be left to the states.”
Dickinson said she could not stand her state's abortion law, which places no restrictions on the procedure based on gestational age. But she said that other than favoring a national ban, leaving the issue to the state “is the better alternative.”
According to AP VoteCast, a wide-ranging poll of voters, about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christian voters supported Trump in 2020, and nearly 4 in 10 Trump voters identified as white evangelical Christians. White evangelical Christians made up about 20% of the total electorate that year.
Beyond just offering their own support in the general election, the Faith and Freedom Alliance plans to help get votes for Trump and other Republicans, aiming to use volunteers and paid workers to knock on millions of doors in battleground states.
Trump is also mobilizing voters in Philadelphia, where supporters were gathering to hear him speak in an arena.
Tyler Ciccone, 25, of Richmond, Virginia, said he's glad Trump is getting out of his comfort zone and going places that may not be red. At the location, organizers hung a banner reading, “Philadelphia is Trump’s country.”
“It shows people that regardless of whether you vote for him or not, or whether it's a blue county or a red county, it doesn't matter to him,” Ciccone said. “The president is for everyone in this country.”
GOP Senate candidate for Pennsylvania, Dave McCormick, attended the rally and appeared on stage to speak with voters about the economy and immigration.
“This economy is not working for most Pennsylvanians, and it is not working for most Americans,” McCormick said.
Earlier in Washington, Trump returned several times during his nearly 90-minute remarks on the subject of the U.S.-Mexico border, and at one point, when he described migrants crossing the border as “difficult,” he joked that he had told his friend Dana White, the president of the The ultimate fight, to recruit them into a new version of the sport.
Why don't you create an immigrant association and have a regular association of fighters? Then you have your league champion, these are the greatest fighters in the world, fighting the immigrant champion. “I think the migratory man might win, because that's how strong they are. He didn't like that idea very much.”
His story sparked laughter and applause from the audience.
The Biden campaign responded to Trump's comments by saying it was “appropriate” for Trump, who has been convicted of a felony, to spend time at a religious conference making threats about immigration and “bragging about taking away Americans' freedoms.”
“Trump's incoherent and erratic tirade showed voters with his words that he is a threat to our freedoms and is too dangerous to be allowed near the White House again,” campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Chitica said in a statement.