In the heat of the Republican primary of 2016, then-White House hopeful Donald Trump called Iowa evangelical supporters of Senator Ted Cruz "so-called Christians" and began to believe there was a "conspiracy among powerful evangelicals," a new book says.
The Guardian published excerpts from Atlantic reporter Tim Alberta's upcoming book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in a Time of Extremism, on Thursday that provided a behind-the-scenes look at Trump's response to the criticism he received nearly eight years ago when he named "Two Corinthians" as his favorite Bible verse instead of "Second Corinthians."
"The laughter and ridicule were embarrassing enough for Trump," Alberta wrote in the book, which will be published on December 5. "But the news of [Family Research Council President Tony] Perkins endorsing Ted Cruz, just a few days later, sent him into a spiral. He began to speculate that there was a conspiracy among powerful evangelicals to deny him the GOP nomination."
Newsweek reached out to Trump via email for comment.
Trump, who is currently the front-runner in the 2024 Republican primaries, is jockeying for support from evangelicals, a powerful bloc for Republican candidates, especially in Iowa, where the Republican Party is holding its first caucus in January. Evangelicals are a dominant voting group in the Hawkeye State, where 55 percent identify as "devoutly religious," an NBC News/Des Moines Register poll from August shows.
The news of Trump's alleged 2016 comments comes days after powerful evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats handed Trump's rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a major endorsement in Iowa on Tuesday. Two weeks earlier, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds also endorsed DeSantis.
In his upcoming book, Alberta recalls that "When Cruz's allies began using the 'Two Corinthians' line to attack him in the final days before the Iowa caucuses, Trump told one Iowa Republican official, 'You know, these so-called Christians hanging around with Ted are some real pieces of s---.'"
The journalist goes on to say that "in private conversations," Trump "would use even more colourful language to describe the evangelical community."
Cruz would outperform Trump by 12 percentage points among evangelical voters in Iowa, according to an NBC News entrance poll that year. But Trump would take the second primary contest in New Hampshire and eventually win the Republican nomination with ease.
Vander Plaats is widely considered a kingmaker in Iowa, where he worked on the winning GOP campaign in the 2008 caucus and endorsed the winner of the first-in-the-nation contest in both 2012 and 2016.
Despite Vander Plaats' strong endorsement record, Trump has polled ahead of his Republican challengers among Iowa evangelicals, of whom 44 percent plan to make Trump their first choice, according to a Des Moines Register poll from last month. Comparably, 22 percent said DeSantis would be their first choice.
Vander Plaats and Trump have been at odds since the 2016 primaries, and it doesn't appear things have changed much since then. Last week, Trump declined to attend a Thanksgiving Family Forum in Des Moines hosted by Vander Plaats.
When the evangelical leader endorsed DeSantis this week, he told Fox News, "I don't think America is going to elect [Trump] president again. I think America would be well served to have a choice, and I really believe Ron DeSantis should be that guy. And I think Iowa is tailor-made for him to win this."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
fairness meter
To Rate This Article
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
