Why Some Evangelicals Refuse To Acknowledge That Trump Has Lost The Election

Even as his position grows increasingly isolated, President Donald Trump is not walking alone in his suspended state of disbelief about the results of the 2020 election . He is being propped up, as he has for years, by his loyal evangelical Christian fans.

While some evangelical leaders and institutions have congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his win, there is a large segment of the group that is staying mum on the issue or clinging to the Trump campaigns unproven claims of widespread fraud .

The presidents closest evangelical advisers are split between those who are actively promoting the election fraud narrative, those who are subtly suggesting to their followers that there was fraud, and those who are silent, according to John Fea , a history professor at Messiah University who has been blogging about these Trump allies.

Fea told HuffPost he doesnt know of any of these court evangelicals his label for the modern equivalent of the religious courtiers who once surrounded kings who have openly rejected the voter fraud claims. The ally who got the closest to publicly acknowledging the election results was Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress . In a Nov. 7 Fox News op-ed , Jeffress wrote that Biden appears to be the president-elect, unless Trump wins his legal challenges. That op-ed made headlines and, after it became clear that Jeffress stance was not shared by his peers, the pastor tweeted a condemnation of false media reports that hed broken with the president. Over the last few weeks, Jeffress, who spent the past four years vigorously defending some of Trumps most controversial policies, has been largely silent about the election on Twitter.

Some of Trumps close evangelical allies have suggested they are waiting for the truth to be made known about the election including Franklin Graham , son of the late evangelist Billy Graham; Paula White , Trumps spiritual adviser; and Tony Perkins , president of the Family Research Council.

In other words, they are giving credence to this whole election fraud narrative by virtue of their silence and carefully worded tweets that suggest there might be fraud, Fea told HuffPost.

Voters deserve to know the truth and the future of our Republic depends upon it. https://t.co/CUerll4LE0

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Voters deserve to know the truth and the future of our Republic depends upon it. https://t.co/CUerll4LE0
Tony Perkins (@tperkins) November 20, 2020

Other evangelical figures have been eager to be part of the vanguard pursuing Trumps claims of fraud. Much of this advocacy has come from Liberty Universitys Falkirk Center, which counts Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk among its fellows . Another fellow, Christian author Eric Metaxas, has been alleging on Twitter that the election was stolen at one point comparing alleged election fraud to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Id be happy to die in this fight, Metaxas told Trump on his radio show on Monday. This is a fight for everything. God is with us.