In a piece for NBC News Think, Anthea Butler points out that liberals still tend to wonder why evangelicals still support Trump, even though many of his actions are not aligned with the stated values of those groups.
She states that modern evangelicals' support for this president cannot be separated from the history of evangelicals' participation in and support for racist structures in America.
Moral issues once drove white evangelical votes but, first when Obama was elected and then when the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on same sex marriage in June of 2015, now what has moved them forward is their fear. Trump promised justices and a return to a time when they felt less fear, and he delivered, at least on the former.
Evangelicals in America are not simply a religious group; they are a political group inexorably linked to the Republican Party.
"Trump delivered evangelicals from the shame of losing, and they will back him again in 2020 to avoid losing again. So perhaps we should take evangelicals at their word that they will support Trump come hell or high water, rather than twisting ourselves into knots trying to figure out why."
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/white-evangelicals-love-trump-aren-t-confused-about-why-no-ncna1046826
