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“Does anyone want me to run for president?” Former President Donald Trump asked a crowd of thousands in a small corner of the lavish Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville.
Most, though not all, of the electrified audience rose to applaud as Trump shone off the stage.
Ralph Reed, founder of the Coalition for Faith and Freedom, which is organizing the event, told reporters he was “laser-focused” on the interim mandates in 2022. But on the second day of the conference on the road to the majority, with the keynote address. Trump, who again hinted at his likely candidacy for the Republican nomination, loomed in 2024.
Trump’s ownership of the Republican Evangelical Christian Wing is strong simply because Trump listened to what voters wanted and kept his promises, Reed said.
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Former President Donald Trump speaks at the conference on the road to the majority on Friday, June 17, 2022, in Nashville, Tennessee (AP Photo / Mark Humphrey)
The coalition of evangelical voters “does not vote on whether or not you will be an elder in their church or be accepted into heaven – because only God knows that,” Reed said.
The Christian voter does not judge the heart of a politician, according to Reed, but determines whether the position of a politician is in line with theirs and assesses how well this politician has kept his promises. For many, Trump is the only president who has fulfilled his commitments to protect life, border security and pro-Israeli policies.
For Trump, 2024 does not look different from his loss in 2020.
In his 90-minute speech, Trump repeatedly cited the 2020 election and his unsubstantiated allegations of widespread fraud at almost every level of voting operations in the states he lost.
And Trump spent several minutes criticizing what he saw as cowardice in former Vice President Mike Pence.
Conference on the Road to Majority in Gaylord Opryland, Nashville (Fox News)
“Mike Pence had a chance to be great,” Trump said, referring to the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election, a responsibility that falls to the vice president. Trump has publicly called on Pence to refuse to certify the results in an attempt to get state legislatures to review the election results each state has presented. But Pence “did not have the courage to act,” Trump said.
Pence is at the heart of the Stop Theft movement’s anger over the chairmanship of the congressional certification certification. At a conference on the road to the majority in 2021, Pence was booed when he took the stage (Reed disagreed that this was a widespread feeling and said only a handful of audience members were booed).
And as the committee repeated many times in the January 6 hearings this week, some of the Proud Boys and Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol expressed feelings like “hang Mike Pence.”
Reed, a close friend of Pence’s, said he had seen many presidents quarrel with their number two while in the White House. “They have a disagreement that is being played out in public,” Reed said.
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Several participants in the conference on the way to the majority told Fox News that although Trump is their favorite potential Republican presidential candidate in 2024, they still like Pence.
“[Pence] said he had done his due diligence and reviewed the law and how it had been implemented. I believe that’s why he made the choice – I wouldn’t say he’s a coward, “said Francis Rosales.
However, Rosales, who works for the conservative Latinas advocacy group for Tennessee and is a candidate for a school board in Rutherford County, believes there were “irregularities” in the 2020 election. according to rumors, a potential contender for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump is its favorite.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, USA, February 24, 2022 (REUTERS / Octavio Jones)
“We just have to wait and see how it all happens,” Rosales said.
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As a group of Christians who strongly believe in the Bible, conference attendees and speakers associate political events with the scriptures – with frequent comparisons of Trump with biblical kings and heroes.
Speaking to the crowd, Trump’s spiritual adviser, Paula Kane White, echoed Trump’s comparison to King David, who led the nation of Israel to victory over Jerusalem’s enemies and is called “a man of God’s heart” in the scriptures.
Like David, Trump is not afraid of what other men can do to him, but “he has mental strength and spiritual strength and the ability to withstand harshness and overwhelming pressure,” White said.
Overall, the 2020 election, the Capitol riots and the state of democracy do not seem to be the focus of the evangelical coalition represented on the Road to the Majority.
“The economy and national security, as well as public safety, will always be at the top of every voter’s political hierarchy, and we have challenges on all three fronts, from public safety, national security and economic,” said Tim Leader, executive director of the Faith Coalition. and freedom, “he told Fox News before the conference.
Reed suggested that the Democratic Party’s strategy to focus on Jan. 6 with committee hearings this summer would have the opposite effect.
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“It seems to me that you are winning elections by talking about issues that concern voters and voters are telling you at the top of their lungs: economy, inflation, high prices, supply chain, gas prices,” Reed said.
The Jan. 6 commission, which includes two Republicans, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kingsinger of Illinois, said Trump was in favor of storming the Capitol and that his role had fueled violence and threatened democracy itself.
President Benny Thompson, D-Miss., At the center, removed by Representative Zoe Lofgren, D-California, left, and Vice President Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Made a statement while a House House committee investigating the attack on 6 Jan Scott Applewright))
But if this is not something voters are interested in when gas pushes $ 6 a gallon, Democrats could give up interim mandates and prepare ammunition for a campaign against Trump in 2024, Reed said. But he believes this will also have the opposite effect.
“All they can do is the same thing they did in the three impeachments, which made him more of a martyr among conservatives and Republicans.
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Brian Crisp, who came to the conference with his wife and son from North Georgia, said he would vote for Trump if he runs for president, but also watched DeSantis with interest.
What Crisp wants is for Republicans who win in 2022 and beyond to “continue the things Trump initiated. Keep doing your job, whether he’s president or not after 2024.”
Thomas Fippen is an editor at Fox News.
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