The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

Chapter 18 introduces David French, a lawyer who represented respected conservative organizations in the past. He often spoken out in defense of the religious right and against the “radical left.” However, he fell out of step with the party in 2016 and declared his opposition to Trump. After that, he became a target. He received death threats including a photoshopped image of his adopted Black daughter in a gas chamber with Trump in a Nazi uniform ready to press the button. Some of the harassment came from within French’s own church. Like Alberta, French was accosted by an irate elder who’d previously been a friend. He asked French how he could be opposed to their president after all he had done for evangelicals. French’s wife responded that if they had been upset about Bill Clinton’s philandering, it was hypocritical to excuse Trump of the same actions. The elder responded by telling French to get his “woman under control” (333).

This change in evangelical culture had been building since Obama’s campaign, but its seriousness went unacknowledged by the establishment until Trump harnessed the “toxic, malevolent, paranoiac thinking” (335) that had gripped the culture. Moore, an ally of French, admits culpability in ignoring the problem.