Who are the Court Evangelicals?

When I coined the phrase court evangelicals during the first Trump administration, I compared these Christians to the court clergy of late medieval and Renaissance-era Europe. These courtiers were motivated by one goal: to gain access to and win the favor of the monarch. As I wrote back in 2020, access to the court brought with it “privilege and power and an opportunity to influence the king on important matters.”

Today’s court evangelicals want a “seat at the table.” They flatter President Donald Trump and praise him for appointing pro-life Supreme Court justices; removing the teaching of critical race theory and other diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from schools; and protecting their religious liberty from the secular forces trying to undermine the Christian nation they are trying to reclaim.