AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
This election season, some voices are not getting the attention - the scrutiny they should. That's according to McKay Coppins' new piece in the Atlantic titled "Lord, Help Us Make America Great Again." He's written about the prayers that kick off Trump rallies, analyzing every one from November 2022 to June 2024. McKay Coppins, welcome to the show.
MCKAY COPPINS: Thanks for having me.
RASCOE: You've been covering politics for years now. When did you decide or when did you think these prayers that are given by preachers at the beginning of Trump rallies - that they needed more scrutiny?
COPPINS: It was actually at a rally in Iowa last year that I was covering. I noticed that they invited somebody up to say a prayer, and the prayer was pretty, you know, provocative in some ways and theologically interesting. And this is not to besmirch my colleagues in the press pool, but I looked over at the other reporters who were there covering it. No one was really paying attention to the prayer. And I think that the prayers that are given at the beginning of these rallies help us understand a lot about the supporters that Donald Trump has and how they view the stakes of this election. And I think it's important to kind of understand where they're coming from.
RASCOE: Who's giving the prayers, and what kind of language are they using?
COPPINS: The people who give prayers at Trump rallies tend to be conservative pastors, mostly evangelical, disproportionately Pentecostal. But one of the themes that stands out is that the way that America is described in the prayers is almost universally pretty bleak. One prayer says civilization is being driven to ruins. There are various national sins pointed to as evidence of this from, you know, the banning of prayer in public schools to the flood of undocumented immigrants across the border.
RASCOE: And you found in your reporting that certain biblical verses came out very often. And as a Pentecostal girl myself, I was very interested in these verses that were often being cited 'cause I was very familiar with them.
COPPINS: One of the most cited verses in these prayers was from 2 Chronicles. Ayesha, let's see if your Sunday school can come through here. Do you know the verse I'm talking about? Can you...
RASCOE: I do, but...
COPPINS: ...Can you recite it?
RASCOE: ...It's in front of me, so - 'cause we talk about the Bible, so I'll be honest.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: But I will say...
COPPINS: OK, fair enough. Fair.
RASCOE: Yes, but it's - you know, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. And I hope my mom is happy with my reading there.
But this is something I hear all the time. And I have to say that after the attempted assassination of former President Trump, the pastor at my church preached from this very verse, but it seems to be in a different way than the way they're being used in these prayers. How is it being used in the prayers, this scripture?
COPPINS: In these prayers, that verse tends to be used as a way to describe a nation that has fallen into sin and that needs a righteous, prophetic leader to guide it back to Godliness. And some of the prayers are more explicit than others, but overwhelmingly, the idea is that Donald Trump is the man to do that. I'm curious how your pastor used that verse because I do think it's important to understand that these prayers do not represent all of Christendom or Pentecostalism or evangelicalism.
RASCOE: Well, the way he used it was to say, look, God is not a Democrat or a Republican. And yes, he was encouraging us to vote. He said, get out there and vote. This is a serious time. But at the end of the day, you need to focus on the Lord. Don't put your faith in politicians. Put your faith in God. That was what his point was. And I do think that - often in Black churches because we have not been able to depend on the government - that this is often a theme that I've heard. You know, Jesus would be a lawyer in the courtroom. You cannot depend on these systems, so just depend on God.
COPPINS: Yeah, I think that's true, too. And another distinction I think is important to make is that, like, I am also a person of faith. I pray every day. And I don't think there's anything inappropriate about praying for our political leaders or government leaders.
But the interesting differences in a lot of these prayers that I looked at is that they often start from the premise that Donald Trump is righteous and that instead of asking God to help him be worthy of the presidency, they simply ask that God help Trump be reelected. And I think that's where the kind of risks of the melding of religion and politics come into play here, right?
RASCOE: We should note that prayers are not new in American politics. This isn't, like, a new phenomenon, and it certainly is not a Trump phenomenon. This is common.
COPPINS: Yeah. In fact, probably more than any other Western country, America has woven prayer into its politics. I do think what's new is the kind of theological foundation of some of the prayers that are being given on behalf of Trump and, I think, the degree to which he is being held up as - if not quite a messianic figure, then something just short of it.
You know, a lot of his supporters who are religious really believe that God has sent him to save America. I do think a lot of the people saying amen to these prayers at these rallies sincerely believe this. And I think that if we want to understand how the stakes of the election have come to feel so apocalyptically high for so many Americans, these prayers go a long way toward kind of demonstrating that.
RASCOE: What do you think that means, win or lose, for Trump?
COPPINS: You can easily see how hard it would be to accept defeat if you believe that this election has eternal stakes and that you're on the side of God.
RASCOE: That's McKay Coppins, staff writer at The Atlantic. Thank you so very much.
COPPINS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SLOWLY ROLLING CAMERA'S "NATURE'S RATIO") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
