Many white evangelicals don’t trust the felony conviction and still back the former president.
Donald Trump’s historic felony conviction in New York on Thursday hasn’t deterred his evangelical supporters. Instead, along with fellow Trump loyalists, they have directed their ire at the justice system that issued a guilty verdict against him.
“People think this is kind of the end of America,” Chad Connelly, CEO of Faith Wins, a conservative Christian organization, told CT. “I don’t talk to anybody that thinks this is anything other than a sham case.”
A jury of 12 New Yorkers found Trump guilty on all 34 counts brought by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, concluding that Trump falsified business records as part of an effort to keep a sex scandal from influencing the 2016 US presidential election.
“This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt,” Trump told reporters in a brief statement after leaving the courtroom.
“The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people,” Trump added. “We didn’t do a thing wrong. I’m a very innocent man. … Our whole country is being rigged right now.”
Connelly, who previously served as the Republican National Committee’s national director of faith engagement, said that he believes the verdict will only “strengthen people’s resolve” to vote for Trump come November.
More than 9 in 10 white evangelical voters said a guilty verdict in the hush money trial would make no difference in their vote or would make them more likely to back Trump, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted last week. Only 7 percent of white evangelicals said a conviction would make them less likely to vote for him for president.
Overall, two-thirds …