During a panel discussion on the Victory Channel’s FlashPoint on Tuesday (May 23), author and conservative commentator Eric Metaxas voiced his support for Donald Trump in the 2024 election amid rumblings of the candidacy of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, comparing the former president to famed Protestant reformer Martin Luther and arguing that Trump was a beacon of courage for the church.
The discussion was filmed live at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) conference, which was held in Orlando, Florida. When asked to comment on the address given at NRB by DeSantis on the previous day, Metaxas said that he “missed it,” but wanted to comment anyway.
“I’m a Trump man,” he said. “But I love DeSantis. I think he will get his chance…But I believe that Donald Trump will be our next president.”
Shortly following his appearance at NRB, DeSantis made the highly anticipated announcement that he would be running for president in the 2024 election.
Metaxas on Trump’s ‘Anointing’ and Ability To Speak ‘To the Common Man’
Later in the panel discussion, Metaxas reiterated that he likes DeSantis, but he believes that “the Lord wants Trump to be president in this next term.”
“I believe that it has something to do with anointing,” Metaxas said.
He further expressed that as someone who grew up in a “working-class home,” when “the elite media…denigrated and despised Donald Trump,” Metaxas said he knew that “they were despising” his parents and the people with whom he grew up.
“I could smell that. I could see that. And if for no other reason than that, I find myself rooting for Trump, because he’s someone who connects with the common man and who seems to understand that,” Metaxas said. “And that’s a very powerful thing in a leader. Because I think many of us in America can’t even remember the last time we felt that there’s somebody speaking for us, there’s somebody who cares.”
While Metaxas conceded that Trump doesn’t “get everything right,” he believes that “the cultural elites and the media and a lot of fussy, religious Christians…don’t understand the language that he speaks. But I think that many people in America say that ‘he’s speaking my language, and he speaks for me.’”
“And I want to say that I think that the elites therefore dramatically underestimate him,” Metaxas continued. “First of all, there’s nobody more astonishingly entertaining on the stump than Donald Trump…We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we care [about] what the Lord cares about, and I believe the Lord cares about this nation.”
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Metaxas: Trump Faced ‘The Forces of Hell’
Going on to reiterate his belief that Trump is anointed, Metaxas said, “[Trump] had no idea that he would be facing the forces of hell.”