On Tuesday (Oct. 24), House Republicans nominated Louisiana congressman Mike Johnson, who led his fellow representatives in prayer after securing the nomination. Johnson was elected by the full House on Wednesday in the first vote.
Trump has also leveraged religious language on the campaign trail to stoke fear of immigrants, particularly Muslims, and present himself as the one who can preserve an evangelical America.
“I will implement strong ideological screenings of all immigrants,” Trump said at a recent campaign event. “If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you don’t like our religion—which a lot of them don’t—if you sympathize with Jihadists, then we don’t want you in our country and you are not getting in.”
“We don’t want you,” he reiterated to cheers and applause. “Get out of here. You’re fired.”
Trump’s most recent appeal to evangelical fears of Islam comes at a politically strategic moment as the violent conflict between Israel and Hamas continues to unfold.
RELATED: Trump, Once ‘Most Pro-Life President,’ Riles Anti-Abortion Activists With New Stance
Notably, Trump drew criticism from high profile evangelicals earlier this month for referring to terror organization Hezbollah as “very smart” while criticizing the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, he has since corrected course to emphasize mainstream evangelical political values with regard to the Holy Land.
This article has been updated to reflect that Mike Johnson has been elected as Speaker of the House.
