Near the end of the evening, the Rev. James A. Roemke of Kenosha’s Messiah Lutheran Church, a congregation in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, offered a benediction. But before he began, he impersonated Trump’s voice and mannerisms, telling the crowd, “you’re going to be so blessed, you’re going to be tired of being blessed, I guarantee it.” The crowd roared in response, as Trump — who had entered the assembly with a bandaged ear, which was hit by a bullet on Saturday — applauded and smiled.
The Rev. James A. Roemke impersonates Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wis. (Video screen grab)
The Republican Party has long appealed to Christian voters, which make up around 84% of the party — with white evangelicals alone making up 30% of the party — according to the Public Religion Research Institute. By contrast, Democrats are roughly 60% Christian as of 2022, with only 4% of the party identifying as both white and evangelical.
But in an election where narrow margins are likely to make a big difference, Republicans appear to be aiming to broaden their coalition. The RNC stoked controversy for moderating its stances on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights this year, for instance, moves that have angered some of the party’s conservative Christian base.
“Christ-less conservatism will never change America,” Sean Feucht, a prominent activist and Trump supporter, tweeted on July 8, after the RNC released its platform, which backed off from anti-abortion issues.
The mere existence of non-Christian voices at the RNC was enough to spark backlash from a spectrum of religious conservatives. Thomas Kidd, a professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, criticized Dhillon’s Sikh prayer, posting on X, “It would be better to have no prayers than this type of ‘COEXIST’ pabulum.”
Conservative commentator Candace Owens, whose views on her Christian faith and Israel have stoked controversy even in far-right circles, was also critical of Dhillon’s prayer. In her live YouTube show on Tuesday, Owens praised Dhillon as a person who “punches for America,” but said Owens’ personal reaction to the prayer was to say to herself, “literally why?”
“This is not something that patriots are rallying behind,” Owens said.
