For Trump’s Backers in Congress, ‘Devil Terms’ Help Rally Voters
WASHINGTON — Supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump have turned to biblical verses and “devil terms” to rally voters against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in this week’s general election.
Trump has turned the race into a religious campaign, using his speeches to rally Christian supporters with stories of what he would do as president and invoke biblical verses to mock Clinton.
His supporters say the campaign is aimed at galvanizing voters and is a way to connect with an “angry white working class” that helped Trump win the white, blue collar state of Pennsylvania in the months leading up to the vote.
Clinton is counting on the evangelical vote to propel her to victory in the White House race, while also looking to build a general election coalition that could help the Democratic nominee with Trump supporters.
Trump’s religious appeal, which critics say is divisive and racist, has drawn a protest from the Rev. Andrew Albanese, the senior pastor at Lakeview Assembly Church in Washington, who said he was working to lead a national “pro-life” movement and fight against Trump.
“Devil terms, demon-like terms, not of God, not of the church,” Albanese tweeted on Monday night.
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway invoked Bible verses during an interview Wednesday on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
“This is a Bible, but I’ll read Scripture the way I want. I’ll read Scripture the way I want to,” she said.
The campaign’s use of Bible verses has led some of Trump’s supporters to wonder if his campaign is using a kind of religious-based voting bloc and potentially opening the door to Trump supporters who don’t vote Republican for a variety of reasons because of the candidate’s religious support.
A study from Pew, released last week and conducted amid the controversy over Trump’s use of the Bible verse, found that a majority of Americans believe in a broad range of religious beliefs, including biblical beliefs. But a much smaller group of Americans are “strongly committed” to the beliefs of a specific group, such as the Republican Party.
On his website, Trump supporters also have a section called “Exclusive Dev