Klamath Falls, OR— Trump warning of dire consequences to their congregations should Republicans lose in November’s midterm elections.
“This November 6 election is very much a referendum on not only me, it’s a referendum on your religion, it’s a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment. It’s a referendum on so much,” Trump told the assemblage of pastors and other Christian leaders gathered in the State Dining Room, according to a recording from people in the room.
“It’s not a question of like or dislike, it’s a question that they will overturn everything that we’ve done and they will do it quickly and violently. And violently. There is violence,” Trump said, describing what would happen should his voters fail to cast ballots. “The level of hatred, the level of anger is very unbelievable.”
Trump, facing scrutiny for hush money payments to a porn star and a former Playboy model, pleaded with evangelical leaders for political help during closed-door remarks on Monday.
Inviting the leaders to the White House only days after the President was newly implicated by his longtime personal lawyer’s guilty plea underscored the degree to which Trump is trying to keep his supporters on his side.
“You have to hopefully get out and get people to support us,” Trump said. “If you don’t, that will be the beginning of ending everything that you’ve gotten.”
On Monday, he touted the steps he’s taken to promote religious liberty, such as loosening restrictions on political speech from the pulpit, which previously could jeopardize religious institutions’ tax-exempt status.
The remarks from an attendee’s recording offered a more dire view of the upcoming vote than Trump has projected in public. He often trumpets an upcoming “red wave” of Republican victories, downplaying suggestions that Democrats are poised to exploit his divisiveness and retake the House or Senate.
Trump didn’t mention a “red wave” on Monday, instead acknowledging that midterms often present new presidents with a turnout challenge.
“The polls might be good, but a lot of them say they are going to vote in 2020, but they’re not going to vote if I’m not on a ballot,” he said. “I think we’re doing well, I think we’re popular, but there’s a real question as to whether people are going to vote if I’m not on the ballot. And I’m not on the ballot.”
According to Business Insider, Trump warned the audience that the November elections aren’t just a referendum on him. It’s a referendum, he says, on freedom of religion and the First Amendment.
'You're one election away from losing everything that you've got,' he said.
Trump also told the crowd that he “got rid of” the Johnson Amendment, which Trump claims limits the free speech of Christians. Trump neither got rid of the law, nor does it limit the free speech of Christians.
The so-called “Johnson Amendment,” which prohibits churches (and other religious institutions, and charitable organizations) from directly campaigning for, or opposing, a political cause or candidate. They are of course legally free to do so, but they risk losing their tax-exempt status if they do.
Despite Trump’s claims to the contrary, the law is still on the books. Trump signed an executive order in 2017 aimed at overturning the law; however, the president does not have the authority to overturn a law, only Congress can do that. Congressional efforts at overturning the laws have failed. Gregory Magarian, a constitutional law professor at Washington University Law School, says Trump’s 2017 executive order “does almost nothing.”
Trump and other Republicans have frequently tried to connect liberals to the far-left group of anti-fascists known as Antifa, which has been responsible for violence and escalated tensions at various rallies around the country.
Republicans are hoping to stave off Democratic efforts to retake control of the House and Senate. A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Democrats with a nearly 7-point advantage on the generic ballot.
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