American writer, film director and public speaker Frank SchaefferIn his statement to AA correspondent, former US President Donald TrumpHe detailed his candidacy for re-election with the strong support he received from the American Evangelical community and the relationship between Evangelicalism and Zionism based on his own Evangelical background. his father Francis SchaefferHe stated that he grew up in a small American missionary community in Switzerland in 1952, as the son of a well-known evangelical missionary. He stated that his parents were Evangelical Protestant missionaries who tried to reach young people in the devastated cities of Switzerland and Europe after World War II.
Schaeffer pointed out that he grew up with fundamentalist Evangelical Christian values and said, “When I reached my adolescence, my father had become quite famous in the Evangelical world in the USA. For example, my family, the former US President Gerald FordHe was very good friends with. My mother was a close friend of Betty Ford and we visited the White House all the time. “The latter part of my adolescence was spent with a father who was well-known in the evangelical world,” he said.
Among the influential evangelical figures Jerry FalwellSchaeffer stated that he started to question this world as he got to know people like him closely and said, “At one point, I had a crisis of faith and I no longer believed in our politics or the religion in which I grew up. I “had a more secular, liberal and progressive perspective on American politics and started to change.” .
Noting that the Evangelical movement did not have a political nature in the first half of the 20th century, Schaeffer said, “If you look back 50 years ago, the Evangelical movement was a completely religious movement. They believed that Jesus was the son of God “They were people, but they had no political motivation,” he said.
Emphasizing that this situation has changed today, Schaeffer stated that political figures such as Trump have increased the effectiveness of Evangelicals in the political field: “The Evangelical community is now a political community. For example, they are less interested in how you believe in Jesus , and much more interested in how you vote. Essentially, they say this: ‘What we want is political power, and Trump gives us access to that power.’ “The only thing Republicans and Evangelicals care about today is political power.”
Reminding that Trump will once again become a candidate from the Republican Party with the support of Evangelicals in the 2024 presidential elections in the USA, Schaeffer said, “If you take evangelical votes out of the equation, there would not be a MAGA (Make America) Great Again) group. There would be no Trump presidency in 2016. “He would have no chance of re-election.” Evangelicals are Trump’s core supporters. “That’s why they embrace Donald Trump, who has been divorced and remarried three times, has had affairs with porn stars, and has never been a defender of conservative morals,” he added.
God Uses ‘Flawed People’, According to Evangelicals
Emphasizing that the biggest supporters of Israel are Evangelicals, Schaeffer said, “It is generally thought that support for Israel comes from the American Jewish community and groups such as the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), but there are not many Jews in the USA; less than 2 percent of the population.” From the beginning, the most consistent support has come from evangelical, white Christians who see Israel as part of the fulfillment of their prophecy, which somehow proves that Christianity is true. According to them, the state of Israel was ordained by God to fulfill the prophecy. he said
Schaeffer pointed out that there are strong ties between Evangelical Christians and the Zionist movement from the past and said, “Evangelicals have a view about eschatology, that is, the apocalypse, the end of the world. According to this view, Jesus will not return “Unless Israel exists as a state, and Jesus must return.” “For example, when I was a kid, my parents would follow all the conflicts in the Middle East, the 1967 war, the Golan Heights, the recapture of the wall in Jerusalem, as if they were part of Biblical prophecy,” he said .
Stating that evangelicals believe that “God uses flawed people” to fulfill Bible prophecies, Schaeffer said, “According to evangelicals, these people may be bad, but they are fulfilling God’s will. That is exactly how they see Trump. ‘Yes, he is a womanizer and “He’s an adulterer, he’s a liar, we know that, but he’s part of God’s plan to restore white Christian hegemony over the United States.” “We’re not interested in Trump being perfect or Jews treating the Palestinians right,” he said.
Schaeffer is a Jewish billionaire businessman and a strong supporter of the Republican Party. Sheldon Adelson‘s wife Miriam AdelsonReferring to Trump’s claim that he would allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank in return for a million-dollar donation to Trump, he said, “If Trump is re-elected, the annexation of the West Bank will be completed at the end of “His second term. Just as before, his embassy was moved to Jerusalem.” This time, he will do exactly what Adelson wants him to do, not because he loves Israel, but because Trump neither loves nor hates anyone. “Those things never matter. It’s just about power,” he said.
Schaeffer stated that Evangelicals are also disturbed by the presence of Muslims in the USA and said, “He is threatening to mass deport illegal immigrants. With the anti-Muslim policies he implemented in his first presidency, he showed that he would impose a Muslim ban on people coming to the USA. Even those born in the USA somehow “They will be considered foreigners and some will be deported.” Trump will be harsh on anyone he wants evangelicals to leave.”
Evaluating how possible Trump presidency will affect the situation in Gaza, where attacks have continued since October 7, Schaeffer said, “Trump will ally with the harshest line in Israel and provide whatever they want. If this includes the complete destruction of Gaza, this will “There is no limit to what Trump will do in terms of barbarity and cruelty. He does not have the slightest shred of decency on a human level. “We are going back to the 12th century when it comes to how we should treat our neighbors,” he concluded.
