Former President Donald Trump reaffirmed his commitment to Christians across the country in a Thursday night speech in Nashville, Tennessee, stating that he “fought harder for Christians than any president” in history during his first term and will do so again next year.
Trump was met with a standing ovation as he took the stage in Nashville at the National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention, where he offered his support to Christians and tore into the Biden administration for going after faithful Americans.
“We’re going to save this country, it will be thanks to the men and women like you,” the 45th president said to the crowd. “You make God’s work your work, that’s what you do.”
“In my first term I fought harder for Christians than any president ever before … under my leadership we did more to protect religious freedom than anyone before,” Trump said, touting his record in office. “They’re giving you a hard time in Washington right now, but they won’t be giving you a hard time in about 11 months.”
Trump’s speech comes after two dominant Republican presidential primary wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, and just days before the South Carolina Republican presidential primary. Recent general election polling shows that a potential face-off between President Joe Biden and Trump will be close, with national polls showing Biden in the lead, but swing state polls in Arizona, Georgia, and even Nevada showing Trump with advantages over Biden.
Religious voters across the country will be crucial for Trump to win in November, and he made the case to the crowd that he deserves their continued loyalty.
“I was the first president to attend the March for Life in Washington, DC,” he noted before contrasting his record with the actions of the Biden administration. “Pro-lifers are now being hunted down by the Biden regime as enemies of the state. Never again will the federal government be used to target religious leaders,” he added. “Americans of faith are not dangers to our country, they are the soul of our country.”
He also pledged that, if elected back to the White House, he will “create a new task force focused on fighting anti-Christian bias” with a mission to “investigate all forms of discrimination and harassment against Christians across America.”
Trump criticized the attack on monuments of our Founding Fathers and other great Americans before reassuring that “nobody will be touching the cross of Christ under the Trump administration, I swear to you,” drawing a standing ovation from the crowd. “We will protect God in our public square.”
“We have an incompetent president who does not know what the hell he’s doing, he will not lead us to the promised land,” the former president said as he blasted Biden. “The restoration of law in this country begins with firing crooked Joe Biden.”
“I’ve been indicted more than Al Capone … I’ve been indicted more than some of the greatest criminals in the world,” Trump stated before warning “the corrupt persecution from this regime will not stop with me.”
Trump touched on his record on foreign policy, pledging to prevent “world war three” if he is reelected and touting his support of Israel, saying that he “cut off funding to the UN that was going to Hamas.” The former president touted his decision to move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and discussed the war in Ukraine, adding that “millions of people would be alive right now” if Biden hadn’t taken office.
He also discussed immigration, telling the crowd that he’s never “seen anything as egregious as this open border.” He added that foreign nationals who’ve crossed the border into the United States are “being treated better than longtime American citizens and our veterans” before committing to “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history” if he is reelected in November.
The 45th president concluded the speech by outlining his policies on education and social issues, promising to “cut federal funding to any school pushing Critical Race Theory and transgenderism” and defeating “the toxic poison of gender ideology,” drawing a standing ovation from the Christian crowd. “It’s something that I’m always amazed I have to say it, I will keep men out of women’s sports” he added before adding “I will sign a law prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states.”
Trump’s speech came after an introduction from radio host Hugh Hewitt and addresses from others in the conservative movement, including Paul Dans, the president’s former Chief of Staff of the Office of Personnel Management. Dans spoke to the crowd on behalf of the Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project, an initiative from the Heritage Foundation that has built a personnel database for the next conservative administration and seeks to “pave the way for an effective conservative Administration.”
“We are a historic movement making sure the next conservative president can hit the ground running on day one,” Dans told the crowd before explaining that Project 2025 is based on the realization “that nothing in Washington is going to change until we make it change.”
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts also addressed the audience, warning that America is “in big trouble … beset upon by social problems, cultural problems, and religious problems,” citing a “porn problem among young men” and a “mental health crisis among young women.”
“Why does the Washington establishment hate Donald Trump and dread his reelection this November?” Roberts went on to ask, pointing to institutions that oppose him like “most large corporations,” “academia,” and “the federal bureaucracy and the deep state.”
The Heritage President provided an answer, saying that the establishment opposes Trump because “he’s a threat to their power,” before continuing “and God bless him for it.”
