This Makes Sense

[Content Note: Christian Supremacy; Islamophobia; guns.]

Fresh off the latest NBC News|SurveyMonkey Weekly Election Tracking Poll having found that, of the GOP candidates, Donald Trump has the highest support among white evangelical voters at 33%, Trump has announced he will be speaking "at Liberty University's first convocation this year, addressing thousands of young evangelicals on Jan. 18 when students return to campus."

Several evangelical leaders have frantically searched for ways to defeat Trump in the GOP presidential primaries by supporting other candidates, but Liberty will be welcoming Trump with open arms.

Liberty's president, Jerry Falwell Jr., has generally stayed out of the political spotlight — unlike his late father, who founded the school. But Falwell made waves in December for urging students to carry concealed weapons so "we could end those Muslims before they walked in," clarifying later that he was referring to the November attacks in Paris and the shootings in San Bernardino, Calif.

On a recent Fox News segment, Falwell said his three favorite presidential contenders are Republicans Trump, Ben Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.). "I think Trump reminds me so much of my father," Falwell said on the show. "He says exactly what he thinks no matter what anybody cares."

As I noted last August, when Bernie Sanders announced he would be speaking at Liberty University, the school is explicitly anti-feminist and anti-gay, and has a Civil War "mourning room" that contains among its decorations a cross made from the hair of dead Confederate soldiers. (Yes, for real.) It sounds like a perfect match for Trump.

Republican presidential candidates have been speaking at Liberty University for years; in fact, Ted Cruz launched his candidacy from Liberty, which is the largest Christian university in the US and a hotbed of Christianity-justified bigotry.

Just another reason that it's complete garbage when the Republican Elite pretends to have any illusions about the nature of their base.