It's Christ, Stupid!

Religion is the hands down starkest division in the electorate

When Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign chief coined the phrase – "it's the economy, stupid" – he was on to something in terms of summing up essential differences or issues in a single word or phrase.

In 1992, it was the economy.

Today – 32 years later – it's Christ; more generally religion and, more specifically, Christianity. There is no single issue with a deeper divide among voters, hands down. It's a 20-point swing from those with no firmly held religious beliefs or association who support Biden to those who do have and hold such beliefs and practices who support Trump.

Yet it rarely, if ever, gets mentioned by media – at least the legacy media, likely owing to the established fact that the overwhelming majority of them are irreligious themselves personally, and are somewhat unable to process the underlying reality – that there are tens and tens of millions of American voters for whom religion (and associated morality) is at or near the top of their list in terms of for whom they cast their votes.

And the overwhelming majority of those voters are Catholics and Protestants – Christians – who are revulsed by the nation's descent into irreligion and threat to not only them, but their children (Communists don't really have children.) They view the causes of the Communist Left – drag queen story hours, transgender ideology, gay marriage and so forth, as signs of a culture unmoored from spiritual sanity and an increasing danger to not only their way of life, but their souls and actual salvation.

Since mainstream/legacy media doesn't believe in any of that or even have a way to plug into it – they dismiss the religious voter as a "deplorable," uneducated, unsophisticated hick whose worldviews are simply a roadblock to be overcome on the way to the broad, sunlit uplands of Progressive Nirvana.

But what the Communist/globalist contingent (led by the George Soros-backed Democratic Party) espouses is an official state of anti-Christ, or anti-Christianity – where all things are to be accepted under the banner of "inclusivity" ... excluding Christianity.

Christianity, by its nature, is a religion of conversation with the world on the road to converting it to a solid belief in Christ as King! Any other version, or self-understanding, betrays the root of the gospel – "go therefore and make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Because the Communist amalgam understands this (sadly, more than many self-professed Christians), they have begun speaking in a slightly different manner about religion vis-a-vis the First Amendment.

While she was not the first, Hillary Clinton has been one of the major proponents of re-labeling the constitutionally guaranteed right to "freedom of religion" to "freedom of worship." Why? Because for Christianity – worship happens inside the buildings; "religion" happens inside the world – preaching, discourse, engagement, intellectual challenge – all in an effort to convert.

For the Communist Left – such actions cannot be acceptable, let alone "included," under the political banner of "All are Welcome" – because, frankly – "all" are most certainly not welcome – and really never have been. There has been an air of "toleration" and lip service given to religious (faithful Christians) by the Left, but that is slowly evaporating, and has been for quite some time – going into high gear in the Obama years. (Hillary was meant to banish Christianity to the nether reaches of society, but along came Donald Trump.)

In political circles it's called the "King Cyrus effect," referring to the pagan king Cyrus of Persia who set the Jews free from captivity and allowed them to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple – even providing some of the funding.

The legacy media is constantly aghast that Christians could support a known adulterer as their champion. What they fail to understand, because they have no religious knowledge to speak of, is that God works with and through imperfect people – even the glaringly so – to accomplish His will. Sacred Scripture is replete with such examples – even the genealogy of Jesus Christ Himself is not missing a few, shall we say, "colorful" people in it.

King Cyrus Christians have coalesced around Donald Trump ever since his ride down the golden escalator in Trump Tower in a kind of mutual recognition that they spoke each other's language, at least to a degree. Trump's "'Merica First" campaigning resonated with US patriot types, who also embrace the notion (rightly or wrongly) that Patriotism is bound up with Christianity and belief in God – however misunderstood that may be by both patriots and self-identified Christians. (It's certainly true to a degree, but there is more to it than just belting out "God bless the USA" at a Trump rally.)

Yet in a two-party system, one party not shying away from religion, while the other totally disdains and mocks it – and, in some instances, presents a perverted version of it – the choice is clear – rally 'round the flag, boys – and that means Jesus and Donald "King Cyrus" Trump with his MAGA coalition.

The persistent pain in the side for the Communist Democrats is that Christianity – authentic Christianity – poses a challenge to their dominant narrative. Other religions don't – or at minimum, perhaps better looked at don't – have sufficient numbers to pose said challenge. Christianity, however, poses a unique problem for the Left.

First, it has been long planted in this land, well before Karl Marx ever drew his first breath. Secondly, depending on which denomination of Protestantism a person subscribes to, there is at least some acceptance of Natural Law – mentioned specifically four times in the founding documents.

America was a Christian nation – even with the religious strife that occurred as Catholic legal immigrants were on their way to becoming the single most populous Christian group – and that sheer dominance in numbers has been a mighty obstacle for the Communist Left to overcome. But, they have overcome it, by and large at least – not by great margins, but by slim, yet sufficient margins to draw the country into a self-identity crisis stalemate.

Their strategy was brilliant, diabolical in its cleverness. It took the vocabulary of Christianity and pitted it against Christian teaching – essentially inverting the first commandment to love God with the second commandment to love your neighbor. The so-called "social justice" movement, where "human rights" took on a level of importance never intended, became the leading edge of the assault on every major institution – cultural and otherwise.

Now – arriving very late to the battle – the King Cyrus Christians, on the verge of defeat, have found their champion in the imperfect Donald Trump – who has become the bullhorn to challenge the dominant narrative of the godless Left. Trump himself is likely unaware of this phenomenon, at least to the degree it is a strong undercurrent among his followers and with MAGA.

Even his presence in the political arena – much less his poll position (if you believe the polling) in the actual campaign – is an anathema to the Communist Left. They seethe and rage against him because as history (and apparently the Lord of History) would see it play out – this latest King Cyrus has been raised up to "rebuild Jerusalem." (A word of caution: analogies are just that – analogies, not parallel realities. Even the rebuilt Jerusalem eventually was wiped out by the dominant Romans.)

Trump is often fond of pointing out at his rallies that it really isn't him the Left is after, but us. He's just in the way.

Perhaps that understanding needs a bit more fine-tuning – it's not really Trump (and us) the Communist Left is after – but Christ Himself. No one could have really imagined it to be the case eight years ago – certainly not articulated as such – but in this election, it is Christ Who is on the ballot.

Gary Michael Voris holds a graduate degree, Cum Laude, from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Voris earned multiple awards for 40+ years of news media experience for writing, producing, and investigative work from the Associated Press, Detroit Press Club, Michigan Broadcasters Association, as well as four news Emmys in multiple categories. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1983 with an undergraduate major in Communications and a minor in History.

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