Trump Evangelical Advisory Board (2016)

On June 21, 2016, approximately 1,000 evangelical leaders gathered at the Marriott Marquis in New York City for a meeting with Donald Trump organized by Bill Dallas and arranged in coordination with the Trump campaign. A smaller 'executive advisory board' of approximately 25 leaders met directly with Trump at Trump Tower. Board members named in the campaign's June 21 announcement included: - Jerry Falwell Jr. (Liberty University president) — had already endorsed Trump in January 2016 - Robert Jeffress (First Baptist Dallas) — gave a blessing at Trump's Dallas rally in September 2015 (saying it was not an endorsement) and was openly backing him by early 2016 - James Dobson (Focus on the Family founder) — subsequently claimed Trump had recently 'accepted Jesus' as a 'baby Christian' - Paula White (prosperity gospel televangelist, Trump's personal pastor) - Ralph Reed (Faith and Freedom Coalition) - Michele Bachmann (former congresswoman) - David Jeremiah (pastor, author) - Ronnie Floyd (former SBC president) - Jack Graham (Prestonwood Baptist Church) - Richard Land (Southern Evangelical Seminary) Franklin Graham and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins took part in the larger June 21 meeting but were not named to the board. Trump's performance at the June 21 meeting was documented as transactional: he promised to work to repeal the Johnson Amendment (which prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches, from endorsing candidates), promised judicial appointments from a conservative list, and indicated he would prioritize evangelical access to the White House. James Dobson's subsequent claim that Trump had 'accepted Jesus' and was a 'baby Christian' — made to Family Talk radio on June 24, 2016 — was widely circulated as evangelical legitimization. Dobson did not claim to have led Trump to faith himself and gave no source for the claim, and many observers, including evangelicals, were skeptical. The board's function: it provided institutional credibility for white evangelical voters who were reluctant to support Trump due to his obvious incompatibility with stated evangelical character standards. The calculation on the table — explicit if not stated — was that Supreme Court appointments, religious liberty executive orders, and White House access were worth tolerating Trump's character. The board members represented the organizational infrastructure through which that calculation would be communicated to evangelical voters. The exit poll result: Trump received 81% of the white evangelical vote in November 2016 — slightly above the 79% that George W. Bush (2004) and Mitt Romney (2012) received. Pew's later validated-voter study put Trump's share at 77%.

Themes this entry appears in

• Christian Nationalism
• Political Strategy
• Anti-Democratic

Connections from Trump Evangelical Advisory Board (2016)

• influenced → January 6, 2021 (2021) — Multiple members of the Trump Evangelical Advisory Board amplified the stolen-election narrative in the weeks between November 2020 and January 6, 2021, providing it with theological legitimacy. Paula White led prayer calls for God to 'overturn' the election results. Eric Metaxas, a prominent Trump-supporting evangelical broadcaster (not a board member), told Trump on air that he would be happy to die in the fight over the result.
• influenced → 2016 Election: The Machine Delivers (2016) — The Trump Evangelical Advisory Board — assembled in June 2016 and including Jerry Falwell Jr., Robert Jeffress, Paula White, and James Dobson — provided the theological cover that transformed a politically transactional vote into a sacred mandate. Their endorsements lent religious credibility to the campaign and gave many evangelical voters permission to back a candidate some had doubts about. Trump's share of the white evangelical vote (81% in exit polls) was close to what George W. Bush (2004) and Mitt Romney (2012) had received (79% each), according to Pew.

Connections to Trump Evangelical Advisory Board (2016)

• Council for National Policy: Coordination Network influenced (2016) — The Council for National Policy's August 2016 meeting — attended by Steve Bannon as Trump's newly appointed campaign CEO — was a pivotal moment in the Religious Right establishment's accommodation of Trump, according to Anne Nelson's 'Shadow Network.' In Nelson's account, CNP members who had been divided or reluctant converged at this meeting on the calculation that Trump's Supreme Court commitment and his Federalist Society-vetted nominee list made him acceptable. The meeting's participants included figures who subsequently served on or supported the evangelical advisory board.
• Franklin Graham influenced (2016) — Franklin Graham took part in the June 21, 2016 New York meeting at which Trump's campaign announced its Evangelical Executive Advisory Board, though he was not named to the board; his presence lent the Graham name to Trump's evangelical outreach. His Decision America Tour (2016), framed as prayer and described by critics as political mobilization across all 50 states, was timed with the election cycle and amplified evangelical support for Republican candidates including Trump.
• Robert Jeffress influenced (2016) — Robert Jeffress was among the earliest (he blessed Trump's Dallas rally in September 2015) and most consistent evangelical clerical supporters of Trump, and was a core member of the Trump Evangelical Advisory Board formed in June 2016. His First Baptist Dallas platform, Fox News appearances, and willingness to articulate explicit Christian nationalist rationales for Trump support (in 2017: 'God has endowed rulers full power to use whatever means necessary — including war — to stop evil') made him one of the most visible clerical voices for the merger of evangelical identity and Trumpist politics.
• New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) / Seven Mountains Mandate influenced (2016) — NAR figures including Lance Wallnau developed the theological framing ('Trump as a Cyrus figure,' a wrecking ball sent by God to disrupt the demonic control of the Seven Mountains) that made Trump theologically acceptable to charismatic and Pentecostal evangelicals who otherwise found his character disqualifying. Paula White — Trump's personal pastor and advisory board member — provided the direct institutional connection between NAR networks and the Trump campaign's evangelical outreach.
• Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) as Galvanizing Force influenced (2016) — Du Mez argues Obergefell's June 2015 ruling made Supreme Court appointments the central issue for many evangelical voters in the 2016 cycle. The evangelical leaders who met with Trump in New York in June 2016 were operating in an environment shaped by Obergefell: the calculation that Trump's Supreme Court commitment — and his September 2016 release of a Federalist Society-vetted nominee list — was worth tolerating his character. Obergefell converted the evangelical establishment from reluctant to actively supportive by making the judicial pipeline question existential.
• Prosperity Gospel Network influenced (2016) — Du Mez argues that prosperity gospel theology — which frames material wealth as evidence of God's blessing — made Trump's visible wealth theologically legible to prosperity gospel audiences as a sign of divine favor. Paula White, Trump's personal prosperity gospel pastor and primary religious confidante, provided the direct institutional connection between this theological tradition and the evangelical advisory board, translating Trump's billionaire identity into spiritual vocabulary.

Sources

• Election 2012 Post-Mortem: White Evangelicals and Support for Romney — Pew Research Center (2012)
• Trump campaign announces Evangelical Executive Advisory Board (press release, June 21, 2016) — Donald J. Trump for President (archived by Democracy in Action) (2016)
• Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation — Kristin Kobes Du Mez (2020), pp. 264–285
• God's Plan for Mike Pence — The Atlantic (2018)
• Evangelical Leaders Meet Donald Trump — New York Times (2016)