Spiritualizing Corruption - The Prosperity Gospel Presidency
Grift Becomes "God's Blessing"
On May 11, Donald Trump annouced that he would be accepting a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane as a donation from the Qatari royal family that will be upgraded to serve as Air Force One. This would be without any doubt the largest gift given to a US President in the history of the nation. The pricetag is estimated to be $400 million.
Imagine for one second if a previous President, Obama, Bush or Biden, had accepted such a gift from a foreign government, the outcry would be instantaneous and articles of impeachment would be drafted in short course.
The response from Republicans in Congress is a muted, uh, well, there are some questions, maybe. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota told reporters. "There will be plenty of scrutiny. There are lots and lots of issues around that, that I think will attract very serious questions."
We’ll see John.
The Democrats of course were more raucous in their response. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to block all of Trump's nominees to the Justice Department until the agency reports what it knows about the Qatari offer. Three nominees are currently before the Senate.
"The attorney general must testify before both the House and Senate to explain why gifting Donald Trump a private jet does not violate the emoluments clause (of the U.S. Constitution), which requires congressional approval," Schumer said in a speech.
Referencing the emoluments clause takes us back to the founders. Presidential historian, Alexis Coe, made this comment when interviewed on a cable news show about the grift…oops, I mean gift:
In 1787, the Constitution’s framers gathered in a sweltering room in Philadelphia to design a government that wouldn’t collapse into monarchy or rot with foreign influence. They wrote the emoluments clause — Article I, Section 9 — which they saw as a firewall. It forbade federal officials from accepting gifts or titles from foreign states without congressional consent.
The logic was simple: no monarchies by stealth, no subtle realignments of loyalty. If a prince gives you a jet and you take it, you owe him — even if you pretend you don’t. In the founders’ eyes, it’s more than improper. It’s a betrayal. They didn’t fight a king just to watch a president accept a sky-high royal estate — or what Donald Trump calls a write-off.
Coe then informed listeners of the example that many of the first Presidents set when it comes to foreign influence:
George Washington warned of “the insidious wiles of foreign influence,” calling it “one of the most baneful foes of republican government.” His successors remained hypersensitive: Thomas Jefferson returned a diamond-studded snuff box from the French ambassador on constitutional grounds and warned that the presidency could devolve into elective despotism. John Adams was publicly dragged for his taste in carriages, so his son, John Quincy Adams, surrendered horses and gilded gifts to the State Department rather than risk the appearance of impropriety.
While most reasonable and critical thinking people understand that this gift is corruption and should be shunned, a group of Trump’s most staunch supporters will view this in a very different way. Evangelicals, many of whom have been soaking in the prosperity gospel message for decades, will view this as a sign that God has his hand on Trump. That is how the evangelical mindset works. Its not corruption its a blessing.
This is not a new idea, in fact, I first encountered prosperity gospel preachers in the 1970s as a young evangelical caught up in the Charismatic movement. Early pioneers of the message that to tithe and give results in God’s blessing and prosperity was preached by Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, and later by Joel Osteen. Of course, Trump’s personal spiritual advisor, Paula White-Cain, is part of this illustrious group.
Anthea Butler, author of White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America, wrote in an op-ed in 2017 that Osteen and Trump are mirror images of each other. She observed:
Both enjoy enormous support among evangelicals, yet they lack a command of biblical scripture. Both are among the 1 percent ... Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Osteen’s brands are rooted in success, not Scripture. Believers in prosperity like winners. Hurricanes and catastrophic floods do not provide the winning narratives crucial to keep adherents chained to prosperity gospel thinking. That is why it is easy for both men to issue platitudes devoid of empathy during natural disasters.
This gospel prosperity mentality changes the paradigm of corruption and turns it on its head. Accepting gifts from a foreign government is evidence that God’s hand is on Donald Trump because it is a material blessing. For evangelicals, it isn’t just a wink at a minor indiscretion on Trump’s part, but it is to be celebrated as a justifiable good.
This interesting perspective was picked up clearly with profound insight by Stephanie Jo Warren in her substack article, Why Evangelicals Don't See Corruption-They See Divine Confirmation. Warren is a former evangelical writer who now talks freely about her experiences on a podcast called, Focus On Your Own Family, a nod to the upbringing she experienced in the Dobsonian culture of patriarchy and harsh discipline in the home.
Her comments are key to understanding the evangelical support for Trump not only in this matter but in all of his indiscretions, corruption and fraud. After all, prosperity gospel preachers are up to their private jet plane windows in personal scandal and cases of using questionable means to gain wealth for themselves. Donald fits right in.
The belief system, doctrines, and evangelical view of the world was a perfect fit for Trump to manipulate once he discovered that he could shoot someone on 5th Ave and his core supporters (evangelicals) would never abandon him. He was right. After all, it was King David who committed adultry with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed. Kindred souls.
Warren’s column is worth quoting at length and I will do so here, but it I encourage you to go to her substack site and reading the whole piece.
First, when evangelicals consider finances and God, there is a inherent disconnect with reality. Evangelicals have wordsmithed the verse where Paul the Apostle says that “the love of money is the root of all evil” into, “money is the sign of God’s blessing.” Warren writes about her experience:
God cannot assist those unwilling to surrender everything to Him. While he may provide the bare minimum, trusting Him completely can lead to greater blessings. The issue was that these financial blessings seemed to flow primarily to the pastor, who used them to provide his children with Louis Vuitton luggage and luxurious golfing trips. Every time they received a new "blessing," they would emphasize that it resulted from their faithfulness in giving.
Observing the greed and corruption tied to God’s money, where the congregation not only accepted this chaos but also praised the Lord for it, I’m sadly not shocked that the evangelical voting base behaves similarly. Evangelical leaders serve as indicators of how lawmakers react to his actions. These leaders understand that evangelicals perceive financial corruption not as a bribe, but rather as God blessing their church’s leader (because let's be honest, that’s how they view Trump).
Next, Warren comments on the lack of accountability within the church and the projection of that lack of accountability on to Donald Trump:
If you've been engaging with my content for a while, you know I am outspoken about the absence of accountability in the church. Pastors and leaders within the evangelical movement are rarely held accountable for their character and actions. In evangelical communities, criticism often bolsters loyalty rather than provoking skepticism. Why does this happen? It's because they have internalized that “persecution" validates their legitimacy.
So when journalists look into foreign connections, it’s seen as spiritual warfare. When watchdog organizations raise concerns about ethical breaches, it’s merely the adversary’s attempt to undermine a man of faith. And when the public questions the overall morality, that’s considered ‘evidence’ that the world opposes righteousness. Too often, when I communicate with individuals who are part of Trump’s voting base, they accuse the media of going on a witch hunt and reporting fake news to tarnish his reputation.
This illustrates how authoritarianism finds spiritual justification. This is how a grift becomes the gospel.
Continuing, Warren explains why evangelicals are not concerned about foreign influence through gift-giving. The thought process is upside down. You and I see obvious grift and corruption, but for them, “there is no cognitive dissonance when your entire worldview is built on confirmation bias masquerading as divine discernment.”
She writes:
You may look at foreign gifts and see bribery.
They look at it and see prophecy fulfilled.Evangelicals view their president as a divinely chosen leader uniting the nation. They believe they have no cause for concern regarding national security, as God will protect them. God will illuminate the darkness and reveal the corrupt. Unfortunately, the only individuals they consider worthy of addressing these issues are the corrupt leaders in power. Therefore, while Qatar offers a 747 Air Force One as a gift, evangelicals won’t scrutinize the foreign policy implications; instead, they will see this as God softening the hearts of Islamic leaders, creating a pathway or “foot in the door” to engage with the Muslim population and eventually force their salvation.
There is no cognitive dissonance when your entire worldview is built on confirmation bias masquerading as divine discernment.
Next there is the confluence and conflict between the Bible and the Constitution. Warren profoundly points out that for evangelicals, the Constitution as a revered document still takes a back seat to the Bible when and if they come in conflict. Of course, they are talking not just about the Bible but their particular version and interpretation of the Bible.
Warren observes:
The U.S. Constitution forbids public officials from receiving gifts from foreign nations without congressional consent (Article 9, Section 1). However, in the current evangelical-nationalist hierarchy, the Constitution is respected… unless it contradicts "biblical authority."
Anyone who takes the oath of office promises to protect the Constitution of the United States. Can you picture the outrage if a Democratic president did this? Republicans were outraged when Obama wore a tan suit, yet they appear completely unconcerned with his [Trump’s] response, “I don’t know,” when questioned about following the Constitution.
Checks and balances? That’s just interference from the deep state.
Ethics investigations? That’s merely the devil's attempt to tarnish God’s prophet's reputation.
Democracy? For them, it will always be a democracy, just like salvation is free. They fail to understand that you either believe in and serve a narcissistic God or face damnation, much like loving and supporting a narcissistic leader, OR face arrest, charges, and silencing.This explains why efforts to reveal misconduct no longer function as they once did. You’re not battling an individual; instead, you’re contending with a religion, a godly-endorsed narrative of renewal, accountability, and American exceptionalism.
In that narrative, every dollar represents a tithe, each bribe serves as a blessing, and every scandal acts as another nail in the martyrdom of God’s chosen.
We’re observing not merely political compromise; it reflects spiritualized authoritarianism. In this system, divine favor legitimizes unethical actions, and material excess is portrayed to the public as a moral endorsement of God's approval.
The same sentiment was expressed recently by Trump’s spiritual advisor, Paula White, who opined during a book signing that, “To say no to President Trump would be saying no to God.” This is the essence of religious authoritarianism and it should scare the hell out of those who understand the end result of such thinking.
This mentality is hard to understand, but for those who have lived it, breathed it and recited it over and over…it resonates a fearful reality of one who is brainwashed and in some cases, traumatized to think in such convoluted algorithms. I share Warren’s closing statement and the fact that this sort of thinking “should terrify us all.”
The president's acceptance of foreign gifts should be a scandal. However, for countless evangelical Americans, it serves as the evidence they’ve long awaited—proof that their leader is divinely appointed, evidence that America is “returning to God, " evidence that, despite appearing corrupt from an outside perspective, it is all part of a greater design—God’s design. And that should terrify us all.
Indeed, I know these people well…and I am terrified!
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I think this also affects many evangelical's lack of concern for the environment. If the rapture is gonna happen soon, who cares about dead fish (or increases in cancer?)