Paula White Prayed against Trump's Enemies and Gave a Lesson in How to Shut Down Reasoned Debate

The press published plenty of stories about President Donald Trump’s rally in Orlando June 18 announcing his 2020 presidential campaign. But did you notice the day’s most important speech? Rev. Paula White opened the rally with a “prayer” (really a political speech pretending to be a prayer). Her simple, bold theme: Trump’s Democratic opponents conspire with the forces of Hell, and God will stop them and ensure Trump’s victory. This was not the reasoned dialogue that our nation’s Founders envisioned. Rev. White showed how to shut down reasoned debate.

To understand Rev. White’s prayer, you need to understand two things about how conservative Christian rhetoric works: first, conservatives tend to believe that massive conspiracies oppose them, and second, conservative Christians often think in terms of spiritual warfare.

Demonic forces are the ultimate conspiracy. What conspiracy could be worse? Spiritual warfare is the battle between good and evil, between angels and demons, and spiritual warfare can only be won by prayer.

Back to the planet Earth: Trump's election faces two main threats: his future Democratic opponent, and the many federal investigations of his alleged crimes. Rev. White never mentioned those threats by name but we all know what they are. She used spiritual warfare theology to depict the 2020 presidential campaign as a battle between the forces of Jesus Christ (which she said were represented by President Trump) and the forces of Hell (presumably represented by unnamed Democrats and federal law enforcement agencies).

White’s central point – Trump’s opponents are demonic:

“Let every demonic network that has aligned itself against the purpose, against the calling of President Trump, let it be broken, let it be torn down in the name of Jesus.”

There are two ways to hear that: you can hear that the Democrats and the FBI are demonic, or you can assume that demonic forces guide the Democrats and the FBI. It doesn’t really matter, does it? (If you find this unlikely, let us remember that President Trump twice called Hillary Clinton the devil. Did you think he didn’t mean that literally? He did.)

Rev. White opposed Democrats by echoing the words of the Psalmist “Let the counsel of the wicked be foiled right now.” I was always offended when chaplains prayed for the high school football team to win a game. To pray for political victory bothers me much more.

White also prayed not only for God to support Trump, but to exalt his power and to stop the conspiracies against him:

“I pray for the spirit of the Lord to rest upon our president and let your favor pause upon him, his power to be exalted according Psalm 89:17. Lord, your word says in Psalm 2:1-4, ‘why do the nations conspire and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’”  [italics added]

White prayed that she was utterly confident that God himself will assist Trump’s re-election campaign:

“I declare that President Trump will overcome every strategy from Hell and every strategy from the enemy, every strategy. And he will fulfill his calling and his destiny. Destroy and divide their tongues O Lord.”

Again, you don’t win a spiritual war by conventional earthly tactics: you win a spiritual war by praying. Rev. White prayed as if that war had already been won: “I declare.” Not “I pray that” or “I hope that,” but “I declare.” A certainty. She did, however, pray for God to defeat the Democrats: “Let the secret counsel of wickedness be turned to foolishness right now, in Jesus name.” Also: “And we secure victory,” she promised.

White’s version of biblical morality seems questionable, to say the least, but she quoted endless Bible verses all the same. This argumentative technique (which I will have to write about later) is called proof-texting. This technique, which is utterly unfamiliar to liberals, is standard practice in fundamentalist preaching: any Bible verse, quoted out of context, becomes absolute proof for whatever point is being made. White wasn’t just illustrating Trump’s goodness; she used proof-texts from the Bible, her ultimate source, to confirm it. Interestingly, most of her Bible verses are from the Hebrew Scriptures, also called the Old Testament, and rarely from the New Testament.

I blogged earlier this month about Rev. Franklin Graham's "prayer" for President Trump. He was more subtle than White but just as devious: 1. Graham on the divine right of Republicans.  2. And Graham makes Democrats to be "enemies."

Christian preachers often ask for God to grant wisdom to the nation’s leaders. That doesn’t bother me at all. I pray like that myself. But White assumes that Trump already has God’s wisdom: “I declare that skillful and godly wisdom has entered into the heart of our president,” she prayed. Her prayer did not ask for wisdom; it asserted that God has already granted wisdom for Republican causes. Liberal Christians might want to argue this point (I certainly would), but White’s prayer left no room to argue. Her prayer was the ultimate conversation-stopper, the ultimate debate-stopper. She did not defend Trump by logical argument: she called Trump’s opponents “enemies” and “demonic forces” and demanded that the forces of Heaven come down to stomp on Trump’s “enemies.” This was not debate. And White did not invite debate.

Now, there are two ways to defend Trump against his political threats. The obvious way would be to show that Trump has better policies, to represent that he is innocent of crimes, and to give facts to show he did not collude with the Russians to gain election or otherwise engage in improper activities. Those would be weak, defensive responses.

Instead, Rev. White called on the forces of Heaven in the name of Jesus Christ to defend Trump against his enemies. If you are not religious, or if you are a member of a more socially liberal religion, White’s approach probably mystifies you. Trump’s core supporters, however, are right on board. This is how they think. This is how they feel. This is how they vote. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand the Trump phenomenon. To the Christian Right, religion is not about social morality. It is not about justice. It is not about fairness. It is not about the Sermon on the Mount. It is about winning the battle.

Rhetorical and communication critics in the last 50 years pay less and less attention to delivery. That is a mistake. White’s delivery was critical: she was loud; she sounded utterly confident; she was fast, and as the prayer went on, she spoke faster and faster. She swept her already-committed audience into an endless, breathless surge of irresistible energy. 

Why did I say that this was yesterday’s most important speech? White Evangelical Christians have been Trump’s strongest supporters from the start of his campaign in 2015. This prayer (speech) targeted them, their attitudes, their ideas, with the precision of a laser-guided missile. Politicians don’t win elections by changing people’s minds. They win by getting voter turnout. Enthusiastic supporters turn out to vote and give their candidate the victory. White’s enthusiastic prayer is all over the right-wing media. Don’t miss it.