An Oklahoma pastor who attended the New York City gathering reported that Trump told them, “All his judges would be vetted by [Leo’s] Federalist Society.” Trump also emerged from the meeting with a new Evangelical Advisory Board, including CNP members James Dobson, Ralph Reed, Richard Land, and Harry Jackson, with Tony Perkins as an additional advisor.
An additional benefit was revealed a few months later, when the CNP newsletter reported, “CNP President Tony Perkins was instrumental in developing the [Republican Party] platform”—supporting conversion therapy to “cure” homosexuality and the right to denial of service to LGBTQ populations, and seeking to roll back gay marriage and a host of environmental protections. Not coincidentally, Trump shelved his previous ideas for vice president in favor of evangelical Mike Pence, who emerged as a dues-paying member of the CNP in 2021.
In return, the CNP’s key partners—including Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council and the National Rifle Association—rallied fundamentalist and gun-owning voters to the polls on Trump’s behalf, giving him critical margins in key swing states. Trump followed through with Leo’s federal court appointments, who in turn have favored the elements of Perkins’ draconian GOP platform. Over the past year, those handpicked judges have handled a number of cases brought by another key CNP partner, the Alliance Defending Freedom, ruling consistently against abortion and LGBTQ rights and environmental regulations.
But following the 2020 elections, Trump’s liabilities – even for true believers – had become painfully apparent: he’s old, volatile, a convicted fraudster and sex offender, and the defendant in multiple additional lawsuits. It was time to look for a new avatar.
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