In Which We Try Not To Gloat

It would, of course, be very poor form after what can rightly be described as a crushing electoral victory for the Republican Party, to spend the morning basking in the glory of such a triumph, drinking the sweet, sweet nectar of progressive tears, and playing the wailing and gnashing of their teeth as a kind of soothing whale-song with which to unwind after a long but magnificent night.

It would be deeply unkind to look around our bookmark folders on X and find the long, long list of failed predictions. For instance, anyone considering mentioning the Selzer poll—’The Best Pollster In Politics’—declaring a Harris lead of +3 in Iowa only to see Trump take the state by 13 points, really should stay quiet.

Some might describe it as ‘unmannerly’ to point out all the attempts to suppress the evangelical vote for Trump from websites such as Christianity Today, which talked about lifelong Republicans deciding to vote for Harris, advocated sitting this one out, ran articles like the one entitled, ‘Black Christian Leaders Find Hope with Kamala Harris’, and whose Editor-In-Chief Russell Moore spread the blatant lie that Trump called for Liz Cheney to be executed just a few days ago. No one should suggest that such a publication is anything other than a valuable resource to the body of Christ, or call it a worthless rag worthy of nothing but disdain. 

It would be classless to recall Matt Chandler’s recent ‘both sides bad’ sermon in which he gave a false history of the Republican Party’s move to the pro-life position, something he painted as a manipulative ploy to secure the evangelical vote rather than the result of years of determined Christian advocacy on behalf of the unborn finally being heard. 

And it would be a real shame if anyone linked to videos of left-wing meltdowns, such as this one of Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks on the verge of tears, or this one of CNN blaming sexism and racism, or Jen Psaki on MSNBC going full panic mode over Trump’s relationship with Elon Musk, or a White Dudes For Harris guy tearing his shirt off in anger. Don’t click on any such links if you happen to stumble across them.

But for real...

Ok that’s it out of the system. No more, I promise. And yes, though we can still have a little bit of fun with the whole thing, because when else are we going to do it, we should be humble in victory. Sure, wear the MAGA hat with gladness, but still be nice to your Democrat friends and family. 

It was a remarkable night in which what started off looking like a tight race turned into a landslide.

Yes, based on past discrepancies between polling and actual on-the-day votes, it should have been somewhat simple to predict a Trump win. But this year’s huge early voter turnout, the prevalence of mail-in ballots, discussion of Arizona potentially taking weeks to finish the count, and widespread concern of... let’s call it ‘shenanigans’... meant that there was reason for hesitation.

But it turned out such concerns were unfounded. 

This election followed all the recent patterns. Republicans, having outperformed expectations in early voting, followed up by being as strong on the day as before. Dems did not. The Trump campaign had an army of lawyers and poll watchers, all scanning like hawks for potential ballot dumps, none of which materialized. 

Which meant it was a cakewalk. Nowhere important was even particularly close. Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia all went ruby red, and though Arizona may take a while, it’s going the same way. No one expected Florida to be a swing state, but Trump came closer to winning New York than Kamala did to Florida. (Kudos to Ron DeSantis, by the way, and while Vance is most likely to be the 2028 pick, DeSantis would also be an excellent nominee.) Heck, Virginia was in play for a loooong time, and even New Jersey was close. 

Demographically, Trump won white men, white women, latino men, 50% of other races, almost 25% of black men, and just under 40% of latina women. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin black voters doubled their support for him since 2020, and Michigan hispanic voters went for Trump over Kamala by a 25% margin. Amazingly, Trump even won 18-29 year olds in Michigan, and won 42% of that age-group nationwide - a demographic Joe Biden (hardly a youthful rock star) had carried by around 25 points in 2020. 

When it’s all said and done, Trump will almost certainly get 312 Electoral College votes, sweeping every single swing state and the popular vote, the Republicans will take the Senate and likely the House as well. 

What Does It Mean For The Church?

Firstly, celebrate the win. This is an act of God’s mercy on a nation that does not deserve it. We can be thankful and rejoice. 

Secondly, there is serious work to be done. While I don’t agree with the whole ‘both candidates are bad’ mantra—Trump is by every historical metric a very good candidate, who despite his flaws saw the end of Roe, stands for religious liberty and will protect national interests more than anyone in generations—Trump is no savior. He buys us time and space to work for moral and spiritual reformation, but he is not the man to lead one. We need churches to preach law and gospel, souls to come to faith, the establishment of Christian institutions, and the advancement of just laws from the federal level down to local school boards. All those wishy-washy denominations and media organizations need turned around, pronto. 

Thirdly, the Republican Party needs to become staunchly pro-life again. And there’s a good argument to be made from a real-politik perspective: namely that if abortion didn’t swing the election this time, there’s no reason to think it will swing it next time. It’s time to retake that ground and work for its total abolition. 

Finally, pray for the peaceful transition of power. I never thought I’d say this, but thankfully Joe Biden is still the President. Not that this is a good thing in itself, but a lot of us find ourselves imagining that Kamala is in power. If she were, she could do enormous damage. But the Bidens’ clear anger over their replacement works in Trump’s favor. That said, there’s a sentencing hearing for Trump this month, there will doubtless be unrest before January, and the Deep State is not known for taking things lying down. 

All in all, it’s a good day for the church, for America, and for the Western world. 

Praise God.