You would think that a billionaire casino owner from Manhattan with a well-publicized sex life would be an unlikely hero for the religious right, but there you are. It isn’t because they misunderstand him; one doesn’t really hear anything about Trump being a “baby Christian” these days. No, he’s Cyrus the Great–an unexpected, but vastly important, ally in the battle against their common enemies.
Think about that analogy for a minute. Cyrus the Great freed the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity. The religious right is telling us that things are so bad in this country, they might as well be in bondage in a foreign land.
In reality, they’re as free as anyone else. What they actually resent is the fact that they’ve lost the culture wars in the court of public opinion. They are counting on the political and legal system to redress the balance. Those victories will be temporary; the loss of credibility and moral authority with younger people, on the other hand, will last much longer.