WASHINGTON (RNS) — The recent U.S.-brokered agreement to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates has been lauded by some of President Donald Trump’s detractors as a breakthrough that could reconfigure relations in the Middle East and redeem three years of diplomatic efforts of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
But Monday morning (Aug. 17), Trump himself appeared to be concerned with acknowledging the influence of some of his greatest supporters: American evangelical Christians.
“It’s an incredible thing for Israel, (and) it’s incredible for the evangelicals, by the way,” Trump told “Fox and Friends.” “The evangelicals love Israel. Love Israel.”
Trump’s focus on the domestic implications of the Israel-United Arab Emirates deal signals the importance of religious conservatives to his general election strategy as the Democratic and Republican conventions convene over the next two weeks.
At a rally in Mankato, Minnesota, later on Monday, he again invoked religion, framing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as a test from God.
“You know what that is?” Trump said, referring to the economic downturn caused by the pandemic. “That’s right. That’s God testing me. He said, ‘You know, you did it once.’ And I said, ‘Did I do a great job, God? I’m the only one that could do it.’ He said, ‘That, you shouldn’t say. Now we’re going to have…
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