JOHN: DONALD TRUMP HAS LONG CULTIVATED HIS STRONG SUPPORT AMONG CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVES.

HE GOT ABOUT 80% OF THE WHITE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN VOTE IN 2016 AND 2020 AND APPEARS TO BE ON TRACK FOR A SIMILAR RESULT THIS YEAR.

BUT IT TOOK ON A NEW TONE AFTER THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN JULY.

MR. TRUMP: I WAS KNOCKED TO THE GROUND, ESSENTIALLY, BY WHAT SEEMED LIKE A SUPERNATURAL HAND, AND I WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT GOD SAVED ME FOR A PURPOSE, AND THAT'S TO MAKE OUR COUNTRY GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE.

JOHN: IT'S A THOUGHT SHARED BY MANY OF HIS SUPPORTERS.

>> I THINK THAT GOD SPARED HIS LIFE FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.

I REALLY BELIEVE THAT IT'S A MIRACLE THAT TOOK PLACE.

JOHN: NOW, IN THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE CAMPAIGN, SOME OF HIS SUPPORTERS HAVE CHARACTERIZED KAMALA HARRIS IN BIBLICAL TERMS.

>> SHE IS THE DEVIL, WHOEVER SCREAMED THAT OUT.

SHE IS THE ANTICHRIST.

JOHN: HOW DID EVANGELICALS COME TO HOLD SUCH STRONG VIEWS ABOUT KRISTIN KOBESS DUMAY IS A HISTORY PROFESSOR AT CALVIN UNIVERSITY IN MICHIGAN.

HER WORK FOCUSES ON THE INTERSECTION OF GENDER, RELIGION AND POLITICS.

LET'S START BY TALKING ABOUT THE VIEW THAT CHRISTIAN EVANGELICALS HOLD ABOUT DONALD TRUMP AND THE TERMS THEY USE TO DESCRIBE HIM AND WHETHER THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT HAD ANY EFFECT ON THAT.

>> IT'S VERY POPULAR IN EVANGELICAL SPACES TO HEAR LANGUAGE OF GOD'S ANOINTED, GOD'S CHOSEN WHEN DONALD TRUMP ONES COMES UP, AND THIS IS VERY CONVENIENT LANGUAGE BECAUSE OF COURSE ON THE SURFACE, DONALD TRUMP DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE A CHRISTIAN.

HE DOES NOT APPEAR TO EXEMPLIFY CHRISTIAN VIRTUE.

BUT THE IDEA THAT GOD HAS SELECTED HIM, NEVERTHELESS, HAS SELECTED HIM PERHAPS EVEN BECAUSE HE DOESN'T EXEMPLIFY TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN VIRTUE, TO DO SOMETHING SPECIAL IN THIS PARTICULARLY PERILOUS MOMENT.

AND SO THEY LOVE USING LANGUAGE LIKE "DONALD TRUMP IS A KING CYRUS, SELECTED BY GOD IN ORDER TO PROTECT GOD'S SPECIAL PEOPLE AND RESTORE CHRISTIAN AMERICA."

JOHN: PROTECTING GOD'S SPECIAL PEOPLE.

YOU KNOW, IN THIS CAMPAIGN, HE'S TALKED ABOUT RETRIBUTION, ABOUT REVENGE, AND FIGHTING ENEMIES FROM WITHIN.

DOES THAT APPEAL TO EVANGELICAL VOTERS AS WELL?

>> IT DOES, VERY MUCH SO.

WITHIN CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICALISM FOR A LONG TIME, THEIR LEADERS HAVE REALLY LEANED INTO A KIND OF US VERSUS THEM FRAMING.

SO WE ARE GOD'S PEOPLE, GOD IS ON OUR SIDE.

AND THOSE WHO ARE AGAINST US POLITICALLY, THEOLOGICALLY, ARE THEREFORE AGAINST GOD.

SO THIS IS THE KIND OF FRAMING THAT REALLY LEAVES NO SPACE FOR COMPROMISE, AND IT OPENS ONE UP TO DEMONIZING ONE'S OPPONENTS SOMETIMES QUITE LITERALLY.

AND SO THIS LANGUAGE -- THERE'S ALREADY A LONG HISTORY OF THAT WITHIN CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL CIRCLES, AND THAT IS SOMETHING THAT TRUMP HIMSELF EMBRACES.

AND THEN HE TAKES IT UP A LEVEL EVEN WHEN HE'S TALKING ABOUT RETRIBUTION.

WHEN HE'S TALKING ABOUT REVENGE AGAINST HIS ENEMIES.

THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS RHETORIC AND WITHIN CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICALISM, THERE IS A THEOLOGICAL PERMISSION STRUCTURE THAT ACTUALLY LEANS INTO THAT RATHER THAN OFFERING SOME RESTRAINT.

JOHN: YOU TALK ABOUT DEMONIZING.

AND YOU HEARD THAT A GENTLEMAN AT THE MADISON SQUARE GARDEN RALLY CALL HER THE ANTICHRIST.

THIS MORNING, TRUMP AT A RALLY CALLED THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY A DEMONIC PARTY.

TALK ABOUT THAT, THAT SORT OF PERSONALIZATION ON KAMALA HARRIS OF THESE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS.

>> YEAH, THAT KIND OF RHETORIC IS NOT RARE IN THESE SPACES, AGAIN TO SEE ONE'S POLITICAL ENEMIES AS ENEMIES OF GOD AND THEREFORE, AS ALLIED WITH THE DEVIL.

TO HEAR THAT LANGUAGE AGAINST KAMALA HARRIS IS THEREFORE NOT SURPRISING, UH, AND SOMETIMES YOU WILL HEAR IN DIFFERENT VERSIONS.

ANTICHRIST IS ONE VARIANT.

DEMONIC OR JEZEBEL, CHANNELING THE JEZEBEL SPIRIT.

JEZEBEL WAS AN OLD TESTAMENT FIGURE WHO WAS AN ENEMY OF GOD.

AN ENEMY OF GOD'S PEOPLE AND MET A VIOLENT END, THROWN OUT OF A WINDOW AND EATEN BY DOGS, AND THIS KIND OF LANGUAGE PRESENTS HER AS THE POLITICAL ENEMY, BUT ALSO AS A SPIRITUAL ENEMY.

AND SO IT REALLY UPS THE STAKES, AND IT ALSO IS DEHUMANIZING.

DEHUMANIZING HER AS NOT A POLITICAL OPPONENT, NOT A MEMBER OF AN OPPOSING PARTY, BUT AS DEMONIC OR AS AN ENEMY OF GOD.

THIS KIND OF RHETORIC, KIND OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE RHETORIC NEED NOT LEAD TO ACTUAL VIOLENCE, BUT IN HISTORIC CASES, IT OFTEN DOES.

JOHN: ALONG THOSE LINES, IF DONALD TRUMP WERE TO LOSE AND KAMALA HARRIS WIN NEXT WEEK, HOW WOULD THAT AFFECT EVANGELICALS' WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT THAT OUTCOME?

>> IT'S ACTUALLY QUITE CONCERNING, BECAUSE IF EVANGELICALS ARE CONVINCED THAT IT IS GOD'S WILL THAT DONALD TRUMP BECOME THE NEXT PRESIDENT AND THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN, THEN THAT WILL BE A CRISIS MOMENT.

WHAT WE HAVE SEEN IN THE PAST, IN 2020, WE KIND OF HAVE A PREVIEW OF THIS BECAUSE THERE TOO, THERE WERE PROPHECIES THAT TRUMP WAS GOD'S ANOINTED, WAS GOD'S CHOSEN, AND THAT HE WAS GOING TO WIN THE ELECTION.

AND THEN HE DID NOT.

BUT IN THESE CHARISMATIC SPACES, THEY CONTINUE TO INSIST THAT HE WAS IN FACT GOD'S CHOSEN ONE, AND THAT GOD WAS GOING TO MAKE A Y.

MANY OF THESE PEOPLE WERE AT THE CAPITOL ON JANUARY 6TH, THINKING THAT GOD WOULD MAKE A WAY ONE WAY OR ANOTHER AND WHAT THIS DOES, IT JUST UPS THE STAKES OF THE ELECTION TO A KIND OF SPIRITUAL ENDGAME.

JOHN: KRISTIN OF CALVIN UNIVERSITY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.