At the RNC, a theological question: Did God save Trump?

MILWAUKEE — When he was invited to offer a benediction at the Republican National Convention, Pastor James Roemke settled on a prayer from the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship. It’s based loosely on Jefferson’s 1801 prayer for the nation, and Roemke followed the supplication nearly verbatim: You have given us this good land as our heritage ... Bless our land ... Save us from violence, discord and confusion.

Then, Roemke added his own section. “We give thanks to You for keeping President Trump safe,” he said. “We pray for the families of those affected by the demonic violence at the rally on Saturday, and we pray You would send Your holy angels to guard and keep President Trump from all harm and danger.”

The addition was intentional and scripted, Roemke told me, and it was approved by the RNC team. (All convention speeches and prayers are vetted in advance.) “They said it was perfectly fine,” he said.

The insertion, as evidenced by other speeches and prayers, was not just fine, but likely celebrated. Two other Monday prayers included gratitude for God protecting or shielding Trump from harm during Saturday’s assassination attempt. A majority of speeches on Monday did, too, and several on Tuesday.

At the Republican convention, with the party’s chosen candidate still bandaged from a gunshot wound to his ear, a theological question has arisen: did God intervene to protect Trump? And if He did, as has been repeated throughout the convention, how?

A host of politicians have tried to answer that question. Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, told me she thinks “there was probably divine intervention there” in protecting Trump. “Thank God almighty,” said Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, in his convention speech Monday, “our God still saves, still delivers, still sets free. Because on Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle. But an American lion got back up on his feet and he roared.”

At an event for Western states’ delegates Tuesday, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, said he “truly believe(s) that God protected President Trump.” Moments later, Donald Trump Jr. said it “had to be, sort of, divine intervention,” before admitting he doesn’t “often get all that spiritual.” That evening, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas, said in her convention speech that “God Almighty intervened” because “He is certainly not finished with President Trump.”

Others were more specific in their theories. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas thanked God in his convention speech Tuesday for “turning his head when the shot was fired,” so the bullet only grazed his ear. Shortly after, Ben Carson — who ran against Trump in 2016 — said God “lowered a protective shield” around the former president. Charlie Kirk, the activist and Turning Point USA founder, spoke Monday night; he previously suggested that a “gust of wind” may have “pushed that bullet ever so slightly,” adding that wind is often associated with the Holy Spirit. On social media, one theory linked the time of the shooting — 6:11 p.m. ET — with Ephesians 6:11, the Bible verse that encourages believers to “put on the armor of God.”

These theories are tethered to “spiritual warfare,” or “the idea that Christians are engaged in a daily battle between good and evil, God and the devil, with prayers of the faithful thwarting evil plans,” said Robert P. Jones, president of Public Religion Research Institute, to WIRED. “But this worldview trades in a kind of ex post facto theology, where being saved from danger or sickness or other disaster is seen retroactively as evidence of divine protection.” That rear-view perspective is essential, Jones argues: “I’m certain, for example, that none of these voices would be saying it was God’s will had Trump been assassinated.”

But some, in fact, are. Roemke, the pastor from Messiah Lutheran Church who offered Monday’s benediction, said a fundamental part of prayer is accepting God’s will. “No matter what our prayers are, we’re told that His will is greater,” Roemke said. “It seems it was God’s that Trump was spared. I’m grateful for that.” But had the outcome been different, Roemke would have nonetheless ascribed God’s will to it. “I would’ve been mad about that, but that would have been God’s will,” he added.

The motivator of Roemke’s belief that God preserved Trump’s life, then, was his desire that God preserve all life. “As a Christian, I want President Trump to be safe, just like I want President Biden to be safe,” he said. “I want the stranger in the street to be safe.”

That desire leads Maloy, a first-term congresswoman from Utah, to “pray for the leaders of our country,” regardless of party — something she’s done her whole life, she said. She has heard a similar sentiment from Speaker Mike Johnson, an evangelical Christian, who encourages House Republicans in conference meetings to follow Christ’s injunction to pray for all, including our enemies.

“I believe in those prayers,” she said.

But what about others at Saturday’s rally who, unlike Trump, were seriously injured by the gunman’s bullets? Was God protecting Trump, but not protecting Cory Comperatore, a fireman and father who lost his life while shielding his family?

“We don’t know why some people go through great difficulties or trials, or why others are spared,” Roemke said. “I’m grateful it wasn’t much worse, based on the amount of bullets we heard.” Roemke drew a theological lesson from Comperatore’s choice to protect his loved ones: “He gave his life for them, just as Christ gave his life for the church.”