Today sees the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States.
Over on this side of the pond, polling consistently confirms that most of the British public have a pretty dim view of Trump. At best, he is seen as a ridiculous clown who cannot string a sentence together. At worst, he is viewed as a wannabe autocrat who idolises Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. However, he won a resounding victory in the Presidential election and his party gained control of both the House and Senate.
So what does Trump 2.0 mean for us in the UK Church? Here are my top three predictions for how the new presidency may influence life for Christians in the UK.
1. Capturing the disenfranchised
I think Trump’s electoral power came primarily from his ability to win over disenfranchised demographics in the American electorate. America, like much of the West, is being shaped by a growing social narrative that paints 'straight white men' as privileged and oppressive, especially if they are evangelical Christians. Trump tapped into this disenfranchisement by claiming to be the saviour of white middle America.
We are beginning to see similar trends here in the UK with the rise of the Reform party in the last UK election and the popularity of Jordan Peterson who filled the O2 arena in 2023. As churches in the UK, we need to be studiously careful to avoid the traps of these culture war narratives. We cannot simply bisect society into oppressors and oppressed. Rather we need to unashamedly preach a clear doctrine of sin that says, in the words of Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: 'The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either - but right through every human heart.'
2. The normalisation of nationalism
Secondly, Trump’s 'America First' ideology has already led him to promise steep tariffs on imported goods as well as some bizarre proposals about the annexation of Greenland and Canada. Many world leaders have instinctively responded by defending the sovereignty and significance of their own nations.
I find this normalisation of nationalism concerning. Patriotism and loving one’s country is one thing. However, a line is crossed when we start to view our country and culture as superior or more important to God than others. This is a gross distortion of the vision of the global church 'from every nation, tribe, people and language.' The miracle of Pentecost was not that the gospel was preached in one 'Christian language', but that it was understood in people’s own mother-tongues. The church was united in its diversity, not uniformity.
3. The dominance of social media
Thirdly, Trump’s new partnership with X (formerly Twitter) CEO Elon Musk has both proven and cemented social media as our dominant global reality. Over the last month, Musk has been monomaniacally posting on X about the Yorkshire grooming gangs scandal, a story which broke 13 years ago. However, such is the power of Musk and X that the story was catapulted to the top of the UK news agenda with the Prime Minister having to field questions about it in parliament.
Because of our social media reality, what happens in America will inevitably start to influence society here in the UK. Christians and church leaders need to be carefully listening to the online world, particularly what is coming from across the pond. For good or ill, the ideas and ideologies of the next US presidency will be feeding into minds in our churches, whether about race, science, power, culture, religion, money or any other issue. The question is, will we be ready to respond?
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