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Florida’s Democratic party rolled out some religious figures of their own to counter Donald Trump’s afternoon appearance before a Christian evangelical congregation in Miami.



Richard Luscombe (@richlusc) What looks like the president's helicopter is in the air over South Florida, accompanied by two very fast jets, bringing him to his #EvangelicalsForTrump rally in Miami pic.twitter.com/lJhCVVwIN9

Doug Pagitt, a pastor and executive director of Vote Common Good, an organization that mobilizes voters of faith, decried the president’s event as a sham in a press call.

“He’s trying to use this rally and this base to give cover for his broken promises and his immoral policies,” Pagitt said.

“It is Trump’s desperate response to the realization that he’s losing his primary voting bloc, faith voters. He realizes he needs every last vote if he wants a shot at re-election [and] losing even five per cent ends his chances.

“Many of these voters realize that Jesus’s admonition that you can gain the whole world and lose your very soul is coming into focus for them. While they will hear from Donald Trump that he is the best thing to ever happen to evangelical Christianity, these are voters who know that their faith does not depend on the power of the presidency.”

Pagitt said the rally offered faith voters two different visions of America. “One is to seek all that which benefits you and your agenda. The other is to think about others and to care for the common good,” he said.

Kevin Chambliss, a youth minister at Miami’s Covenant Missionary Baptist church, spoke of the need to “hold truth to power”.

“We must hold this president accountable by calling out his disdain for law, we must speak up when he labels whole groups of people a racists, murderers and thieves, we have to speak up when he openly mocks people of disabilities, we must speak up when he unapologetically tries to use the government to discriminate against people because of their religious beliefs,” he said.

“We need to make sure we don’t have another four years of Donald Trump, I see a better day in our country when those who need help the most can receive it with loving arms and not be taken advantage of as this president has done.”