Former RNC Chairman: Evangelical Leaders Backing Trump Are ‘Biggest Phonies Of All’

The man who used to be the head of the Republican Party derided evangelical Christian leaders for continuing to support President Donald Trump, according to transcripts of conversations within a recently published book.

Speaking with Tim Alberta, who published their conversations in his book on the Trump administration “American Carnage,” former RNC Chairman Michael Steele explained he had no respect left for religious leaders that were willing to look the other way when it came to Trump’s misdeeds in the past and present.

“These evangelical [leaders] are the biggest phonies of all,” Steele said, per reporting from Business Insider.

Steele went on to deride Christian leaders, using explicit language and comparing them to Judas.

“These are the people who spent the last forty years telling everyone how to live, who to love, what to think about morality,” he said. “And then this motherf—er comes along defiling the White House and disrespecting God’s children at every turn, but it’s cool, because he gave them two Supreme Court justices. They got their thirty pieces of silver.”

“American Carnage,” which contains Steele’s words and other candid revelations from political leaders, was released this past week.

Michael Steele is not playing around pic.twitter.com/l5spXJWixn — Captain Mordecai (@CaptMordecai) July 16, 2019

This isn’t the first time Steele has spoken out against evangelicals. In 2018, he also derided leaders for failing to condemn Trump’s actions when it was revealed he had paid to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels after the two had an extramarital affair.

“Just shut the hell up and don’t preach to me about anything ever again,” Steele said about evangelicals dismissive of Trump’s behavior. He added, “They have no voice of authority anymore for me,” per reporting from Mediaite.

Evangelicals make up a strong proportion of the voting bloc that make up Trump’s base of supporters. In the 2016 presidential election, 77 percent of evangelicals in the U.S. voted for Trump.