Donald Trump is hitting back twice as hard as Democrats — led by the White House — attack him for not rebuking a town-hall questioner who declared that President Barack Obama is a Muslim.

“The bigger issue is that Obama is waging a war against Christians in this country,” Trump tells The New York Times.

But he also said that Americans liked the fact that he did not react to things like voter anger and debate questions with the ordinary language of politicians.

The Washington Post got the same message.

In an interview late Thursday with The Washington Post, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said, “Mr. Trump was asked about training camps. Mr. Trump answered the question and said, ‘If there are any, we will fix it.’ He said, ‘I will look into it.’ The question was specifically about training camps.” “The media wants to make this issue about Obama. The bigger issue is that Obama is waging a war against Christians in this country. They need support and their religious liberty is at stake,” he added.

It’s a smart move. Trump needs to win support from social-conservative Evangelicals, who are now flocking to nice-guy Dr. Ben Carson. If Trump shows that he’ll fight for Christians — and not just Israel — under attack by jihadis in the Middle East, then Evangelicals can assume he’ll fight for Americans Christians beset by domestic progressives.