It will be difficult for Religious Right leaders to position themselves as the principled guardians of “family values” after tying their political fortunes so closely with those of Donald Trump.

They have given their blessing to a candidate who regularly berates and demeans women, people with disabilities, and racial and religious minorities, who in the past has mocked Jesus and boasted that he never seeks forgiveness, and who seems to completely lack any sense of decency, humility or morality.

Even after a tape revealed that Trump once bragged about sexually assaulting women, Religious Right leaders stood by him. The only prominent defector eventually re-endorsed the candidate. Some have gone so far as to refer to Trump as God’s anointed candidate, and at least one prominent pastor has actually hailed him for ignoring Jesus’ teachings.

The modern Religious Right movement actually started as a reaction to integration.

It’s almost as if there is nothing Trump can do that would shock his defenders in the Religious Right movement, who are counting on a President Trump to appoint hard-right Supreme Court justices and sign conservative legislation.

They even seem ready to forfeit years of work attempting to paint the anti-abortion cause as a feminist initiative and to use social issues such as marriage to attract African American and Latino voters. Trump has fallen far behind Hillary Clinton among women and nonwhite voters, including nonwhite evangelicals.

But getting in bed with Trump wasn’t as big of a jump for the Religious Right as some might think.

The GOP presidential nominee’s appeals to racial resentments and immersion in the world of far-right conspiracy theories line up quite nicely with the Religious Right’s worldview.

While the movement has told its supporters that it started as a response to abortion rights and the separation of church and state, the modern Religious Right movement actually started as a reaction to integration.