"Revered" Iowa evangelical Bob Vander Plaats (left) has a history of picking winners.

The defection of old-guard Republicans from Donald Trump’s candidacy is now being rivaled by Christian fundamentalists, who are distraught that The Donald largely bypassed them on the way to the GOP nomination. Now they’re desperately making the case that he has one last chance to woo them with his VP pick, reports Katie Glueck.

“Who’s he going to surround himself with? The first indication is going to be vice presidential choice,” said Bob Vander Plaats, who served as Ted Cruz’s national co-chairman and is revered in Iowa evangelical circles. “He’s not part of the Republican conservative family,” added Richard Viguerie, a longtime fixture of conservative politics with close ties to evangelical power brokers. “He needs to prove to us that he’s worthy of our support. It’s not sufficient to say he’s not Hillary. He needs to do more than that.”

Just a guess that Trump doesn’t think he “needs” to do anything. These guys bet the farm on Cruz who got destroyed by Trump. Now they think their political instincts must be entertained and appealed to.

“If Trump is going to be successful against Hillary, he’s going to need the Tony Perkinses of the world, the Dr. [James] Dobsons, the Bob Vander Plaatses engaging and encouraging their networks,” Vander Plaats said. “Right now, I don’t see a lot of that. I see a lot of people with huge cause for concern. We really don’t know what we’re going to get with Donald Trump.”

LOL. “He needs me,” says me. Oh, man, these guys are killin’ me over here.

In reality, Trump won large swaths of evangelical-identified voters even though Cruz outperformed him among regular church goers. Sure, if the fundies stay home, it could hurt Trump. But they represent a smaller portion of the white evangelicals who routinely make up about 25 percent of the electorate and favor Republican candidates. Trump’s facing defections on all sides of the GOP coalition and it’s unclear why he would think hyper conservative Christians hold the keys to his presidency. Unless you ask Tony Perkins, James Dobson, and Bob Vander Plaats.