"Constantine was the emperor of Rome in the early fourth-century ... was certainly a deeply flawed man. Yet whatever his faults, runs the argument, he enabled the rise of the church." ---

Christianity rests heavily on the notion of redemption. We’re all sinners, as it were, but we can all be saved. Which might be the get-out-of-jail-free card for President Donald Trump among conservative Christian voters.

The so-called ‘religious right’ supported Trump in enormous numbers in 2016, even after it was revealed that he was horribly profane, and also abused his celebrity status to make unwanted sexual advances toward women. Now, following two agonizing television interviews with women who claimed to have had adulterous affairs with him, they continue to think the man a wonderful President.

In Canada, we see this to a lesser extent with the conservative Christian adoration of PC leader Doug Ford. He may not be an alleged adulterer, but his life and career are drenched in accusations of drug dealing, and the making of misleading statements and comments. His daughter Kritsa’s participation in Lingerie Football may be irrelevant to most of us, but from other politicians such a family connection would have sent shudders through the Christian right.

So, why the consistent allegiance to such men from the usually puritanical? It won’t do to merely dismiss tens of millions of people as being stupid or uninformed. Some of them might be, some simply refuse to believe the “mainstream media”, and then there is the “We’re-electing-a-president-not-a-pastor” defence. The latter is a dreadfully hypocritical justification of course, because these are the very first people to condemn personal indiscretions in politicians of whom they disapprove — Bill Clinton being an obvious example.

But others have adopted a specific and extraordinary defence. For them, Trump is the new Emperor Constantine, or the modern equivalent of the ancient King Cyrus. It may seem ludicrous, but these comparisons are now ubiquitous in right-leaning Christian media.

Constantine was the emperor of Rome in the early fourth-century, the first emperor to convert to Christianity, whose official tolerance and support for the faith gave it enormous impetus. We’re not sure when he himself became a Christian, and it could even have been as he was dying, but he was certainly a deeply flawed man. Yet whatever his faults, runs the argument, he enabled the rise of the church.

The vehemently conservative Christian “Lifesite” media platform is a good, and Canadian, example of this approach. It ran a long article arguing the Constantine case, concluding that: “America doesn’t need a president to make arguments for us. America just needs a president to give us the freedom to make our arguments without fear of being shouted down by the politically correct brigade. Whatever else you might say about Trump, he is definitely politically incorrect, and prides himself on that attribute. He refuses to back down after making controversial statements. He does not apologize for offending groups after making arguments. He stands up to the media. He is defiant in spite of being vilified by political elites, journalists, and academics.”

Lifesite also happens to be one of the strongest backers of Tanya Granic Allen, the Tory leadership candidate who became the kingmaker for Doug Ford, and who is now running to become the PC candidate in Mississauga Central. The Christian right may not agree with everything the new Ontario Tory leader does and says, but he has promised to withdraw the province’s sex education curriculum, give anti-abortion protestors closer access to clinics, and allow doctors to refuse referrals for abortion and assisted dying. Those three policies alone make the man a hero to most evangelicals and right-wing Catholics.

The other ancient used to justify support for Donald Trump is – breathtakingly – Persia’s King Cyrus II, who ruled 2,500 years ago. He may have been brutal, but he also allowed the conquered Jewish people to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple.

Israel’s newspaper of record, Haaretz, puts it like this: “Trump was already a hero to a wide swath of evangelicals but the role he’s playing in what many believe is the fulfilment of divine prophecy has gotten him promoted to king for some of them – an ancient Persian king to be precise. For his willingness to confront conventional diplomatic wisdom, shrug off dire warnings of triggering Middle East unrest and declare Jerusalem Israel’s capital, Trump is increasingly being compared by evangelicals to Persia’s Cyrus the Great.”

So there we have it. Whether Donald Trump, or Doug Ford, have even heard of Constantine or Cyrus is open to question. What they do know is that the Christian right is on their side, is well organized and financed, and votes in big numbers. That’s more than enough for any would-be Caesar.