Christian nationalist host prays God will “motivate the American people to get out and vote” after Trump tells him “God saved me” because “he wants me to save this country”

Trump and his allies have increasingly embraced prophetic media, including extremist pastors like FlashPoint host Gene Bailey

Trump and Gene Bailey

During a FlashPoint interview that aired September 10, former President Donald Trump suggested to program host Gene Bailey that “God saved me” from an assassination attempt during a presidential campaign rally “because he wants me to save this country for you and for people that think like we do.” Bailey responded later by praying that God would “motivate the American people to get out and vote.” This was at least Trump’s seventh interview on FlashPoint or during the show's affiliated live events between September 2021 and September 2024.

Bailey is a right-wing pastor at Trump ally Kenneth Copeland’s Eagle Mountain Church and is the host of Victory Channel’s FlashPoint, a right-wing program that pledges to provide “commentary on current issues from a conservative and prophetic viewpoint.” Bailey, who has called the separation of church and state “a lie,” described his political agenda for the program at a FlashPoint Live event last year, declaring: “We do have an agenda, and that is I am a Christo-fascist, Christian nationalist.” Other right-wing “prophets” and personalities on the show have pushed extreme rhetoric, including prophesying natural disasters in response to Trump’s criminal indictments, suggesting that Trump is anointed and that God will kill his opponents, and framing political developments in the context of a “demonic spin cycle.” 

During Trump’s most recent interview with FlashPoint, which was recorded on September 6 and seemingly aired for the first time on the September 10 edition of the show, Trump stated, “God saved me, and maybe, and I like to think that he did it because he wants me to save this country for you and for people that think like we do.” 

Bailey then prayed over Trump, calling on God to “motivate the American people to get out and vote in mass like they've never voted before.”

Discussing Trump’s potential second term, Bailey asked about “that nasty Johnson Amendment that I have to deal with,” asking “what’s going to happen with that.” (The Johnson Amendment regulates what tax-exempt organizations like churches can do in the political arena, and “is fairly narrow in scope,” per NPR.)

Trump seemed to falsely claim that he “took … out” the Johnson Amendment in his first term, saying, “We didn't get it through Congress, but I took it out through executive order.” He added: “I want to hear from you and other people I respect. And so do a lot of other people. I’d say more than anybody else, we can listen to our pastors and the people that we want to hear tell us what to do. We can hear from them again, and you will be in great shape.” But as noted by The Washington Post, “The Johnson Amendment is still on the books, despite Trump’s repeated claims to the contrary and his 2016 campaign promises to some evangelical groups that want to see it repealed.”

At the end of the interview Trump praised Bailey, calling him “a terrific guy,” and saying: “I don't say that about many, but stay with him. … He's a fantastic man.”

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Citation

From the September 10, 2024, edition of Victory Channel's FlashPoint 

DONALD TRUMP (GUEST): Had I not turned to my right sharply, but turned exactly to the right at a ninety degree angle, I wouldn't be talking to you today. So God saved me, and maybe, and I like to think that he did it because he wants me to save this country for you and for people that think like we do. And that was a pretty amazing day, but I didn't even realize it myself. I got hit right here in the ear, but had I been turned in even a slightly different direction. And it was about an eighth of a second. I was in that right position for an eighth of a second. 

So that's God. And, maybe that's the reason why. And that would be very nice. I would be very happy with that.

GENE BAILEY (HOST): Can I pray for you real quick? 

TRUMP: Yes, please. I’d love it.

BAILEY: Holy Father, we pray for President Trump. Pray for divine protection. We pray for the spirit of wisdom to come upon him as he navigates these last eight weeks leading into election. 

Father, not only do we pray for protection and wisdom, we pray for favor and that'll motivate the American people to get out and vote in mass like they've never voted before. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, sir.

TRUMP: And he's a terrific guy. This is a really great one. I don't say that about many, but stay with him. Stay with him. He's a fantastic man.

Trump’s interview with FlashPoint and praise for its host continue a pattern of Trump and his allies embracing prophetic media, especially since he lost the 2020 election. Trump, his sons, daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair Lara Trump, and close advisers including Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and Alina Habba have engaged with influential prophetic Christian media, participating in interviews on programs that have asserted that Trump has “the anointing” from God.

On September 10, Trump also participated in a pre-debate prayer call with Paula White-Cain, a right-wing prosperity gospel televangelist and Trump spiritual advisor who is closely associated with the prophetic movement. As highlighted by Right Wing Watch, during the call, White “asked God to bind any ‘demonic trap’ or ‘demonic assignment’ against Trump” during the debate, and Trump vowed that if he wins, he will create a task force to fight supposed anti-Christian bias and will “bring our country back together as one nation under God.”