‘We’ve all broken the Ten Commandments’: Evangelicals on why they’re still backing Trump

Wearing cowboy hats bejewelled with “Free Trump” broaches and waving American flags, evangelical Christians promised to vote for Donald Trump at a key gathering on Saturday, saying that while he is not perfect “he’ll do the right thing for America”.

Trump was the keynote speaker at the Faith & Freedom Coalition in Washington DC, a gathering of politically influential conservative Christian activists who advocate for strict abortion restrictions and a tougher stance on the southern border.

There he called on his religious supporters to go to the polls in a speech which notably quickly glossed over abortion, which has become a sensitive issue for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Trump joined a slew of speakers including Republican senators, governors and congressmen and women, among them newly-appointed Republican Committee Chair Michael Whatley.

On stage he drew cheers from the crowds as he applauded a divisive law signed in Louisiana this week requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.

“Has anyone read the ‘Thou shalt not steal’? I mean, has anybody read this incredible stuff? It’s just incredible,” Trump said to a room which erupted into ecstatic applause. “They don’t want it to go up. It’s a crazy world.”

The day before the presumptive Republican presidential nominee had posted his enthusiastic praise for the new law on his social media network, writing in capitals: “I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER.”

In the audience attendees acknowledged that he has been criticised for breaking commandments, including accusations of adultery with Stormy Daniels and others, and his felony convictions in New York.