# Trump Evangelical Advisory Board The informal council of evangelical and Prosperity Gospel leaders assembled by [[Donald Trump]] during his 2016 campaign and maintained through his presidency — the formal mechanism through which megachurch pastors gained direct access to presidential power, and through which Trump gained the ability to mobilize tens of millions of evangelical voters through their Sunday morning sermons. ## Structure and Members The advisory board was never a formal governmental body but rather an informal network of evangelical leaders who received access to Trump in exchange for public support and voter mobilization. The board was heavily weighted toward Prosperity Gospel and charismatic leaders rather than traditional evangelical theologians — a reflection of the fact that Trump's relationship with evangelicalism was transactional, not theological. **Key Members** included: [[Paula White]] (the board's most prominent member and de facto leader, who became head of the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative), [[Kenneth Copeland]], [[Robert Morris]], [[Jerry Falwell]] Jr. (Liberty University, resigned 2020 over sexual scandals), [[Robert Jeffress]] (First Baptist Dallas), [[Ralph Reed]] (Faith & Freedom Coalition), [[James Dobson]] ([[Focus on the Family]]), [[Franklin Graham]] (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association), and dozens of other pastors, megachurch leaders, and evangelical political operatives. The Prosperity Gospel contingent was notably overrepresented relative to their position in broader evangelical theology — a function of the fact that Prosperity Gospel leaders were the most comfortable with Trump's transactional, non-doctrinal approach to faith. ## Function: The Mutual Legitimation Machine The advisory board served complementary functions for both parties: **For Trump**: The board provided evangelical legitimacy for a candidate and president whose personal life (multiple divorces, affairs, casino business, vulgar language) violated every traditional evangelical moral standard. The board members' public support signaled to evangelical voters that Trump was acceptable — that God could use imperfect vessels (see [[Flawed Vessel]]). The board also functioned as a voter mobilization network: when board members endorsed Trump from the pulpit or on Christian media, they activated millions of voters. **For Board Members**: Access to presidential power validated pastors' spiritual authority. Being photographed in the Oval Office, participating in White House prayer events, and advising the president elevated megachurch pastors from religious figures to political players. This access could be leveraged in their ministries: "I was just in the White House" is a powerful credibility claim from a Sunday morning pulpit. ## Policy Output The board's influence was concrete in several policy areas: **Judicial Appointments**: Evangelical voter mobilization (activated through the advisory board network) was a critical factor in Trump's election and therefore in the appointment of three Supreme Court justices — leading to the [[Dobbs decision]] overturning [[Roe v. Wade]]. The advisory board did not pick the justices, but it mobilized the voters who elected the president who appointed them. **[[Johnson Amendment]]**: Trump signed an executive order directing the IRS not to enforce the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits tax-exempt organizations from endorsing political candidates. This was a top priority for the evangelical advisory board, as it would allow pastors to make explicit partisan endorsements from the pulpit without jeopardizing tax-exempt status. **[[Religious Liberty]]**: Multiple executive orders expanding religious exemptions to anti-discrimination requirements, conscience protections for religious healthcare workers, and other measures sought by the evangelical political agenda. **Israel**: The embassy move to Jerusalem (December 2017) was partly influenced by evangelical dispensationalist theology regarding Israel, and advisory board members publicly celebrated the decision. ## Analytical Framework The Trump Evangelical Advisory Board is the **institutional mechanism** of the evangelical-Republican bargain. Previous Republican-evangelical alliances ([[Moral Majority]], [[Christian Coalition]]) were mediated by political organizations. Trump's innovation was disintermediating the political organizations and creating a direct conduit between the Oval Office and individual pastors. The board's Prosperity Gospel weighting is analytically important: traditional evangelical leaders (who demand moral consistency) were replaced by Prosperity Gospel leaders (who demand material results). This substitution made the evangelical coalition more durable because it eliminated the mechanism by which moral failure could collapse evangelical support — under Prosperity Gospel logic, Trump's wealth and power are evidence of divine favor regardless of his personal conduct. The board also represents the **nationalization of megachurch political power**. Individual megachurch pastors had always had local political influence. The advisory board aggregated that influence into a national network, coordinating messaging across hundreds of churches and millions of congregants simultaneously.