Trump Praises Religious Leaders for Achieving the “Abolition of Civil Rights”

During his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning, Donald Trump flubbed a line and said that religious groups were responsible for the “abolition of civil rights.”

He’s not entirely wrong, though. While there were undoubtedly Christians fighting for civil rights throughout history, it’s faith-based groups that now serve as the largest obstacles to LGBTQ rights, gender equality, and (actual) religious freedom). It’s conservative Christians — the ones who surround Trump — who falsely claim being transgender is a mental disorder and that same-sex marriages don’t “count.” They’re the ones who opposed (and still oppose) the Equal Rights Amendment. They’re the ones who always say they’re for religious freedom until non-Christians ask for the same rights and privileges they have. Just in the past month, the Trump administration gave a Christian-run government-funded foster agency permission to discriminate against non-Christian and same-sex couples.

So I guess what I’m saying is that Trump didn’t screw up.

He combined two phrases that gave far too much credit to religious groups and turned them into one that accurately describes the Christians who make up the bulk of his base.