Mandate from God' Trump's Victory fuels the ascendant Christian far right

At a Republican watch party early on Tuesday evening in the Milwaukee suburbs, Dimitra Anderson, a 64-year-old belly-dancer, clutched her boa constrictor—a pet that travels with her everywhere—and issued a confident proclamation: "I'm ecstatic because I believe he's going to win in a tidal wave."

- Alice Herman Milwaukee

The night was young, no swing states had been called yet, but Anderson, who describes herself as a born-again believer, had been following the preaching of the self-styled prophets of the Christian right. They were saying Trump would win. And they were right.

After a narrow electoral defeat in 2020 and two assassination attempts in 2024, Trump emerged victorious—an event Christian nationalists are celebrating as a critical win for their movement.

Now that Trump has secured his victory, figures on the Christian far right whose prominence grew during his 2016 presidency will enjoy larger followings and, most importantly, close proximity to the highest office in the U.S. Among these figures are leaders in the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement that rejects secularism and embraces "Christian dominionism," the idea that Christians are tasked by God to rule over society and government.