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</div><div>Somewhere in his journey to power in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had a radical religious conversion.
An atheist when he started in politics in the late 1980s, Orbán now calls himself a defender of Christianity. In an August <a href="https://hungarytoday.hu/orban-christianity-europe-persecuted/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">speech commemorating the 1920 Treaty of Trianon</a> – a traumatic event in which Hungary lost much of its territory – Orbán argued that Western Europe had given up on “a Christian Europe" and was choosing instead to experiment with “a godless cosmos, rainbow families, migration and open societies."As experts in <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-tackle-climate-change-immigration-and-threats-to-democracy-europes-fractious-new-parliament-will-have-to-work-together-117717" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">European politics</a> and the <a href="https://www.politicalresearch.org/2019/05/24/aberration-or-reflection-how-understand-changes-political-right" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">religious right</a>, we argue that Orbán's embrace of religion has served to consolidate his power, “other" his opponents and shield Hungary from EU criticism of its attacks on the rule of law.It is also, we believe, a dangerous model for how religion can be used to fuel democratic backsliding.<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Consolidating power</h2>In 2014, during an address to the nation, Orbán spoke of building “an <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/14/viktor-orbans-far-right-vision-for-europe" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">illiberal state, a non-liberal state," in Hungary</a>. While an illiberal state is an ambiguous concept, Orbán praised it as better able to <a href="https://www.boell.de/en/2014/08/21/announicing-illiberal-state" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">protect Hungary's national interests and preserve its cohesion</a>. Four years later, his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/14/viktor-orban-budapest-hungary-christianity-with-a-twist" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">tone had shifted</a>: Hungary was now a “Christian democracy."Such a shift is emblematic of Orbán's career, with its many <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-viktor-orbans-victory-means-for-hungary-and-the-west/2014/04/07/a4ab440c-bb87-11e3-96ae-f2c36d2b1245_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_9How%20Orban%20changes%20his%20view" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">ideological twists and turns</a>. He has changed his tune on many major issues, from being a firm supporter of European integration to becoming a strong defender of national sovereignty. He has <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2019/10/29/eastern-bromance-hungary-s-orban-and-russia-s-putin-set-to-meet-again" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">befriended Russian President Vladimir Putin</a> <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/vladimir-putin-and-viktor-orbans-special-relationship/a-45512712" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">since his return to power in 2010</a>, despite his past anti-Russian stance.And he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/world/europe/viktor-orban-hungary-ivanyi.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">renounced his past atheism during the 1990s</a> – a decision that went hand in hand with his courting of religious and conservative voters. According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-viktor-orbans-victory-means-for-hungary-and-the-west/2014/04/07/a4ab440c-bb87-11e3-96ae-f2c36d2b1245_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_9How%20Orban%20changes%20his%20views" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">European politics scholar Charles Gati</a>, “no European leader since Napoleon may have changed his spots more."Far from consistently adhering to clear principles, Orbán, <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/04/02/how-hungarys-leader-viktor-orban-gets-away-with-it" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">according to The Economist</a>, over the years has instead been “dedicated to the accumulation and maintenance of power."That ruthlessness grew after Orbán was voted out as prime minister in 2002. Deeply shocked by this turn of events, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-viktor-orban-degraded-hungarys-weak-democracy-109046" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">he vowed not to lose power again </a>if he ever returned to office.During the 2010 election campaign, Orbán <a href="https://balkaninsight.com/2019/06/20/the-generation-that-betrayed-hungarian-democracy/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">declared</a> that “we need to win only once, but need to win big" – an apparent warning that he would use any large electoral victory to strengthen his position, so not to have to relinquish power. Cynically claiming the mantle of Christian Democracy, <a href="https://balkaninsight.com/2020/02/03/false-advertising-christian-democracy-or-illiberal-democracy/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">according to Princeton scholar Jan-Werner Mueller</a>, became a key tool of his strategy in the following decade to consolidate his grip on Hungarian politics.<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Wedge issues at home</h2>Like much of Europe, Hungary is somewhat secular. In the 2011 census, <a href="https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/posts/religion-in-hungary" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">45% of the population</a> did not list any religious affiliation. Hungary's communist regime <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/05/world/hungarian-cardinal-is-reburied-in-homeland-as-red-star-is-extinguished.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">had certainly scorned and discouraged religion</a> for many decades. After the 1989 fall of the Iron Curtain dividing Europe between the communist Eastern bloc and free market West, <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">people did not flock to churches</a>.Nonetheless, when Orbán returned to power in 2010, he began to rely on religion to mobilize voters. For instance, he framed his harsh <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/orban-migrants-threaten-christian-europe-identity-refugees-asylum-crisis/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">anti-immigration policies as a defense of Christianity</a>.As the Syrian civil war reached a crescendo in 2015, hundreds of thousands of migrants fled the violence. Although most migrants to Europe were trying only to transit through Hungary, Orbán declared that Syrian migrants were trying to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/04/hungarys-orban-invokes-ottoman-invasion-to-justify-keeping-refugees-out/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">invade the country and change its culture and religion</a>. Officials of Orbán's party, Fidesz, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/anti-muslim-populism-in-hungary-from-the-margins-to-the-mainstream/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">have echoed these claims over the years</a>, suggesting Muslim refugees are trying to impose their culture and establish a caliphate on the continent.For a country with a history of invasion that stretches from the <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/article/1453/the-mongol-invasion-of-europe/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">sacking of cities by Mongols</a> through the <a href="https://codenames.info/operation/margarethe-i/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Nazi invasion in 1944</a> and <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-put-brutal-end-to-hungarian-revolution" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Soviet occupation</a>, the terminology raised fear and unease.Orbán has also resurrected older anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Jews and leftists to consolidate his Christian credentials, such as sponsoring exhibits <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-anti-semitism-problem-hungary-jews/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">implicitly associating communists with Jews</a>. It has also helped to cement an “us or them" narrative in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2018.1493051" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">which opponents of Orbán are “othered</a>." To do this, Orbán chose billionaire philanthropist George Soros as his major foil.Soros, who is Jewish, was born in Hungary. He went into hiding during the Holocaust and fled the country once communists took control. After the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, Soros <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/viktor-orbans-campaign-against-george-soros-mercenaries/a-44954661" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">donated millions of dollars to Hungary's fledgling civil society</a>.Yet he was easy to demonize for some Hungarians, not only because he was Jewish, but because he had spent most of his adult life outside the country. In the 2019 European Parliament elections, a government tax-funded campaign <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-launches-campaign-targeting-jean-claude-juncker-george-soros/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">attacked Soros and then European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker</a>, accusing them of using migration plans to undermine Hungary's security.The year before, during the 2018 Hungarian elections, Orbán used even <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-speech-hungarys-orban-attacks-enemy-who-speculates-with-money/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">more explicit anti-Semitic undertones to attack Soros</a>: “We are fighting an enemy that is different from us. Not open, but hiding; not straightforward, but crafty; not honest, but base; not national, but international; does not believe in working, but speculates with money."<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Deflecting criticisms, seeking allies</h2>Orbán's use of Christianity also serves wider foreign policy goals.The continued erosion of the rule of law in Hungary, including attacks against the free media and the independence of the judiciary, is a <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2020/05/08/how-the-eu-can-better-protect-the-rule-of-law-in-its-member-states/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">long-standing concern for the European Union</a>.But Orbán has, up to now, <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/how-viktor-orban-broke-the-eu-and-got-away-with-it-hungary-rule-of-law/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">skillfully taken advantage of the EU's divisions and weaknesses</a> to avoid any major consequences for his country's democratic backsliding. He has conveniently used Christianity as a shield to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/14/viktor-orban-budapest-hungary-christianity-with-a-twist" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">deflect and delegitimize the criticisms from Brussels</a>.Orbán also invokes Christianity to court allies, close and far. This has been the case with <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/hungary-general-election-viktor-orban-latest-christianity-nationalism-muslims-migrants-europe-racism-populism-a8293836.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">solidifying the alliance with Hungary's conservative neighbor Poland</a>. Orbán, after all, understands the importance of close friends in the EU. Not only can they help to counter policies he objects to, but major rule of law sanctions in the EU require unanimity. Poland and Hungary can thus <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c888d73b-e6d0-496d-ba7b-37992427afc7" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">provide cover for each other</a>.Finally, Orbán has also made use of Christianity, highlighting Hungary's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/14/viktor-orban-budapest-hungary-christianity-with-a-twist" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">policies to help persecuted Christians</a>, to build ties with key players beyond Europe. It is noteworthy that Orbán was the only EU leader to attend <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/14/viktor-orban-budapest-hungary-christianity-with-a-twist" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the inauguration of the right-wing Jair Bolsonaro</a> in Brazil in 2019. And the Hungarian government has gone out of its way to <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/viktor-orban-among-the-christians/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">court religious conservatives and conservative nationalists in the United States</a>.<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Religious embrace</h2>In many respects, Viktor Orbán's use of religion is no different from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/28/us/religion-politics-evangelicals.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Ronald Reagan's embrace of Christian evangelicals</a> in the late 1970s. Both leaders relied on <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1057/9780230616196_9" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">religious imagery</a> to build bigger voting coalitions.
[ pix RR Orbán is far from the first leader to use religion to increase his base.<a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-ronald-reagan-gestures-as-he-speaks-to-the-news-photo/515564272?adppopup=true" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Bettmann/Getty Images</a>]Every Republican candidate for president since has <a href="https://www.politicalresearch.org/2019/05/24/aberration-or-reflection-how-understand-changes-political-right" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">tried to appeal to evangelicals and invoked Christian values</a>. And even <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-use-of-religion-follows-playbook-of-authoritarian-leaning-leaders-the-world-over-140050" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">ham-handed attempts such as those by President Donald Trump</a> have done little to undermine such unions.Such an embrace of religious groups is not in itself a problem. But calculated uses of religion to attack domestic and foreign opponents, or to weaken democratic checks and balances, is, we believe, a major concern. Orbán's Hungary provides a clear warning of how easily Christianity can be distorted and used to erode democracy.<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/garret-martin-365081" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Garret Martin</a>, Senior Professorial Lecturer, Co-Director Transatlantic Policy Center, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/american-university-school-of-international-service-2886" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">American University School of International Service</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/carolyn-gallaher-712850" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Carolyn Gallaher</a>, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/american-university-school-of-international-service-2886" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">American University School of International Service</a></div></div><div>=</div><div>salon</div><div>
</div><div>yea, verily. The prophecy seemeth nigh unto fulfillment. The one about Donald Trump appointing three Supreme Court justices. No, it's not in the Bible, but it's part of a body of predictions about Trump that have been delivered since 2011 by a collection of charismatic and Pentecostal Christian prophets. With the hearings for Amy Coney Barrett effectively concluded, the residents of evangelical Trumpland are finding joy in her seeming imminent confirmation, which has strengthened Trump's aura of charismatic legitimacy at a time of crisis for his presidency.</div>The prophecy in question was given in October 2015 by evangelical prophet Mark Taylor, who not only predicted that Trump would be elected, but that during his term, he would appoint three justices to the highest court: "The Supreme Court shall lose three, and my President shall pick new ones directly from MY TREE!"Its dubious literary quality notwithstanding, Taylor's seeming bullseye hit has galvanized supporters well outside the narrow apostolic-charismatic niche. Followers of these prophets usually overlook their failed predictions: that Mitt Romney would be elected in 2012, or that Bill and Hillary Clinton would be prosecuted for "rape and prostitution." A hit is worth much more than a miss in this milieu. These believers, as pointed out by religion scholar James A. Beverley in his 2020 book "<a href="https://bookshop.org/a/2464/9781988928302" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">God's Man in the White House</a>," do not expect infallibility. But they are currently basking in an aura of seeming divine favor.As those who have been following the so-called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trump_Prophecy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Trump prophecies</a> are aware, Taylor was not the only one who anticipated his rise. In 2007, when Trump was nothing more than a reality TV show host, Kim Clement declared that "Trump shall become a trumpet" for God's voice. By 2016, these prophecies formed one of the founding verities of the evangelical revival that swept Trump into office, a movement that includes the president's pastor, Paula White Cain, and appeals to a larger swath of alienated America.Like many, I struggled at first to understand Trump's appeal. As an academic who studies charisma as well as a person who grew up in a religious group that was often labeled a cult (Prophet is my given surname), I have often thought about what might explain the unwavering loyalty of his followers, even in the face of his failure to deliver on most of his populist promises, such as bringing back their jobs. Some explain such devotion with the pseudoscientific "brainwashing without bars" narrative, which relies on the popular cult construct. But these are blunt-force tools that obscure more than they reveal.The study of charisma, on the contrary, offers insight into his continuing popularity as well as to its potential end. Trump's appeal eventually came into focus for me when I realized that he had fashioned himself as the savior he knew such people were seeking by capitalizing on the charismatic potential of white Christian nationalism, which overlaps with evangelicalism. Although Trump and his inner circle view the prophets with some suspicion, there are clear resonances between the prophets and Trump's public image. His MAGA slogan ("Make America Great Again") echoes Taylor's 2011 prediction that God would use Trump "to bring honor, respect, and restoration to America."Other prophets predicted that Trump would stand up to banking elites, and in 2015 Clement declared that the president elected in 2016 would be a "strong figure" who would "clean up the mess" in government. Like a canny charismatic leader, Trump sotto voce embraced the authority of these predictions, for example, by promising to "drain the swamp." The prophets have continued to support Trump through his presidency, even going so far as to predict a second term. They excuse his failings by portraying him as a morally weak and imperfect tool that is yet being used by God.But charismatic authority is inherently unstable, and unforeseen events may expose a leader's weaknesses. The power of charisma ends when the leader's failures become so apparent that followers have no choice but to withdraw their identification. The events of spring 2020, including the pandemic, natural disasters and economic crisis, have whittled down his support, although the base remains energized. The mysterious "Q" at the heart of QAnon is using elements of the prophecies to shore up the president's charismatic authority.Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court would certainly strengthen the base's convictions. Over on Elijahlist.com, a website that amalgamates contemporary prophecies, <a href="https://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=20415" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Steve and Derene Shultz</a> are trumpeting the June 2018 prediction by prophet Charlie Shamp that <a href="https://www.facebook.com/charlie.shamp/videos/10209091912373942/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">a female justice would be appointed</a>, a new "Deborah," a warlike biblical prophetess. Could this prophecy have had anything to do with Trump's vow to appoint a woman after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death?Whether Barrett is confirmed or not, how might the prophecies influence the endgame of the Trump presidency? Charismatic leaders who feel threatened, especially with loss of authority and even their freedom, may attempt to prolong their power by further inflaming tensions, including inciting violence. Although the contemporary prophets themselves advocate prayer rather than violence, the white nationalists threatening to challenge election results may ignore them.The history of prophetic movements tells us that if Trump fails to secure a second term, a variety of reactions are possible. Some will blame him and begin to withdraw their identification. Others will fight the cognitive dissonance and blame dark powers. The prophets will develop a new timeline for the restoration. Some Christian nationalists may for a time refuse to "stand down," but eventually they will develop other perspectives. There is no one-size-fits-all method of de-conversion from a religious or ideological position. The best way to limit post-election violence would be to give his supporters a face-saving way to back down from their prophecy-inflated reality. It may not work all at once, but it's the first step in beginning to heal the schisms upon which Trump has so cannily capitalized.<div>==</div>