CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 6preaching a sermon titled “Why Gay Is
Not Okay” (which resulted in a protest
outside his church) or having two hun-
dred or so members of his choir and or-
chestra perform a rendition of a hymn
called “Make America Great Again” at
a concert in Washington, D.C. (which
resulted in not one but two approving
tweets from President Trump).
He is also known, of course, as one
of the president’s most avid and out-
spoken advocates. While other evan-
gelical leaders were slow to get behind
Trump—James Dobson, for example,
wondered about Trump’s religiosity—
Jeff ress campaigned with him before
the 2016 primaries even started, be-
fore Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush and Mar-
co Rubio fl amed out. If some evangel-
icals who now back Trump fret that
they’ve entered a Faustian bargain, for
Jeff ress it’s a wholehearted embrace.
It’s become one of the most fascinat-
ing symbiotic relationships in modern
politics: the pastor gets a national plat-
form for his message and a leader who
appoints conservative judges who will
in turn restrict access to abortion; the
president gets the support of evangel-
ical voters he needs to win reelection,
along with an energetic and eff ective
promoter who can explain or excuse all
manner of polarizing behavior.
When the Access Hollywood tape
leaked before the election and Amer-
ica heard Trump brag about grabbing
women, Jeff ress went on Fox News to
say that the candidate’s words were
“crude, offensive, and indefensible,
but they’re not enough to make me
vote for Hillary Clinton.”
After the president said there were
“some very fi ne people on both sides”
of the deadly clash between white na-
tionalists and counterprotesters in
Charlottesville, Virginia, Jeff ress ap-
peared on the
FROM TOP: Robert Jeff ress being interviewed
for a TV segment in Dallas on May 20, 2011;
Donald Trump greeting Jeff ress at the Celebrate
Freedom Rally in Washington, D.C., on July 1,
2017; Jeff ress preaching at First Baptist Dallas
on April 1, 2018.TEXAS MONTHLY 73