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Rev. Graham's Tour Evokes Evangelical Support for Trump

Associated Press

   GREENVILLE, N.C. - Rev. Franklin Graham did not utter the word
   "impeachment" as he spoke to thousands of Christians here this week,
   the latest stop on a long-running tour he has dubbed Decision America
   -- a title with political and religious undertones.

   But evangelicals who turned out to see Graham didn't necessarily need
   his warning that "our country is in trouble" in order to tap into their
   deep-rooted support for President Donald Trump during an intensifying
   political crisis hundreds of miles north in Washington.

   "I do feel like we are, as Christians, the first line of defense for
   the president," Christina Jones, 44, said before Graham took the stage.
   Trump is "supporting our Christian principles and trying to do his
   best," she added, even as "everybody's against him."

   The impeachment furor is the latest test of Trump's seemingly
   unbreakable bond with conservative evangelical Christians. Trump
   suggested this week that the peril of impeachment would only cement his
   ties to that voting bloc, which helped propel him into office, and
   supporters who have stood by him through accusations of sexual assault
   and infidelity see no reason to back away from a president they view as
   unfairly beleaguered.

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