Michele Bachmann Thinks Trump's Campaign Is Divine

Michele Bachmann has a message from the divine: God made Donald Trump the Republican presidential nominee. The former Republican representative recently told CBN News that it was God — not voters or a strange mix of celebrity and political recklessness — that allowed Trump to be "lifted up" and become the GOP nominee. Were it true (let's placate the notion here for a minute), this divine turn of events would be strange, to say the least, if only because Trump frequently seemed at odds with Christianity before he had to court its most devout followers. Bustle reached out to the Trump campaign about his intentions with these voters, and they declined to comment.

Even though Bachmann previously supported Ted Cruz for president, that evidently wasn't in God's plan. Trump, however, was. Bachmann now insists that "at the end of the day, God raised up, I believe, Donald Trump, who was going to be the nominee in this election. I don’t think God sits things out. He’s a sovereign God. Donald Trump became our nominee."

Of the original 17 Republican candidates, it's clear that Bachmann now thinks Trump is the only one capable of winning the general election. "Maybe I’m wrong, I don’t know," she said. "But I do know that the Bible is true and that Daniel teaches the most high God, which is one of God’s names, is the one who lifts up who he will and takes down who He will."

And for what it's worth, Trump has certainly cashed in on this vote, relying heavily on evangelical donors to bankroll his campaign. But one of the major issues with Bachmann's divine interpretation is this: Trump has seemed to have particular difficulty keeping up appearances with the Christian faith throughout the election. But now, he's presumably taken an extreme interest with the religious right because they've turned out to be some of his biggest supporters.

Trump calls himself a Christian, and in a perfect election, one's religious affiliation wouldn't matter. But his trouble maintaining that affiliation has spanned throughout the election. He's misquoted Bible verses while speaking to a Christian college. He had a public feud with the Pope. When asked at a Christian conservative event early in the election if he had ever asked God for forgiveness, Trump said that he hadn't: "I don't bring God into that picture. I don't."

But his messaging has nevertheless struck positively with evangelical voters. According to Newsmax, the Trump campaign was estimating being able to bring in $400,000 from evangelicals. So all things considered, Trump placing his bets on God — even if it isn't the other way around, like Bachmann claims — certainly hasn't hurt the candidate.