So, this thread by @/ztsamudzi got me all excited because I very rarely get to talk about what I actually have training in other than to stay alive as a disabled person.

So, let’s talk about conservatives’ attachment to the evangelical church with the lens of why 45 chose https://twitter.com/ztsamudzi/status/1307779328554532865

To run as a Republican rather than a Democrat or independent: Branding.

After the passage of the civil rights act, the Republican Party could no longer rely on racial division as the party’s brand strategy so they made the decision to court evangelicals who were mostly

Not ardent voters.

When We consider this as a calculated brand strategy, things very quickly become clear.

To explain exactly how this is achieved, I made a tiktok (yes, I know) about something in place branding known as the “Bilbao Effect.” https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/life/entertainment/story/2019/aug/16/religious-questions-gop-god-vote/501400/

Very simply put, it is influencer branding for institutions and places. Brands rely upon an existing set of beliefs regarding physical signifiers and can utilize certain symbols to bring consumers into their brand world.

It’s the exact reason when you see a Starbucks or a whole

Foods move into a certain area, you not only think things will gentrify, it’s almost certain they will because the physical presence of the institution signals to both residents and gentrifiers a shift in culture and value.

Attaching to an existing, centuries old brand with a

Set of rules, beliefs and assumptions like the evangelical church provided the GOP with an immense amount of both external and internal branding.

It married political beliefs with religious ones so that if people outside (or even inside) the faith questioned them

It was likened to questioning a belief system, not a policy. It also helps that there’s a perpetual martyrdom narrative amongst western Christians that tells believers that they are constantly tested by a secular world. Despite the fact that even as the number of Christians

In the United States has been steadily declining, they still make up a majority of the country at 65% (as of 2019). https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/

The last thing I’ll touch on here is that under even the slightest of scrutiny, many conservative viewpoints as expressed by the GOP crumble. People are perplexed by the fact that they don’t seem to reflect actual Christian beliefs.

This is why they rely upon slogans as

That don’t really mean much and are more about branding what they are not moreso than what they stand for.

“ProLife,” “All Lives Matter,” and even “freedom” shouldn’t be considered actual beliefs but the branding of their opposition to what they consider secular depravity.

So if you’re still perplexed why the GOPs relationship to the church, it’s really all just branding. It’s why Tru*p chose the GOP, because he cares about nothing more than his brand...

*in the second tweet of this thread, it should say that they couldn’t *openly* rely on racial division. But as we can see *gestures at everything*