Faith Leaders React to Trump Victory: Mainstream Media Plot 'Backfired'

WASHINGTON—Conservative-leaning Christian leaders are gathering to share their reactions to the Trump triumph, depending on their particular ministry or work.   

Ralph Reed set a goal for his Faith and Freedom Coalition to convince a record number of Christians to go the polls on election day, and is amazed at the result this year.
 
"To have Donald Trump get 81 percent of the evangelical vote, which is higher than Ronald Reagan got, it's higher than George W. Bush got; and to have Hillary Clinton get a lower share of that vote than Michael Dukakis got is pretty extraordinary," Reed told CBN News.
 
Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center points to the role the mainstream media played in the November 8th results.  He regularly criticizes the liberal agenda of networks and newspapers and believes that's the major reason they have lost the public trust.
 
"Advancing Hillary Clinton, but more importantly, trying to destroy Donald Trump," Bozell spoke of the mainstream news outlets.  "And then with Wikileaks we learned that they were actually working with the (Clinton) campaign, which we assumed all along, but the evidence came out. So the public saw this. The public saw that they, too, were considered a Basket of Deplorables in the eyes of the national media.  And it backfired on them (the media)."
 
Marjorie Dannenfelser led the Trump campaign's effort to capture a huge majority of the pro-life vote and now sees a mandate for the anti-abortion agenda.
 
"That means we've got smooth sailing to defund Planned Parenthood and to get a majority vote again on the Pain-Capable Act, that 20-week limit," said Dannenfelser, head of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List.  

"It means that pro-life Supreme Court justices will be nominated.  Those are the commitments.  And we'll put the Hyde Amendment, the No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion law, permanently into law so we don't have to vote on it over and over and over again," Dannesfelser also said.

In a campaign where the left talked about a war on women, many women felt attacked if they didn't publicly back Hillary Clinton.   While Penny Nance, head of Concerned Women for America, would like to eventually see a woman president, she's clear about what the priority should be. 
 
"As the leader of Concerned Women for America, we are more than happy to wait for a female president who represents our values," Nance said.  "Concerned Women for America members are jubilant.  We're so thrilled to come out and support a candidate who agrees with us on the Supreme Court, the fact that we're going to have about 500 lower court judges now who are going to be pro-life."

"With a vacancy on the Supreme Court, on a Court that was evenly divided between four liberals and four conservatives, it wasn't just Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton who were on the ballot," Reed explained.  "It was the entire branch of the federal judiciary and all the many issues that branch touches."
 
Reverend Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition determined that the morning after the election he'd go to the White House and pray for whoever won the presidency.   
 
"We need to put this division behind us.  And the greatest way to do that is to begin in prayer," Mahoney told CBN News outside the White House gates.  "How can we hate someone, be angry at someone, bitter at someone, when we're praying for them?  When we're seeking God?"

So where does the nation go from here?
 
Dannenfelser expects major advances in the fight against abortion explaining, "This candidate, Donald Trump, and Mike Pence of course, has promised the pro-life movement more than any other candidate in presidential history."
 
"We know that the country was much more conservative on social issues than the people who have been leading us," Nance said.  "And now we're able to put the numbers to that and we're able to move forward and protect our nation, protect our children, protect the least of these: the unborn," she said.

"It's a great day for life," added Dannenfelser.  "And everyone who has worked on this for all these years, so smart and so strong, ought to take just a little moment to celebrate and thank God."

Mahoney is praying for unity and said, "We can all agree we want to see our nation strong.  We want to see our nation united. We want to reach out in justice to the poor and needy. We want to stand for basic values that unite all Americans."