White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is serving as an unofficial liaison between the Trump administration and conservative Evangelical Christian groups, according to a report by The Daily Beast.
Meadows comes from a more traditional conservative background than his libertarian predecessor, Mick Mulvaney, despite the heavy ideological overlap between the two fiscal hawks.
One of Meadows’ strengths is his strong rapport with groups on the Christian right, specifically the Family Research Council (FRC) and the Council for National Policy (CNP)
The Beast suggests Meadows’ close relationship with the FRC’s Tony Perkins will help President Trump maintain the support of the powerful Evangelical voting bloc for the November presidential election. According to the Beast, Perkins played a critical role in Meadows’ decision to enter federal politics by running for Congress in 2012.
“Tony, I think the Lord’s calling me to run for Congress,” Meadows is said to have told Perkins in 2012.
Despite past speculation that Trump would distance himself from Evangelicals, who largely supported former rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Trump’s administration has embraced many of the Christian right’s policy priorities. The most popular among Evangelicals include the Mexico City policy, which blocks federal funding to NGOs involved in abortion worldwide, and the decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to the holy city of Jerusalem.
