The author, Tim Alberta, prepares for an interview promoting his 2019 book American Carnage. He expects the interview to cover the issue most urgent and confusing to evangelist Christians: why 81% of them had voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Many have also changed their perspective of Trump from an unfortunate compromise to an actual savior. He reflects that, as a Christian and the son of an evangelical megachurch pastor, he has a unique insight into the potential reasons. Many Christians in his community and across the nation had been “seduced by the cult of Trumpism” (2). After the interview, he wonders if his pastor father would watch it. He checks his phone and finds out that his father has died from a heart attack.

Pastor Alberta originally had a bumpy journey towards finding God. A professed atheist and wealthy financier in New York, he quickly became “unrecognizable” to his friends after a religious experience. He studied the Bible and spent hours at prayer. After another religious experience in which he “physically felt the spirit of the Lord swirling around him, filling up the room” (5), he set up Cornerstone Church in Brighton, Michigan.