BRANSON MO NEWS: Today I am pleased to welcome John Wigger to The Anxious Bench. John is Professor and Department Chair of History at the University of Missouri and a former president of the Conference on Faith and History. An American religious and cultural historian, John’s new book PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s Evangelical Empire is forthcoming with Oxford UP.1980s televangelist Jim Bakker is back in the news for his support of Donald Trump. Bakker claims that his backing was key to Trump’s election and in August televangelist Paula White, who has appeared next to Trump at the White House, is scheduled to appear on Bakker’s new television show. But Bakker’s political turn is relatively recent. In the days leading up to the 1980 presidential election, when Bakker was in the process of becoming a television star, he flew on Air Force One with President Carter, visited the White House, and taped an interview with Ronald Reagan, but declined to endorse either candidate. Even now, Bakker’s lack of political grounding is abundantly obvious.Bakker’s connection with Trump has less to do with politics than with both men’s ability …
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