Trump’s 2 Chronicles Reading and the Politics of Christian Nationalism

Brad Onishi discusses an 84-hour marathon Bible reading at the Museum of the Bible tied to U.S. 250th anniversary celebrations, noting that Donald Trump read from the White House rather than attending. He argues it is dangerous that Trump—whom he calls immoral and unfamiliar with scripture—was assigned 2 Chronicles 7:11–22, a passage long used by evangelicals to frame national crisis as divine punishment and to demand repentance, citing examples from Jerry Falwell after 9/11 and a 2 Chronicles prayer at January 6. Onishi walks through the verses to show how they can cast a national leader as a king with a divinely established “royal throne,” linking this to Christian nationalist power politics and pro-Trump messianic imagery. He critiques the spectacle as violating church-state separation and urges leaders to demonstrate civic virtues rather than publicly dictate scripture.

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