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Pastor Mark Burns, a longtime spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, wants to make something very clear: The massive golden statue of the president unveiled last week at Trump\u2019s golf resort in Doral, Florida, is not<\/em> a golden calf.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not even a gold statue,\u201d Burns explained when reached by phone. \u201cIt\u2019s a bronze statue that has gold leaf.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t tell Trump that. \u201cThe Real Deal – GOLD – At Doral in Miami,\u201d Trump boasted of the statue in a post on Truth Social. But Burns is right. Don Colossus,<\/em> capturing a slimmed-down version of Trump raising his fist in the air, was cast in bronze and then painted\u2014a cheaper option than crafting the entire sculpture from gold.<\/p>\n What do the Titleist-clad worshippers of the green\u2014who pay a hefty tithe to wander Trump\u2019s links\u2014think about this gilded idolatry on the golf course? The answer: not much. \u201cI don\u2019t even notice it, to be honest,\u201d one Doral regular told me. \u201cNobody really talks about it. We just play golf.\u201d<\/p>\n But the idol arrives at a difficult moment for Trump\u2019s relationship with his most religious, most devoted supporters.<\/p>\n In the 2024 election, Trump nabbed a commanding 80% of the white-evangelical vote. The group was instrumental in sending him back to the White House, from the early days of the Republican primary to the general. \u201cThey make up, depending on the estimate, upwards of nearly half of primary voters,\u201d CNN data guru Harry Enten told me. \u201cThey helped keep [Ron] DeSantis at bay in 2024 in Iowa, which pretty much cut off any chance of a real challenge to Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n New polling has shown serious cracks in Trump\u2019s second term, however: Marist found his disapproval rating among white evangelicals has jumped nine points since December, and an April Fox News poll<\/a> showed a similarly steep decline in support since the 2024 election.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a massive drop-off,\u201d Enten said.<\/p>\n There are several factors behind this swing in public opinion. In recent weeks, Trump has picked a fight with Pope Leo XIV, praised Allah in a profane Easter Sunday missive, threatened to destroy an entire civilization, and\u2014perhaps most scandalously for the devout\u2014posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus. A Washington Post<\/em> poll<\/a> found that 80% of 2024 Trump voters disapproved of that post, which Trump eventually deleted.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the war in Iran, whose first day saw the bombing of a girls elementary school that killed more than 180 people, mostly children. In January, a Pew poll<\/a> found that the share of white evangelicals who are \u201cvery confident\u201d Trump acts ethically in office had plunged from 55% at the start of his term to 40%. More than two months later, the war shows few signs of ending, even as gas prices steadily climb.<\/p>\n \u201cI think probably the Iran war has somewhat distorted views of President Trump\u2019s support,\u201d said Pastor Robert Jeffress, a longtime Trump supporter who meets with the president regularly. \u201cNobody likes higher gasoline prices and problems in the economy.\u201d Jeffress, a right-wing firebrand and Fox News contributor, preaches at the First Baptist Church in Dallas. The megachurch, which finished a $130 million renovation in 2013 and now occupies six city blocks, currently boasts 16,000 members. Three million viewers tune in to watch every Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n