Donald Trump is scheduled to attend a routine Sunday church service for the first time in his presidency today, as his official schedule lists him the International Church of Las Vegas, a non-denominational mega-church in a state Trump is clawing to win in November’s election.
Trump will spend one hour at the church before heading to McCarran Airport to fly to private fundraiser in Santa Ana, California. He’ll fly back to Nevada tonight for a campaign rally in Reno.
While Trump has gone to churches for funerals during his presidency, he has only officially stopped in at a Sunday service once before, in June 2019 for “Pray for Donald Trump Day” at Northern Virginia’s McLean Bible Church. Trump arrived after playing a round of golf, still clad in his golf spikes. He stayed for 15 minutes so that the congregation could pray to for him, and then he left.
Trump has infamously appeared in front of a church: St. John’s in Washington, DC, after the church property was cleared of peaceful protestors by federal agents using teargas. He also appeared at a service on the Holy Day of Easter 2020, when he claimed “churches would be packed” even as the coronavirus pandemic was sweeping the nation.
Trump’s appearance at a christian church comes after Nebraska republican Senator Ben Sasse lambasted Trump in a conference call with constituents earlier this week.
“The United States now regularly sells out our allies under his leadership. The way he treats women and spends like a drunken sailor. The ways I criticized President (Barack) Obama for that kind of spending I’ve criticized President Trump for as well. He mocks evangelicals behind closed doors. His family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity. He’s flirted with White supremacists,” Sasse said.