Trump Courts Christian Voters, Days After Vulgar Remarks at a Rally

In a nearly hourlong speech before a crowd that included evangelical leaders, he claimed that only he could protect Christian voters. He did not mention abortion once.

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Former President Donald J. Trump participated in an event billed as an 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting in Concord, N.C., on Monday.

Former President Donald J. Trump on Monday used the language of persecution to make a sweeping claim that only he could protect Christian voters, darkly warning religious communities that they would come under legal, cultural, political and global assault if he lost in November.

Mr. Trump, a former tabloid fixture who was once caught on tape boasting of grabbing women by their genitals, spoke of himself at the 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting in Concord, N.C., as not just a champion of Christian causes and values but as a member of the faithful.

Two days after he made a crude remark at a rally about a famous golfer’s penis size and used profanity to insult Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr. Trump spoke on Monday of the importance of religion in his life, recalling going to church as a child and framing his survival of an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., as an act of divine intervention.

But even as he courted Christian voters by arguing he was one of them, Mr. Trump shied away from directly mentioning an issue that had previously energized evangelicals behind him but now poses a political liability: his role in overturning Roe v. Wade.

Mr. Trump did cite his appointments of three conservative Supreme Court justices as among his achievements. But he failed to mention or acknowledge that those justices were pivotal in the decision that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion. In a nearly hourlong speech before a crowd that included evangelical leaders, he did not once mention Roe or abortion or use the phrase “pro-life.”

Mr. Trump views abortion as his biggest vulnerability in the presidential election after it hurt Republicans in the midterms in 2022. He pushed to soften anti-abortion language in the Republican Party’s official platform, and he has issued contradictory statements about abortion as he tries to appeal to moderate voters while appeasing social conservatives.

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