LOVE THY NEIGHBOR? NAHHH.

David Brooks seems surprised to learn that love for Donald Trump has made some Evangelicals a tad psychotic.

“Over the last 72 hours, I have received multiple death threats and thousands upon thousands of emails from Christians saying the nastiest and most vulgar things I have ever heard toward my family and ministry. I have been labeled a coward, sellout, a traitor to the Holy Spirit, and cussed out at least 500 times.”

This is the beginning of a Facebook post from Sunday by the conservative preacher Jeremiah Johnson. On Jan. 7, the day after the storming of the Capitol, Johnson had issued a public apology, asserting that God removed Donald Trump from office because of his pride and arrogance, and to humble those, like Johnson, who had fervently supported him.

The response was swift and vicious. As he put it in that later Facebook post, “I have been flabbergasted at the barrage of continued conspiracy theories being sent every minute our way and the pure hatred being unleashed. To my great heartache, I’m convinced parts of the prophetic/charismatic movement are far SICKER than I could have ever dreamed of.”

This is what is happening inside evangelical Christianity and within conservatism right now. As a conservative Christian friend of mine put it, there is strife within every family, within every congregation, and it may take generations to recover.

That might explain this poll result:

While one in four registered voters now say it’s time for the U.S. to split into two separate countries – Red (Republican) and Blue (Democrat) – a much higher percentage of regular churchgoers and Evangelical Christians favor the idea.

A national survey of 1,200 registered voters conducted by Just the News and pollster Scott Rasmussen conducted January 7-9, 2021 asked the following question:

“Some have suggested that the Red States and Blue States (Republican leaning States and Democratic leaning States) should split into separate countries. Would you favor or oppose splitting the Red States and Blue States into separate countries?”

A quarter (25%) of U.S. voters say they either “Strongly Favor” (11%) or “Somewhat Favor” (14%) dividing the country into two, based on each state’s political leaning....

Regular churchgoers are more likely to favor dividing into Red and Blue Americas, as 40% of those who attend church more than once a week support the move, compared to just 18% of those who never go to church....

By religious persuasion, Evangelicals (43%) are the most likely to support the two-country plan....

(Scott Rasmussen left the polling firm that bears his name in 2013 and now conducts his own surveys. His final presidential poll wasn't skewed right -- he had the race at Biden 51%, Trump 44%, getting Biden's total right and underestimating Trump's by 3 points.)

I'm actually surprised that support for a split is as low as it is among Evangelicals, many of whom don't seem to like the rest of us very much. My guess is that Evangelical support for a split will increase after January 20, when it finally dawns on them that the miracle isn't coming and Joe Biden is actually inaugurated.

In the poll, there's one group in which a majority favors a red-blue split: self-described members of "MAGA Nation," which favors the split by a 52%-43% margin. I expect that number to rise as well after next Wednesday.