White House press secretary Sarah Sanders kicked up dust recently when she told the Christian television network CBN that she believed that God wanted Donald Trump to be president.

“I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times,” she said, “and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president, and that’s why he’s there. And I think he has done a tremendous job in supporting a lot of the things that people of faith really care about.”  A Fox News poll subsequently found that 25% of the whole American population agreed with her.  (Fox News and Philip Bump, Washington Post)

Nearly half of Republicans, 45 percent, believe that God wanted Trump to be president, with another 18 percent indicating that they weren’t sure. More than half of white evangelical Protestants — 55 percent — said that God endorsed Trump. Only 3 in 10 evangelicals said categorically that they didn’t think Trump had God’s explicit support in the election.

In 2009, Pew Research Center found that 63 percent of evangelicals identified as Republican.   After 2009, that gap widened significantly. Now, 77 percent of evangelicals identify as Republican, making evangelicals one of the most fervently partisan demographic groups in the country.

It’s hard to see how Trump could ever lose the support of the quarter of Americans who believe he was chosen by God to serve in his position.  And you have to concede that Trump “has done a tremendous job in supporting a lot of the things that christian evangelicals really care about”.  These include the border wall, dealing harshly with immigrants and separating migrant children from their parents, packing the Courts, supporting Israel, picking multi-millionaires with no government experience  to run important Federal agencies, and (as per Trump’s new budget), reducing the funding of Medicare, among other things (Fox News, & Philip Bump, Washington Post).

So what is the connection with Epicureanism?  Epicureanism stands for moderation and an enjoyable life with as much pleasure in it as possible – for everyone.   Well, there is no doubt that, if you are a multi-millionaire your pleasure is enhanced by more millions handed you by a grateful taxpayer.  But then for most of us money is not the be-all and end-all of life.