Trump tarnished the image of Christianity, and now he’s dragging down the police

For a man who made millions by slapping his name on buildings and various products, President Trump has a special knack for tarnishing iconic American brands.

It goes like this: He grabs some broadly respected institution, rebrands it in his own image, and then hands it back smelling faintly of burnt hair and regret.

Trump’s style of politics doesn’t just polarize Americans — it damages the reputations of major institutions. One casualty has been American Christianity.

As Axios recently noted, “Nearly three in 10 American adults today identify as religiously unaffiliated — a 33% jump since 2013, according to the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).”

To be sure, Americans have been drifting away from organized religion for years. But as Christianity Today observed in 2023, Trump’s first presidency “accelerated the decline,” particularly among moderate and left-leaning evangelicals — people who once thought church was about Jesus, turning the other cheek and helping widows, orphans and immigrants. You know, “woke” stuff.

Which brings me to my latest worry: that support for law enforcement may be headed down the same path.

“You don’t want militarized people in the streets just roaming around, snatching up people, many of which turn out to be U.S. citizens that just don’t have their papers on them,” podcaster Joe Rogan recently lamented. “Are we really gonna be the Gestapo, ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?”

Apparently so. And Rogan’s sentiment isn’t purely anecdotal. According to a new Economist/YouGov poll, the approval rating for Immigration and Customs Enforcement has collapsed from roughly +16 to -14 in less than a year, with 52% of Americans saying they disapproved of how ICE was handling its job.

That is a dramatic erosion for a federal agency tasked with enforcing immigration law. And what are the odds that erosion stays neatly confined to ICE?

Federal immigration agents — the ones confronting protesters, shooting civilians and taking people into custody without warrants — are often wearing bulletproof vests labeled “POLICE.” And then when local police officers start dressing like “warrior cops” themselves — and explicitly cooperate with ICE — the line between immigration enforcement and everyday policing blurs dangerously.

The public’s trust in police is already fragile. Confidence in law enforcement hit a record low in 2023, with just 43% of Americans saying they had a great deal of trust in police. That rebounded to 51% in 2024, which sounds encouraging until you remember that “just over half” is not the kind of number that inspires spontaneous chants of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”

It’s not crazy to think that ICE raids featuring masked officers dressed like they’re about to invade Fallujah, all while harassing U.S. citizens, will send those numbers right back into the basement.

How could they not? They’re detaining U.S. citizens. They shot and killed a mom, Renee Good. They’re hassling Uber drivers. They’re targeting Target workers.

I say all this as someone raised to respect law enforcement. My dad was a correctional officer for 30 years and served in the National Guard, including being called to Baltimore, Md., during the riots of 1968.

I grew up on “The Andy Griffith Show,” where Sheriff Andy Taylor enforced the law with folksy wisdom and the knowledge that Deputy Barney Fife would shoot himself if given more than one bullet.

I later married the daughter of a law enforcement officer.

In short, reverence for the “boys in blue” was baked in.

And yet, even as a boring middle-aged white dude who is not committing crimes (at least not felonies), I get a little nervous these days when I see police lights in my rearview mirror, even when I’m not speeding.

I suspect I’m not alone. White America is beginning to experience — or at least glimpse — what people of color have known for generations: that encounters with law enforcement can be unpredictable and sometimes deadly.

For me, it was a video of a police shooting about a decade ago that really changed my perception.

One problem that results from the erosion in trust for police is that people are less likely to report crimes or cooperate with investigations — which is counterproductive if your goal is, say, preventing or solving crimes.

It’s one thing for Trump’s style and behavior to undermine support for his presidency (they are), while boosting Democratic electoral chances. But what about all the institutions — such as ICE, the National Park Service and the Department of Health and Human Services — he’s tarnishing along the way?

Reputations are fragile things. So are symbols. Once a paradigm shifts, it may never return.

Here’s a weird example: For more than a century, smokestacks symbolized progress and prosperity. Today, they signal toxic sludge and class-action lawsuits. The context changed. The meaning followed.

I get the sense something similar is happening when people see a badge with the words “to protect and serve” — or flashing blue-and-red lights.

Trump won’t last forever. But where do our institutions go to get their reputations back?

Matt K. Lewis is the author of “Filthy Rich Politicians” and “Too Dumb to Fail.”