Jenna Ellis is perhaps the best example of an evangelical Christian who built her entire career and public persona around Donald Trump. No one knew who she was before 2017,. She was homeschooled, attended Cedarville University (she later transfered to Colorado State University), and taught law and political science at the conservative evangelical Colorado Christian University.
In 2016, Ellis had some good instincts about Trump. She called him an “idiot” and thought he was “boorish and arrogant.” She criticized his treatment of women and implied that he was a liar. She called him an “American fascist.” In March 2016, Ellis wrote: “I could spend a full-time job just responding to the ridiculously illogical, inconsistent, and blatantly stupid arguments supporting Trump.” She said that Trump’s followers “don’t care about facts or logic” and are not “seeking truth.” More here.
Here is a Facebook post from December 9, 2015:
She should have stuck with those instincts.
After Trump became president, Ellis saw where her bread was buttered and became a diehard supporter of the president. When Jerry Falwell Jr. and Charlie Kirk formed the Falkirk Center at Liberty University, a pro-Trump public relations organization disguised as a think tank, Ellis was one of the early “fellows.” She became a legal adviser to Trump’s campaign in November 2019 and eventually found herself playing second fiddle to Rudy Giuliani defending the president’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Today she out on bail. She is crowdfunding to pay her legal bills because Trump refuses to pay them.
Unforuntately, many Trump evangelicals will not learn any lessons from the Ellis saga about the corrupting nature of politics, the dangerous pursuit of power, and the consequences of blind ambition. For these MAGA supporters, the Jenna Ellis story is the story of an innocent young Christian who got caught-up in the Biden administration’s sinister plan to prevent Trump from becoming the next President of the United States.
Don’t take my word for it–here’s Jenna: