Jim Bakker’s legacy of hucksterism lives on in Donald Trump

If you want to understand how Donald Trump has been able to hawk cologne, watches, smartphones, crypto coins and even bibles to a gullible fan base, look no further than to Jim Bakker, the televangelist and religious huckster who died Monday at 86.

Bakker’s apocalyptic fervor and his endless appeals for money helped drive the rise of the religious right in the 1970s and ’80s. But not only that: They set an example that seems to have been followed to a T by a Republican party that is heavy on apocalyptic themes and dire warnings, and by a president who is every bit the huckster and philanderer Bakker was.

Bakker dropped out North Central Bible College in Minneapolis after marrying his college sweetheart, Tammy Faye LaValley. He was ordained a minister in the Assemblies of God in 1964, and in the early 1970s, the couple started the PTL Club — for “Praise the Lord” or “People that Love” — on a network run by Pat Robertson. Together, the Bakkers grew a small television show into a global television empire that in its heights in the 1980s profited them millions of dollars each week. Selling Jesus, as well as false hope, the Bakkers also raised money for Heritage USA, a Christian-themed waterpark and resort that opened in South Carolina in 1978.

They set an example that seems to have been followed to a T by a Republican party that is heavy on apocalyptic themes and dire warnings, and by a president who is every bit the huckster and philanderer Bakker was.

The theme park would become the centerpiece of Bakker’s fundraising campaigns, promising God’s blessings to viewers who signed up for timeshare subscriptions to enjoy the park. But the Bakkers’ lavish lifestyle would eventually come crashing down. Their ministry was millions of dollars in debt, Bakker admitted to a sexual relationship with church secretary Jessica Hahn, his wife Tammy Faye was hospitalized for addiction to prescription drugs and the financial problems surrounding Heritage USA were so severe that they led to conservative political activist and televangelist Jerry Falwell stepping in to try to save the park.

When Bakker’s shady deals and fiscal irresponsibility caught up with him, he was indicted on 24 counts of mail fraud and conspiracy. After he was convicted in 1989, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Tammy Faye divorced him during the four years between him entering prison and being paroled in 1994. After he got out, Bakker set up a new Christian community called Morningside in Missouri’s Ozark Mountains that was loosely modeled on Heritage USA.

Bakker’s main source of income at Morningside besides contributions was in selling survival food buckets to apocalyptically minded Christians and survivalists. Instead of the usual Christian kitsch, Bakker’s new message was about food shortages and the end times. From selling Jesus to selling prepper freeze-dried foods, Bakker’s talent for exploiting gullible Christians never diminished, even after serving time in prison.

He also had a slavish devotion to Trump. During Trump’s first administration, Bakker declared that “Democrats would kill Trump” if their attempts to convict him after his first impeachment failed. He also sold on his television show a $45 Trump coin with the president’s face as a “point of contact with God” for followers to pray for Trump’s re-election in 2020. In 2020, Eric Schmitt, then the attorney general of Missouri, filed a lawsuit against Bakker and Morningside Church Productions Inc. after the state said he was wrongly promoting a health supplement known as the Silver Solution as a Covid treatment.

Bakker settled the lawsuit in 2021 by agreeing to pay $156,000 in restitution, even as he denied doing anything wrong.

In this black and white photo, a group of people circle around a man sitting in a chair in the center of the room. Some people sit in chairs, some sit on the floor, and others stand. — Disgraced PTL Minister Jim Bakker gives a sermon to supporters in the offices of the Bring Bakkers Back organization in 1988.Will And Deni McIntyre / Getty Images

Bakker was a key figure in what’s known as the prosperity gospel and a devotee of positive thinking — another point of similarity between him and Trump, who sold dreams of wealth via his bogus Trump University and whose childhood church was pastored by “The Power of Positive Thinking” author Norman Vincent Peale.

Trump being elected after his huckster ways were known — and after he was convicted of falsifying business records, after the Trump Organization was found guilty of tax fraud and after he was found liable of sexual abuse and defamation against E. Jean Carroll — is evidence that the culture of gullible consumerism that Bakker exploited from the 1980s on is still in play. Even though Trump’s word ought not be worth anything, here he is promising that gas prices will be lower after the midterms and that $5,000 checks are coming — after the midterms.

You might think it’s weird to compare Bakker and Trump, but both rose to power by selling salvation. The only difference is one of them isn’t a minister.

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