Early in the book, Alberta describes fallout from an event at Liberty University, the evangelical college in Virginia, shortly before the Iowa vote in January 2016.
As candidates jockeyed for support from evangelicals, a powerful bloc in any Republican election, Trump was asked to name his favourite Bible verse.
In private over the coming years, Trump would use even more colourful language to describe the evangelical community Tim Alberta.
Cruz won Iowa but Trump took the second primary contest, in New Hampshire, and won the nomination with ease.
Evangelicals remain the dominant bloc in Iowa, 55% of respondents to an NBC News/Des Moines Register poll in August identifying as “devoutly religious”.
Trump’s rivals may yet take encouragement from Register polling, should evangelicals begin to doubt Trump.
In the October poll, 76% of Iowa evangelicals said they had a positive view of DeSantis, while 62% said they liked Haley. »
