- Look, Ken Blackwell, Ithink if you talk to him,

he would not be ready tojump to the conclusion

that President Trump is a racist.

But I think Ken Blackwell, like Tim Scott,

and like some other prominentblack conservatives,

would tell you thatPresident Trump is, at best,

probably racially insensitive.

President Trump has a habitof stoking these racial fires.

Sometimes it seems quite intentional.

Other times it seems unwitting.

And this was one of those moments

where, for people in the room,

they were just sort of watchinghim and listening to him

when he was talking to Ken Blackwell

and questioning his street credibility.

And they were just thinking to themselves,

"Gosh, does this guy notknow how that must sound

"to a black man?"

- Tim, you discuss evangelicalsupport for Donald Trump

in your book.

Who did you talk to,and what did you learn

about this demographic groupafter discussing their support

for President Trump?

- Well, so I talked, certainly,

with a number of grassroots leaders:

Tony Perkins at theFamily Research Council,

Marjorie Dannenfelserwith Susan B Anthony List,

yeah, of Ralph Reed with theFaith and Freedom Coalition,

among others, but I alsotalked with a lot of voters.

And I talked with a lot offriends and family members.

I grew up in an evangelicalhousehold myself,

so I'm familiar with this world.

And I think what wasimportant to understand

is that while many voters recognize

that Donald Trumphimself is transactional,

that there really was atransactional relationship

from evangelicals' perspective as well.

Because many of them felt as though

while Ted Cruz, and MarcoRubio, and Jeb Bush, and others,

maybe understood theiruniverse a little bit better

and could speak their language,

that none of those folks were necessarily

going to fight for their values

in the way that Donald Trump was,

which, of course, is very strange,

because Donald Trumpdoesn't share their values

in many cases, and plentyof those voters I spoke with

readily were recognizing that.

And they said, "Look, eventhough he's not one of us,

"even though he doesn'tsit in the pews with us,

"we still think that he iswilling to take the fight

"to the left, bothpolitically and culturally,

"in a way that none of theseother established politicians

"are willing to."

- Last month there wasa Twitter war of words

among evangelicals aboutchildren at the border.

And you tweeted, "There areRussell Moore Christians

"and Jerry Falwell Junior Christians.

"Choose wisely, brothers and sisters."

Do you really see evangelicals divided

in just the two camps?

- You know, I have coveredthe conservative movement

and conservative Christianpolitics for about a decade now.

And while I do think it'san oversimplification

to just put them in two camps,

to pretend that this isa spiritual dichotomy,

there does seem to be thatfundamental disconnect

between Christians who tend toapproach these policy issues

more through a traditionally sympathetic

Christian world view aboutcaring for the least among us

versus those who are viewing it more

through a political prism interms of border crossings,

in terms of refugee numbers,things of that nature.