(CP) Former President Donald Trump spoke about his own mortality and the necessity for a spiritual revival within the U.S. during a recent interview with Russian-American podcaster Lex Fridman.
During the hour-long interview posted on Tuesday that touched on topics starting from the 2024 presidential election to the Kennedy assassination and UFOs, the conversation honed in at the top on mortality and the role religion plays in coming to terms with it and the potential of an afterlife.
“One of the tragic things about life is that it ends,” Fridman said. “How often do you consider your death? Are you afraid of it?”
Trump, who narrowly escaped an assassin’s bullet on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, recounted that he has a “very successful” friend in his mid-80s who thinks about death consistently and sometimes reminds him that point is slipping away.
“He said, ‘I give it some thought every minute of day by day,'” Trump noted of what his friend said of death. “Then, per week later, he called me to inform me something, and he starts off the conversation by going, ‘Tick-tock, tick-tock.’ This is a dark person, in a way, however it is what it’s.”
Trump went on to notice the place of faith to find peace with the inevitability of death and expressed his desire that America would change into more religious prefer it once was.
“If you are religious, I feel you might have a greater feeling about it. You’re purported to go to Heaven ideally, not Hell, but you are purported to go to Heaven for those who’re good,” he said.
“Our country is missing a whole lot of religion,” he continued. “I feel it really was a significantly better place with religion. It was almost a guide. You wish to be good to people. Without religion, there isn’t any real guardrails. I’d like to see us get back to religion, more religion on this country.”
Trump, who claims to be a Christian, has presented himself as a candidate friendly to Christians and has been outspoken in recent months in regards to the importance of maintaining religious liberty within the US.
During the National Religious Broadcasters 2024 International Christian Media Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, in February, Trump accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the justice system against people of religion.
“The chains are already tightening around all of us, for those who give it some thought,” he said. “Ultimately, the unconventional Left is coming in any case of us, because they know that our allegiance just isn’t to them. Our allegiance is to our country, and our allegiance is to our Creator. They don’t need to listen to that.”
At the Turning Point Action’s Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, in July, Trump urged Christians to vote for him.
“I do not care how, but you might have to get out and vote,” he said. “Christians, get out and vote just this time. You won’t should do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It’ll be fixed.”
