Even Sarah Palin admits Donald Trump isn’t very “Christian-y.”

On the face of it, Donald Trump is an implausible candidate for evangelical Christians to support. Aside from being a profane libertine who openly boasts of his greed, Trump is almost comically oblivious to the rudiments of Christian culture, as he showed when when he put money on the communion plate at an Iowa church or when he infamously invoked “Two Corinthians.”

Appearing on The Today Show this morning, Trump enthusiast Sarah Palin seemed unbothered by the Donald’s complete cluelessness about the Bible.

Host Savannah Guthrie put the matter bluntly, asking, “Do you think [Trump] is the godly candidate that [evangelical voters] are looking for?” Palin responded, “I hope voters aren’t trying to find the most Christian-y, godliest candidate out there because who are we to judge one another’s level of faith, our Christian quotient if you will.” 

Palin’s answer is not a bad one (although it’s not clear why she coined the word “Christian-y” since Christian is already a perfectly acceptable adjective). But while this line of reasoning might help Trump, it does undermine the whole effort of Evangelical Christians over many decades to infuse American public life with open displays of piety.