A group of women who regularly appear at Donald Trump’s rallies, dubbed ‘the beautiful ladies’ by the former president, are part of an evangelical sect which has been accused of using “screaming” prayer.
At a Wisconsin rally on 9th September, Trump remarked: “Those beautiful ladies from North Carolina are here again without their husbands.”
He went on to say they must have attended “249 or something” rallies, telling the crowd, “that means they have money".
The women belong to the Word of Faith Fellowship in North Carolina.
In 2019, former member Matthew Fenner alleged that he was subject to a “blasting” prayer, where congregants surrounded him in a circle and screamed at him in an attempt to expunge him of his same-sex attraction.
“To them, I wasn’t being abused,” he told the Associated Press, “I was being saved and delivered.”
The New York Times reports that the prayers involve “screaming at a single member for as long as an hour”.
The WFF has denied abuse in these prayers. Member Hannah Davies posted on the church’s website: “I want everyone to know this prayer is not abusive, no one is hit, no one is punched, no one is screamed at. This prayer is full of love and freedom.”
The church was founded in 1995 by Jane and Sam Whaley. Publicly, the Trump campaign has no official link with the church – but its members are active volunteers. The husbands of its peroxide-blonde ‘Women for Trump’ activists have been seen putting out chairs at rallies, with the women among the first in attendance, helping to set up media tables.
Rutherford Country’s Republican Party chairman, Bryson Smith, is a church member. On Jan. 6, 2021, he posted: “Calling all patriots! Our country needs you! The time is now!”
The New York Times reports Word of Faith members hosted a fundraiser for Governor Mark Robinson of North Carolina in July. Mr Robinson has been reported by CNN to have called himself a “black nazi” on adult websites, which his team have strongly denied.
Trump’s own campaign team said that the former president “often acknowledges” the WFF women, “because their enthusiastic support is motivational to us all”.