James Hohmann: “It was not an act. Trump’s concern about Syrian refugees entering the U.S. without proper vetting and his personal discomfort with Muslim radicalization is genuine and deeply felt, according to several people who have spoken with him directly. Much of what he said during his rallies was improvisational, and he certainly campaigned by the seat of his pants from time to time. But he thought the Muslim ban through, heard out objections from his advisers and spoke on the phone with several people before making the announcement.”

“Trump’s political instincts were certainly at play. He saw an opportunity to exploit the fears of the American people, and he captured it. He saw a rising tide of xenophobia and prejudice across the country, and he swam with the current.”

“Because he has few core principles, beyond winning, Trump was perfectly willing to stake out a position that he knew his major Republican rivals – for constitutional, legal, moral, practical and national security reasons – would never be willing to embrace. That gave him a textbook wedge issue, which worked to his advantage throughout the primaries.”

“President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign staff temporarily redirected the webpage detailing his controversial proposal to temporarily ban Muslim immigration into the United States, one of the most divisive and controversial policy ideas of his campaign, but swiftly sought to restore it after reporter inquiries Thursday,” the Washington Post reports.

Washington Post: “Yes, the man who once feuded with the pope (how soon we forget that actually happened) is cratering among Catholics.”

“Back in 2012, GOP nominee Mitt Romney lost the Catholic vote by just 2 points, 50 percent to 48 percent. And the GOP has actually won the Catholic vote as recently as 2004 and in 5 of the last 10 presidential elections.”

“But Trump trails among Catholics by a huge margin. A new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute released this week shows him down 23 points, 55-32.”

Paul Nehlen (R), who is running against Speaker Paul Ryan (R) in a Wisconsin primary and has been praised by Donald Trump, told a radio station that the United States should have a “discussion” about deporting all Muslims from the United States.

Said Nehlen: “The question is, why do we have Muslims in the country?”

Former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told a conservative radio host that Donald Trump “gets and understands religious liberty,” the Huffington Post reports.

Bachmann shared an anecdote: “He even said, ‘I don’t understand, when I was growing up, everybody said Merry Christmas. Even my Jews would say Merry Christmas.’ New York City, there are a lot of Jews, and they would even say Merry Christmas. Why can’t we even say Merry Christmas anymore?’”

Bachmann added that Trump had “1950s sensibilities” and “1950s common sense,” and warned that Hillary Clinton would bring “certain destruction” and “catastrophic decline” and a “godless United States that will walk into certain catastrophe.”

A new Pew Research survey finds that evangelical voters are rallying strongly in favor of Donald Trump, with 78% saying they’ll vote for him.

Indeed, the latest survey finds “that despite the professed wariness toward Trump among many high-profile evangelical Christian leaders, evangelicals as a whole are, if anything, even more strongly supportive of Trump than they were of Mitt Romney at a similar point in the 2012 campaign.”

Donald Trump “made an aggressive overture to the Mormon community here in Utah Friday evening, praising members of the church while also off-handedly mocking the authenticity of 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s faith,” the Washington Post reports.

He added: “I have many friends that live in Salt Lake. I have a lot of friends, I have a lot of friends. By the way, Mitt Romney is not one of them. Did he choke? Did this guy choke? He’s a choke artist, I can’t believe. Are you sure he’s a Mormon? Are we sure?”

“Inserting himself into the Republican presidential race, Pope Francis suggested that Donald Trump ‘is not Christian’ because of the harshness of his campaign promises to deport more immigrants and force Mexico to pay for a wall along the border,” the New York Times reports.

Said Pope Francis: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”