One of the creators of a non-profit Christian effort to cultivate “better Christian politics” says President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election is a “disaster” for the United States.

Curtis Chang, co-founder of The After Party, expressed deep emotional dismay at the result, which saw Trump elected to a second term. strong support from evangelicals, especially white evangelical voters.

The After Party, which Chang co-created with New York Times columnist David French and Russell Moore, editor-in-chief of Christianity Today magazine and former chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, was created to you would help Christians grow. a healthy and biblically informed understanding of political involvement without promoting partisan viewpoints.

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During a candid conversation on “The Good Faith Podcast” posted on YouTube Thursday, Chang drew a distinction between the podcast’s content and The After Party’s programming.

“A lot of people associate us with The After Party program that we created, really, to help Christians think about the ‘how’ of politics,” Chang said. “And because of that, the three of us in The After Party, in our roles as The After Party, have been very intentional about not making any statement or endorsement of partisan leanings, of our own political views.”

“This is a bona fide record; this is not The After Party curriculum.”

Chang and his colleagues then opened up about their personal feelings in response to the election results, with Chang saying they are “still dealing with the combination of anxiety, avoidance, anger, anguish, alienation.”

“They’re all over the map,” he said. “Did I feel like this is my country? Like, what does it mean?”

Chang recalled how, immediately after Tuesday’s election, he spent hours busy digitizing photos and cleaning out his garage in what he described as “high avoidance mode.”

“I mean, this election, I think, was a disaster for our country, but it did wonders for my to-do list,” he added.

The Frenchman offered a more analytical perspective on some of the broader consequences of the election beyond his own circle.

“As it became very clear that Trump was going to win, what really planted in my mind was the idea that desperation is a luxury,” he said. “One of the feelings I had was that a lot of us have stable jobs, who have good families, who have good friends, we’ll be fine,” but there are a lot of vulnerable people who don’t go. be well.”

Moore, who was one of the most prominent anti-Trump voices in the SBC before him left the denomination in 2021, he said whatever his opinion of the result, it was “reassuring” that voters knew exactly what – or rather who – they were voting for.

“One of the things that reassures me about this election is that I don’t feel like anyone was cheated,” he said. “I think both candidates have been very, very clear about who they are, what they’re going to do, and that the American people have made a choice, so that reassures me.”

“I don’t think there’s a sense in which, ‘Well, the American people don’t know the drama they’re signing up for.’

Chang, French and Moore all emphasized the importance of maintaining moral courage, even in a political climate that they all agree is increasingly divisive and often cruel. French suggested evangelicals who didn’t vote for Trump should brace themselves for a “long run” of American “regression.”

“We were never promised that we would live in times of American progress,” he said. “Generation after generation of Americans have lived through periods of regression, and we have to adapt, perhaps, to a kind of long trial.”

“It’s already been a long time, for a longer fight, so take care of yourself.”

French publicly expressed her support for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in a New York Times op-ed column in August, in which he said he would vote for Harris to “save conservatism from itself.”