Former US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged evangelical Christians to flock to the polls in November to vote for him, portraying himself as a crusader for religious freedom.

“Evangelicals and Christians don’t vote as much as they should,” the Republican presidential candidate said to supporters at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference. “They go to church every Sunday, but they don’t vote. We’ve got to make sure they vote this time,” Trump said, jokingly adding, “In four years, you’re not obligated to vote, okay? In four years, don’t vote. I do not care”.

The billionaire tycoon has assured his evangelical supporters, who played a major role in his 2016 election victory, that he will stand up for their beliefs. He didn’t fail to touch on issues that resonate with this audience – such as abortion, gun ownership and immigration.

On abortion, he welcomed the US Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the federal guarantee of the right to abortion, which once again gave state authorities the freedom to legislate on the matter.

To gun owners he said, “Do you have a gun? Do you want to keep your gun? Go vote!”, claiming their rights were “under siege”.

Regarding immigration, he pledged that, if elected, he would launch “the largest deportation operation” of immigrants in US history.

Donald Trump has claimed that the Democrats of the current US president and his opponent in the November elections, Joe Biden, are trying to “silence” Christians. “They don’t want you to vote, that’s why you have to vote,” he said. “If you vote, we can’t lose,” he claimed to cheers from the crowd.