Does Trump truly care about Nigerian Christians? Of course not – he just knows faith sells | Simon Tisdall

In a bid to exercise absolute power, today's crop of authoritarian leaders is recruiting - and exploiting - believers

Donald Trump's crusading threat to invade Nigeria and save Christians from Islamist terrorists is typical attention-seeking. Surely even he must realise that unilateral US military intervention would invite disaster. And he's got his facts wrong. The threat of Islamist terrorism is real, but it affects Nigerian Muslims as much, if not more, than Christians. There's no evidence of genocide, contrary to the alarmist claims of US far-right internet warriors. Trump's intervention was about politics, not faith.

In speaking out, he was massaging a key domestic constituency, not acting from genuine, God-fearing concern for our cherished Christians" in a land he's never visited. Christian nationalist votes helped clinch Trump's two presidential victories despite the obvious insincerity of his professed beliefs. His support among white evangelical Protestants is much higher than the average - 72% in April, compared with 40% among all US adults. Trump's histrionics about Nigeria were primarily for their (and his) benefit.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator