Sure it's a part of the normal GOP's base.... Trump had to add Pence last time to shore up that wing of the base..... now they realize how nuts the left are and so they will support Trump.
White evangelicals make up approximately 1/5th of the electorate, and people who identify (heh) as evangelical is growing. The line between politics and religion is being blurred on the right. Trump, the most Anti-Christian demon imaginable, is being treated as a deity, has received 75-80% of white evangelical votes and is polling 80+% now, more than ever before. Why is that happening? Well, all that info is out there, including the doc I rec'd. Good summary.
It's a cult of personality, full stop. If you're a Christian and you find yourself making excuses for Trump in the name of the Bible, you are under the spell of the Dear Leader, the faux GOP Christian put here in 2015 with a wink and a nod to advance theocratic kleptocratic ambitions for everyone involved in a beautiful symbiotic harmony.
It would be amazing if it weren't so fucked up. Big Ern almost respects the process. It's America's greatest political con in history and y'all deepthroat that bullshit up willingly. You're living it.
Sad!