But Trump, who was raised Presbyterian, couched his justification for the US missile strikes against Syria last week in unusually religious terms.

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad had attacked his own citizens with chemical weapons, Trump said, echoing the findings of US intelligence agencies. Eighty Syrians, including women and children, essentially choked to death.

“No child of God should ever suffer such horror,” Trump said. Moments later, the president asked for “God’s wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world,” before asking God to bless the United States “and the entire world.”