WASHINGTON—If the Nigerian government does not take action to protect Christians from persecution, President Donald Trump is warning that the United States may go in “guns a-blazing” to “completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists” murdering Christians.
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action,” Trump said on Wednesday evening in a video message posted to social media. “If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet.”
The president was referring to the violent attacks against religious communities by Boko Haram and other Islamist groups, attacks that have become commonplace throughout the country. The Nigerian government has pushed back against these claims, saying through a spokesman that it is “shocked that President Trump is mulling an invasion of our country.”
But advocates like Congressman Riley Moore, a Catholic from West Virginia, argue that Christians are being disproportionately targeted by militants. The president has specifically called on Moore, as well as House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, to lead an investigation into the plight of these Christians.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening there, and in numerous other Countries. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian Population around the World!” – President Trump pic.twitter.com/1dSLMr7ApQ
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 5, 2025
“This year alone there have been over 7,000 Christians murdered in Nigeria,” Moore told The Daily Wire in a phone interview this week. “During Palm Sunday, 54 Christians were murdered. A priest on Ash Wednesday was kidnapped and murdered. From the start of this problem, in 2009, there have been in between 50,000 to 100,000 Christians who have been murdered.”
“Some will say well they’re killing everyone, muslims and christians,” he added. “From what I have, from people on the ground, that ratio is five to one, Christians to other faiths. And so it is very clearly targeted against Christians.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (Photo by Tom Brenner/Getty Images)
On Saturday, the president announced that he was declaring Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” due to the government’s failure to address the persecution of Christians, meaning that Nigeria has engaged in “severe violations of religious freedom” under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
Nigeria had also been declared a Country of Particular Concern under the first Trump administration, but President Joe Biden’s administration removed that designation, a move that Moore calls “ludicrous” and “malpractice in terms of human rights and religious freedom.”
“Their contention was that the killings that were taking place were motivated actually by land disputes that were driven by, and I’m not joking, climate change,” Moore told The Daily Wire. “Climate change was the culprit here…so they took this designation off.”
It’s possible that the president’s comments alone will have a positive impact on the Nigerian government’s involvement in stopping the killings of the Christians — and that this was Trump’s plan all along. But outwardly, Trump has repeatedly expressed willingness to eradicate the Islamic militants, and his Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has publicly postured his readiness as well.
“The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately,” Hegseth said on Saturday. “The Department of War is preparing for action. Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
Moore believes Trump can stop the persecution of Christians without even putting boots on the ground, but he also emphasized that he trusts the president’s judgment “implicitly in these types of matters,” and views Trump as “the singular figure here in the world that can actually get a positive result out of the Nigerian government and save the lives of many of the people being murdered for their faith.”
Nigerian Christian school girls who were kidnapped from their school in Dapchi wait to meet the Nigerian president at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on March 23, 2018. (Photo by PHILIP OJISUA/AFP via Getty Images)
On Wednesday evening, after the president’s video announcement, Moore thanked Trump for his “incredible leadership in defending persecuted Christians.”
“Your bold and decisive action to protect our brothers and sisters in Christ will save thousands of lives,” Moore said, adding, “I am on it and will have more for you soon.”
Moore has been working to bring attention to the plight of Nigerian Christians since he first took office in January. The first floor speech he gave was specifically about the persecution of Christians in Muslim majority nations.
“This is something that has bothered me and weighed heavy on my heart for many years, the persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world for their profession of their faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” he said.
“I really have been going on this very hard for a number of months, really pleading with anybody who will listen, including the administration and the White House,” the congressman said. Most importantly, he hoped to get the attention of President Donald Trump, who, Moore believes, handles international diplomacy matters with more tact and precision than anyone in the world.
“We are a Christian nation. I am a Christian, I am a Catholic,” Moore said. “And I am going to stand up for my brothers and sisters in Christ when I see them dying in the name of our faith. It is the right thing to do.”
