THIS IS SATIRE
Satan confirmed his support for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump in a statement released Wednesday.
"Mr. Trump made a deal with me before he announced his candidacy for president and I stand by that deal," Satan said. "I can't, in good faith, abandon him. That's not who I am."
Dozens of influential Republicans have abandoned their support for Trump after the release of a video showing him speaking of women in vulgar sexual terms, leaving the billionaire real estate developer's campaign in a state of crisis a month before the presidential election, The New York Times reported Sunday.
The election is Tuesday October 8.
Satan became the most prominent GOP official to publicly proclaim his support for Trump since the release of a video.
Republicans who have revoked their endorsement of Trump include a number of governors and congressional members who are running for election or re-election, such as U.S. Rep. Joe Heck of Nevada, who is running for U.S. Senate and U.S. Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire who are running for re-election.
In his statement, Satan delivered harsh criticism of those Republicans who dropped their support for Trump. Satan said many of those Republicans who abandoned Trump had also made a deal with the devil at some point in their political career.
"They would not be where they are in politics if it were not for me," Satan said. "When Mr. Trump announced his candidacy, I told them, `When you make a deal with me, you've made a deal with Mr. Trump.' I may be a lot of things, but I believe in the `art of the deal.' "
The Art of the Deal is the name of one Trump's autobiographies.
When Satan was asked in a Skype interview if he planned to speak to any of those Republicans about their abandoning Trump, he said he had not yet done so but added: "If they start feeling the heat, it won't be because of global warming."
Satan released a video of a conversation he had with Trump before he entered the presidential race a year ago.
"I will make sure you are elected president this year and again in 2020," the devil told him. "But in return, you must sell me your soul. You must betray all decent principles. You must pander, trivialize and deceive. You must gain victory by exploiting bigotry, fear, envy and greed. And you must conduct a campaign based on lies, sham, hype and distortion."
Satan was asked if it was true that Trump was his son, as reported in a release of documents by WikiLeaks, the devil smiled wistfully and shook his head.
"No," he said, "But Donald has always been like a son to me."