A former GOP strategist says that pro-Trump evangelicals are worse for Christianity than atheism. Michael Smerkonish, who now hosts a program on CNN International, recently had on his program, Peter Wehner. Wehner was once a strategist for the GOP, but over the weekend, he claimed that evangelicals who support the president are damaging Christianity.
With Trump’s numerous extra-marital affairs, general unfaithfulness in his commitments, multiple marriages, and general crassness, the POTUS does not seem to be what one would call a “good person.” And from an evangelical perspective, given that Trump said he’s never asked forgiveness for his sins and his spiritual advisor is a notorious promiscuous false prophetess and prosperity charlatan, Paula White, there’s no credible reason to believe Trump is a born-again believer.
This seems to have been what Wehner was pointing out recently…
… I think it’s been tremendously discrediting to the Christian faith. And I think it’s shown to a watching world a tremendous amount of hypocrisy. After all, this “character counts” and “personal integrity” and “political leadership” was central to what a lot of… evangelicals argued when Bill Clinton was president. And now that it’s Donald Trump, they’ve decided to push that aside, which means that morality for them was a means to an end, not an end. It was something to be used as a political weapon.
… I think a lot of these white evangelical leaders are doing more to hurt Christianity than the so-called New Atheists ever could.
Of course, it seems that Wehner’s historical memory is short. Democratic President Bill Clinton had more extra-marital affairs than Donald Trump (so far as we know, far, far more affairs). And whereas it appears that Trump’s attorney paid some of the women in exchange for non-disclosure agreements, Clinton weaponized his wife to systematically intimidate, threaten, and harass his mistresses. Some of their husbands and witnesses wound up dead under mysterious circumstances. And then there was the adultery inside the Oval Office while Clinton was president and subsequent lies under oath regarding it.
And yet, evangelical Christians are not all naive. Many recognize that although Trump is not of the same level of immorality as the Clintons, and there are probably fewer dead bodies behind him, his personal character is not to be revered.
What Whener seems to overlook is that personal morality is not the only kind of morality.
While Trump suffers some of the same moral failings as many Democratic (and Republican) politicians, his policies are not of the same moral repugnancy as his Democratic presidential contender counterparts.
The Democratic party platform is little more than a list of things God hates. Their platform is basically the Ten Commandments, in reverse. Abortion (murder), making all sexual behavior sacrosanct except within traditional marriage (adultery), redistribution of wealth (theft), the myth of transgenderism (lying), class envy (covetousness), and worship of the all-powerful centralized government (idolatry) are all pillars of the Democratic platform. Throw on top of that a nearly demonic-level of anti-Semitism, hatred of religious liberty and the freedom of conscience, and coddling of Islamic extremists, and it’s safe to say that the Democratic platform is as offensive to God as Bill Clinton’s or Donald Trump’s marital infidelity.
Today, liberals are championing Peter Wehner’s comments, hoping to undermine Trump’s support among evangelicals. But what these liberals need to understand is that evangelicals don’t (usually) support Trump under the presumption he’s a godly man. They support him because he supports godly policies, or at the very least, he supports policies that are more godly than that of the God-hating Democratic party.
Ultimately, however, if winning the presidency was a battle of personal morality, there would be few good choices (Mike Pence would probably take the cake on that, however). Joe Biden was a shameless plagiarist. Elizabeth Warren lied about her ancestry. Pete Buttigieg is a sodomite. Donald Trump is an adulterer. Nobody wins if that’s the game we’re playing.
You can watch Wehner’s comments below.
