Posted on 08/21/2015 5:48:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
With his brash demeanor, rough language, womanizing, and general Trump-ness, youd think evangelicals would loathe Trump. Youd be wrong.
Evangelicals were supposed to hate Donald Trump.
His ostentatious wealth, his colorful language, his serial marriageshe was supposed to be the anti-Huckabee, the candidate least appealing to conservative Christians and their reality TV-unfriendly sensibilities.
Then there was Trumps cavalier discussion of his faith at the Ames, Iowa, Family Leadership Summit in Julywhere he said he doesnt ask God for forgiveness.
The Washington Examiners Byron York argued that comment would hurt him more than his disparagement of Senator John McCains war record.
And The New York Times noted that Trumps comments on his faith and multiple marriages prompted the most muttering and unease in the audience.
Fast-forward a month, and that looks like little more than misguided concern trolling. In reality, many top evangelical leaders admire Trumps chutzpahand his conservative conversion story.
Pam Olsen, who helms an influential evangelical prayer group in Florida, said she was particularly impressed by his opposition to abortion.
His story of turning from pro-choice to pro-life is a very good story, she said, and with what happened with the Planned Parenthood videos coming out, we are praying as leaders in the evangelical movement that multitudes of people would have that same story that Donald Trump has, to become aware of what abortion really means and to become pro-life.
Poll numbers show the real estate mogul is leading the field among evangelical voters, and that his support from that key demographic went up after his controversial debate performance.
In fact, a PPP poll of Iowa voters taken shortly after the debate showed the lady-ogling WWE alum doubling Mike Huckabees support among evangelicals. DOUBLING. HUCKABEE.
Look: This shouldnt have surprised anyone.
Turns out, Trump has been courting the evangelical vote for quite some time. The Donald J. Trump Foundation has made donations to evangelical groups like Iowas The Family Leader ($10,000 in 2013, PDF), Samaritans Purse ($10,000 in 2013, PDF) and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association ($100,000 in 2012, PDF), according to IRS forms posted on Guidestar.org.
Earlier this month, Grahams son, Franklin, praised Trumps debate performance on Facebook.
[H]es shaking up the Republican party and the political process overall. And it needs shaking up! Franklin Graham wrote.
But beyond the financial investment, the conservative Christian voters who play a key role in helping Republican candidates win primaries and general elections like him for some pretty understandable reasons. And that helps explain why his candidacy has had staying power that leaves many beltway graybeards scratching their headsand why he could be an even bigger problem for the Republican establishment than some expect.
A clever observer could have foretold all of this by watching Trumps appearance at Liberty University on September 24, 2012. The collegea powerhouse of conservative influence where virtually every Republican presidential contender speaksinvited Trump to deliver one of their convocation addresses, and he agreed, taking care to note that he waived his classy, hefty, yuuuge speaking fee.
Jerry Falwell Jr., the son of the colleges late founder, Jerry Falwell, introduced Trump to raucous applause, calling him one of the great visionaries of our time.
Here at Liberty University, we plan to start replacing our oldest dorms in the dorm circle with residential towers in January and I think we need a Trump Tower or two here on campus, dont you? he said to laughter and cheers.
Falwell also praised Trumps accomplishments in the political realm.
In 2011, after failed attempts by Senator John McCain and Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump singlehandedly forced President Obama to release his birth certificate, he said without irony, drawing more applause.
When Trump rose to speakhis daffodil-yellow hair and eyebrows glowing against the stages muted blue backdropstudents' cheers were lengthy and loud. A school press release said the event drew a record audience, even though convocation attendance was mandatory for students. Trump praised Jerry Falwell, described himself as a very proud Christian and a real Christian, and reminisced about his Sunday school days. And he even sparked a minor controversy by advising students to get even if they were wronged in the business world.
I always say it but I wont say it to you because this is a different audience, he continued, of his advice that students extract revenge from their adversaries.
You dont want to get even, do you? he asked, shaking his hand from side to side as the audience laughed. Yeah, I think you do.
And he doubled down, giving more life tips that students at the conservative school would have been unlikely to hear from another speaker in his spot.
I always say, always have a prenuptial agreement, he continued. But I wont say it here because you people dont get divorced, right? Nobody gets divorced! OK, so I will not say have a prenuptial agreement to anybody in this room! I just want to endwho else would say that but Trump, right? See? I said I should say it, but I wont say ithow do I get my point across without saying it, I just did it, right?
And before Falwell dismissed students after Trumps speech, he made a prescient joke.
Its not too late to get back in the presidential race, is it? he said. I dont know!
Trumps revenge comments drew critical coverage, but Liberty circled the wagons and sent their top leaders to make the rounds on Christian radio to defend the moguls tip.
Johnnie Moore, an author and consultant as well as former senior vice president of Liberty University, helped oversee Trumps visit. He said the mogul made an overwhelmingly good impression on the students and faculty. The events organizers had expected Trump to leave immediately after the speech, but instead he made the rounds on campus, chatting up campus leaders, posing for pictures, and soaking it all in.
He wasnt in a hurry, said Moore. He wasnt arrogant, he wasnt too busy for the community, he literally just stayed around all afternoon. It was really, really interesting.
Moore added that other evangelical and conservative Catholic institutions had similar experiences with Trump in the years before he announced his presidential bid.
I know many, many evangelical and Catholic organizations that have had that same experience with him, Moore said. I think long before anyone thought that he would seriously run for president, he was making outreaches to evangelicals and Catholics who are involved in the political process.
But he hasnt gotten to know all of them. Olsen, who helms the Florida Prayer Network, said she hasnt yet met the mogul, and shell have at least one thing to say to him when she does.
Id say, Be wise and ask Gods forgiveness! she said.
That said, Olsen added that many evangelicals take heart in his shift from being ambivalent about abortion to being pro-life. Sin, forgiveness, and redemption are key to the evangelical view of how God works. And Trump, in his own way, exemplifies that. She added that theres an appeal in his eagerness to needle Republican Party leadership.
Hes holding the feet to the fire of the Republican Party, which isnt a bad thing, she said.
Ray Moore, the director of South Carolina-based Exodus Mandate (a Christian ministry to encourage and assist Christian families to leave Pharaohs school system (i.e., government schools), per its site), held a similar view. He wont endorse a candidate, but said Trumps appeal to evangelicals makes a lot of sense.
They get in office and they just give us the back of the hand as soon as they get elected, he said, referring to top Washington Republicans. Look at the Planned Parenthood issue, they cant seem to defund Planned Parenthood, and its just amazing to watch that go on for years.
Hes been hard on them, and I like that, he added.
A bill to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood would certainly draw a presidential veto. But it would also be a symbolic effort that conservatives say they would appreciate. So that puts congressional Republicans in a tight spothow much of their political capital do they expend on symbolic gestures? For many evangelicals, they haven't spent enough.
That includes Steve Scheffler, Iowas Republican National Committeeman and the head of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, who said that same frustrationenflamed by the failure of congressional Republicans to send Obama a bill that defunded Planned Parenthoodis common among Trumps backers.
Theyre looking for an outlet to vent their frustrations, he said.
For many evangelical voters, Trump is that outlet.
But for others, hes still an enigma.
I find it surprising, but then again, I tell myself its very early on in the race, said Cindy Costa, South Carolinas Republican National Committeewoman.
I think he would be much better than Hillary Clinton or any of the Democratic contenders, she continued. God works in strange ways. Sometimes you just have to believe that hes involved in the affairs of menwho knows?
Betsy Woodruff
Weird agent chick reporter
Writes for NRO....THE BEAST AND SLATE
and appears on the Megyn Kelly Network
What does she actually believe in
“”Daffodil yellow hair and glowing eyebrows...”
Zowee, zat iss some turgid prose right there.
“Worship?” I don’t think so.
I believe Trump would draw in a more diverse crowd of independents as well as the more traditional conservatives, whereas, sadly perhaps, given the undereducated of today’s populace, I’m not convinced that a true conservative like Cruz could actually win that electorate.
If I were wanting the Presidency and the backing of Evangelicals I’d be playing on a big screen all 8 of the videos that have surfaced so far including the WHOLE HARVESTING of aborted babies, and that the tissue goes into vaccines. I don’t know about any one else but I find that process as ABHORRENT as ABORTION. Adult stem cells are plentiful and work just as well, pay the adults to donate them.
Yep. No worship of Trump here.
Even if you agreed with Trump on a lot of points, it wouldn’t be “worship.”
I will not have to boycott any of them since I have never used their products. : )
Actually it’s not my problem and it is indeed yours as we will all stand as our own person at the Judgement Seat of Christ. As a disciple of Jesus Christ I have fulfilled my duty and presented the truth it doesn’t effect my salvation one way or the other what you chose to accept. I will let the words of Jesus Christ finish.
Revelation 3:15-16
15’I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16’So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
I have no idea what you are talking about and that makes two of us.
“Why liberals continue to f*llate Obama” — said no headline ever.
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