Posted on 11/29/2015 6:12:20 AM PST by Kaslin
I understand the tremendous popularity of Donald Trump in America in 2015.
He is a larger than life reality TV star; he is incredibly rich and not beholden to anyone; he is fearless and speaks his mind; he articulates the frustrations and anger of millions of his countrymen; he gives the impression that he can fix our economy and will put an end to illegal immigration; he is not a Washington insider; he could be a strong leader who could face down our global enemies; he can even be winsome and self-effacing at times.
Yes, I do understand all this to the point that, for some weeks, I wondered to myself if I could get behind Trump as a candidate. And the question still remains, if the presidential race was between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, could I cast a vote for Trump? (I could not possibly vote for Hillary Clinton.)
But let's not deal in hypotheticals now. The immediate question is: Should evangelical Christians support Donald Trump as the Republican candidate? I do not see how we can if the Word of God is to be our guide and if it's important to us that a candidate have a solid moral compass and a biblically based worldview and I mean to be our president, not our spiritual leader, since we are electing a president, not a pastor or priest.
The Scriptures teach that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45), and so Trump's consistent pattern of reckless speech points to deeper issues which could make him unfit for the office of the presidency.
I'm not just talking about his silly attacks on Megyn Kelly (blood), Carly Fiorina (face), and Marco Rubio (sweat) or his more serious attacks on Mexican immigrants (accusing the many of what the few do) and others. I'm talking about his character assault on Ben Carson, comparing him to a child molester who has pathological problems and, most recently, his apparent mocking of the disability of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski.
Worse still, rather than apologizing for his most recent remarks, he claims he is being unfairly attacked for his comments and alleges that he doesn't even know what Kovaleski looks like. Is he lying?
Notice that he referred to Kovaleski, who suffers from arthrogryposis, which visibly limits flexibility in his arms, as a "nice reporter," before saying, "Now the poor guy, you've got to see this guy," flailing his arms as he pretended to be Kovaleski.
Is this the man you want to be our president? The warnings in Proverbs are strong: "Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him" (Proverbs 29:20). And, "A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back" (Proverbs 29:11).
We need a statesman, not an irresponsible flame thrower, and one can be a strong political leader who is cutting and fearless with words think of Winston Churchill without making a fool of oneself.
What of Trump's claim that, "I have no idea who this reporter, Serge Kovalski is, what he looks like or his level of intelligence," and, "Despite having one of the all-time great memories, I certainly do not remember him"?
If this is true, why did he refer to him as a "nice reporter" and what did he mean when he said, "Now the poor guy, you've got to see this guy"? And did he merely flail his arms mocking someone who, he claimed, couldn't quite remember things correctly this was Trump's defense or was he making fun of Kovaleski's arms? (Watch for yourself and you be the judge as to whether he is telling the truth.)
Kovaleski, for his part, states that, "Donald and I were on a first-name basis for years. I've interviewed him in his office. I've talked to him at press conferences. All in all, I would say around a dozen times, I've interacted with him as a reporter while I was at the Daily News."
How could Trump have forgotten someone with Kovaleski's condition?
Trump pointed to the large sums he has given to help people with disabilities, and I don't doubt that he has, nor do I doubt that he cares about the disabled and handicapped.
But what is undeniable is that he is often irresponsible and reckless in his speech, something that could be utterly disastrous for the president of the United States of America. As noted by Jay Ruderman, an advocate for the disabled, "It is unacceptable for a child to mock another child's disability on the playground, never mind a presidential candidate mocking someone's disability as part of a national political discourse."
Yet there's something that concerns me even more when it comes to evangelicals supporting Donald Trump and that is the issue of pride, the sin that is often at the root of a host of other sins (Isaiah 14:11-15), the sin which God resists (James 4:6), the sin which leads to destruction (Proverbs 16:18).
Trump seems to have little understanding of what it means to ask God for forgiveness, while his very open, unashamed boastfulness is part and parcel of his persona. Trump and pride seem to walk hand in hand, quite comfortably at that.
So, while I do understand why many Americans are behind Donald Trump and while I do believe he could do some things well as president, I cannot understand how evangelicals can back him, especially when we have a number of solid, God-fearing, capable alternatives.
(For my video commentary on this, with the relevant clips from Trump, click here. The ugly comments from Trump supporters are quite telling.)
We may have to settle for what we can get.
There are no perfect candidates.
I am a Cruz supporter but will vote for Trump if he gets the nomination.
I’m with you. Once you’ve considered Trump, the real conservative moves on to Cruz. Why accept a johnny come lately pretend conservative? Trump figured out how to manipulate the government to get rich using the millions his dad gave him (or as he’d tell it he pulled himself up by his bootstraps). Now, he wants to use conservatives to get him into the White House.
I don’t like NY attitude. I do like tough talk, but in the vein of Ronald Reagan, a very nice man, who knew when to talk and when to let his actions speak for him.
Trump is not that type. He is a brash, NY jerk. In my book, all NY jerks talk tough, so talk is cheap, and trash talkers are foolish.
========================================================w But it’s straightforward and unfiltered....you know where he stands and he doesn’t equivocate. Would you rather have someone with pretty face and nice southern drawl smile to your face and stab you in the back (ignore you with their policies/votes, follow orders from PTB)? Bless, your heart. (I know both types having lived in both north and south).
News Flash!!!
I am not the author. I only posted the article, besides I am a she, not a he.
GOT IT?
If you left in 1980, you don’t even know who he is. Please. He was still building his company in those days. Look at the interviews.
For others who don’t hate NYC: in a sense, he has always reminded me of Ed Koch, who as a congressman in the 60s and was a quiet individual who went through life unnoticed. He became mayor and suddenly ba-boom! We had a major personality on our hands. Trump was so boring in the 70s that friends of mine who had dates with him dropped him due to the non-personality factor. I guess he was, like Koch, hiding his light under a bushel.
Trump = wall.
He’s also done really great job at marrying lots of foreign hotties and shucking them for upgrades after they age a bit, which is a big plus with American Christian voters.
So do I and he is correct.
That is your basis for your statement? Nothing like flat out lying is there?
I don’t think anything makes me angrier than someone determining that God is in their own personal little box, that He is restricted by their rules, that no one is a Christian unless they say so, that they know the mind of God and speak for Him.
Would I hire Trump as a pastor? Nope. Would I vote for Billy Graham as President? Nope. God has often used the ungodly to work his will.
Do I support Trump? No. I prefer Cruz. But would I vote for Trump over Hillary or Sanders? Yep! I’d crawl across broken glass to do so, as the saying goes. I’d even vote for Jeb over Hillary, although I’d clothespin my nose and then wash my hand with alcohol.
At this point in time, I’m not sure we need a “prudent man” for President. Sometimes reckless gets more done.
I don’t want my daughter to marry someone like Trump, but that is not the question.
And Trump gave the only SANE answer to that gotcha question since the next question would have been "for what?"
George W. Bush ran as a "born again Christian" and yet said that we (Christians and Jews) and Muslims all worship the same God.
And don't forget Jimmah, who ran as a born-again Southern Baptist and yet condemned Israel every chance he had.
OH Bryanw92 you hit the nail on the head with columnist/commentator being “pridefull and a bag of ego...:
His enemies will stoop to anything
That shows me that you don't get it and never will.
He should know that Hillary, her political agents and her built-in voting block are all quite pleased with his lack of foresight and inability to understand cause and effect.
“I understand the tremendous popularity of Donald Trump in America in 2015...He is a larger than life reality TV star”
He OBVIOUSLY DOES NOT understand Trump’s popularity if he includes the TV star aspect.
Most of us COULD CARE LESS regarding that.
I don’t think a 3rd party will help. We need a leader who can clean house. Get REAL conservatives (of any stripe) in with this election, then next election remove the rest of GOPe, especially those hold over, professional GOPe politicians. Hatch, Cornyn, etc. They talk a good talk on the tv and when they’re up for election, then they return to dc and do exactly as their corporate contributors want.
Aw, geez, here we go again! Throw the election to the Democrats because the Republican candidate didn’t meet your lofty ideals! That got us 8 years of Obama! You want 8 years of Hillary?
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