Posted on 01/02/2016 7:30:04 AM PST by Isara
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This is precisely what Donald Trump, national GOP front-runner but second place in Iowa, told an Iowa crowd this week while stumping for votes.
Just remember this -- you gotta remember, in all fairness, to the best of my knowledge, not too many evangelicals come out of Cuba, okay? Just remember that ... just remember.
...We will not dedicate time, space or energy to parsing those words in ways that might offer some alternative meaning than the one most evident and likely, which would be this: Donald Trump thought it would advance his political aims if voters in Iowa were reminded that Ted Cruz is a Cuban (technically half-Cuban) and/or cast doubt on whether Cruz is a true evangelical.
This comes from the the ever-useful section of campaign play books that say tell voters why your competition is "not like us."
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First, Donald Trump's knowledge of the Cuban religious diaspora is, apparently, limited and outdated.
In Cuba right now, Protestant and Protestant Evangelical churches are experiencing rapid membership growth. In the United States, Latino-Americans with ancestral and direct links to many different Latin American countries, including Cuba, are driving some of the only growth in many Protestant denominations. Latino evangelicals represent the fastest-growing religious group in the United States. Some are Cuban-American evangelicals.
To be clear, the majority of American Latinos are Catholic. But the share who are Catholic slid from 67 percent in 2006 to 59 percent in 2013....
...
Finally, Ted Cruz is a self-identified evangelical and the son of an evangelical -- and many would say extremely conservative -- Cuban-American pastor. We have no more reason or authority to doubt that than Donald Trump's declarations that he is a life-long practicing Christian, even if he cannot name a Bible verse. That is between Trump and his God.
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(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
When Cruz supporters resort to posting charts and graphs that are known to be untrue it pushes me and likely others away from that person...Of course the graph was made for people who don’t know any better...
I think we have a few volunteers or paid trolls from more than one campaign here on FR.
I don’t know any evangelicals or Christians of any kind who have never asked God for forgiveness.
_______You should ask God to forgive you for making a statement like that!
I don’t think God meant YOU to know everyone who has asked him for forgiveness and to make judgments on people you perceive have not.
And you are God’s spokesman? YOU FORGET TRUMP SAID SO HIMSELF. Or are now using religion to piously defend your hero, the one whose only certain talent is intimidating people to make money?
Is there some big surprise here. It is an election campaign. People throw stuff out there. Just like the person that posted this is obviously campaigning. I get it. You don’t like Trump. Did you consider skywriting also?
The popular tabloid New York Post was originally established in 1801 as a Federalist newspaper called the New York Evening Post by Alexander Hamilton, an author of the Federalist papers and the nation's first secretary of the treasury.
The author has an agenda- the article makes an argument in furtherance of the agenda– here, her belief that a faction of conservatives are bigoted.
I believe Trump is trying to help Cruz in Iowa and elsewhere. The first effort was taking down Carson. Carson had the majority of Evangelical support, and presented a problem for Cruz. Trump removed the roadblock, saving Cruz from the potentially hazardous task of having to attack Carson. There was no benefit for trump, who was bettered positioned if Cruz and Carson continued to split the faith vote in Iowa and in the South
In this instance, Trump waving a Bible while questioning Cruz’s faith based on his ancestry, is a tactic likely viewed unfavorably by most Evangelicals. Cruz is invulnerable as to the issue of his faith, he has the endorsements of hundreds of Evangelical leaders. If Trump truly wished to hurt Cruz he would have brought up ethanol, TPA, visas, immigration or Cruz’s original dual Canadian citizenship- And most certainly, anyone who has a sense of Trump and Cruz understands that trump legitimately likes and respects Cruz, and therefore, if Trump really wished to go after Cruz, he wouldn’t do so by attacking his Cuban heritage.
Trump is lashing out at all of Cruz’s opposition, including Hillary, body blows weakening the field. Certainly, trump is helping himself, but likewise, he is helping Cruz. Unless and until Trump goes after Cruz in some meaningful fashion, the question as to whether or not he’s plowing the road for Cruz remains on the table...and I think likely the case.
PAC paid ‘ratings’ charts :)
You haven’t noticed freepers now attacking Cruz about his religion, even doubting it?
“Why would I?
that’s what Trump is-—demonstrably.”
I knew, I just knew, you would say that.
“Have you proof that Cruz is the “Christian Taliban†for talking about his faith? Will you even try to lend credence to such a blatantly leftwing attack?”
“Have you proof”?
Remember? I was reposting your post. That was your quote.
Me being a Southern Baptist, I think Cruz is being a religious huckster to say, “if Christians vote our values, we will win.” He did not say “if Christian vote their values” or vote “their Christian values” which would have been bad enough, but he used the royal “our” which assumes him to be the ONLY candidate and the default candidate that would naturally benefit if Christians were true to their calling and voted.
Are Christian values God’s will. Yes. So a vote for Christian values is a vote for God’s will which also requires a vote for Cruz.
Has Trump said anything like that?
Worry about your own position with God and quit judging others. All that does is hurt your candidate..
This election is not about electing a preacher. Reagan was no big religious guy either. He won twice and did a hell of a lot for America.
lolol.... You threw the first stone castigating conservative joy. You are only trying to create HATE for Cruz, the man who will be the next POTUS whether you like it or not. Americans will not elect two cult figures in a row.
....he sometime decided it was time to get invovled with pastoring, even though he’s never held a pastor position in a church structure.
Are there any evangelical branches that don’t require ordination? Or, having a congregation to be a pastor? I’m not aware of any, but I may have missed some.
This is NOT AN ISSUE! Trump NEVER criticized Cruz’s religion....and he was RIGHT.
He clearly questioned Cruz’s religion. Don’t kid yourself any more than you already do by supporting this guy.
http://m.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-questions-carson-pathological-temper-faith-article-1.2433473
In “Gifted Hands,” Carson describes racing to the bathroom in his house after the near-stabbing incident - and in time beginning to pray for God’s help in dealing with his temper.
“During those hours alone in the bathroom, something happened to me,” he wrote. “God heard my deep cries of anguish. A feeling of lightness flowed over me, and I knew a change of heart had taken place. I felt different. I was different.”
In questioning Carson’s religious awakening, Trump said in Fort Dodge that Carson went into the bathroom and came out, “and now he’s religious.”
“And the people of Iowa believe him. Give me a break. Give me a break. It doesn’t happen that way,” Trumpsaid. “Don’t be fools.”
Why don’t you strap on some duct tape over that sour holier than thou mouth of yours.
And eat more prunes.
Only person I know pestering people for money is Cruz.
Washington Post? No thanks.
Of course you knew I would say it. I’ve been saying it all along, and I’m far from alone.
Go back to Trump threads from 2011, and you’ll see some of the most ardently devoted Trump fans saying the same thing.
So you’re a Southern Baptist who thinks the committed Christian in the race is a “huckster”. To lead the nation you prefer a hypocritical P.T. Barnum who got up on stage and waved a Bible to try and sucker people in.
You, as a Southern Baptist, prefer the sleaze who used to go on Howard Stern’s show to discuss premature ejaculation and Paris Hilton’s sex tape.
Keep trying to tear down the faith of the Christian candidate in an effort to prop up the object of your devotion. I wouldn’t want to have to engage in the mental gymnastics necessary to try and rationalize it.
“I wouldn’t want to have to engage in the mental gymnastics necessary to try and rationalize it.”
“necessary to try” because you can’t. Jim Bakker used the same tactics — code words to shear the sheep.
“who thinks the committed Christian”?
Does Cruz mention his Christian faith when he hits up homosexual donors for money? You can bet that after Iowa he will tone it down.
I DON’T CARE!
We are not electing a preacher!
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