{"id":131749,"date":"2016-10-08T08:22:05","date_gmt":"2016-10-08T14:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/08\/evangelical-trump-supporters-believe-the-ends-justify-the-means.html"},"modified":"2016-10-08T08:22:05","modified_gmt":"2016-10-08T14:22:05","slug":"evangelical-trump-supporters-believe-the-ends-justify-the-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/08\/evangelical-trump-supporters-believe-the-ends-justify-the-means.html","title":{"rendered":"Evangelical Trump supporters believe the ends justify the means"},"content":{"rendered":"

It should come as no surprise that some folk on the Religious Right are more than happy to handwave aside Donald Trump's released remarks about sexual predation. They've been making excuses for backing him since he came on the scene and started climbing in the polls, even in the face of repeated rudeness, aggression, narcissism, and lying.<\/p>\n

Take Ralph Reed, one-time head of the "Christian Coalition," and present head of Donald Trump's "religious advisory board": <\/p>\n

"I've listened to the tape. My view is that people of faith are voting for president on issues like who will defend and protect unborn life, defund Planned Parenthood, grow the economy and create jobs, oppose the Iran nuclear deal. I think a 10-year-old tape of a private conversation with a TV talk show host ranks pretty low on their hierarchy of their concerns."<\/i><\/p>\n

And he may be right. Polling shows 80% of white evangelicals support Trump.<\/p>\n

And there's even a pragmatic aspect of this that can be justified. If those issues are the most important things for you, then Trump's private, or even public, behavior should rank pretty low.<\/p>\n

The problem is, the Religious Right, since its founding, has hammered away on the idea of "character." On the urgent need for candidates to be people of faith, to lead moral and upright lives. Character was the foundation of moral leadership. <\/p>\n

Ralph Reed was right in the forefront of that. He was an active commentator during the Bill Clinton scandals in the early mid-late 90s, decrying along with the rest of his crew the lack of "character" that Bill Clinton had, and that's why they opposed him.<\/p>\n

But it's twenty years later, and character is less important than defunding Planned Parenthood. Donald Trump being a sexual predator is trivial compared to his promise to kibosh the Iran nuclear deal. The ends justify the means, just the way Jesus taught. Except that he didn't.<\/p>\n

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36)<\/p>\n

And what shall it profit a movement if they gain all their policy positions, but lose their own soul in doing so?<\/p>\n

(FWIW, while there are a number of other voices in this article echoing Reed, there are other social conservatives quoted who aren't as realpolitik<\/i> as he is.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\n<\/a>
\nHead of Trump’s religious advisory board dismisses vulgar remarks<\/a><\/span>
\nThe head of Donald Trump’s religious advisory board on Friday shrugged off incendiary comments made by the GOP presidential nominee a decade ago in which he bragged about being able to grope women.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It should come as no surprise that some folk on the Religious Right are more than happy to handwave aside Donald Trump's released remarks about sexual predation. They've been making excuses for backing him since he came on the scene and started climbing in the polls, even in the face of repeated rudeness, aggression, narcissism, … Continue reading “Evangelical Trump supporters believe the ends justify the means”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132580,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/19\/the-tape-delay-president.html","url_meta":{"origin":131749,"position":0},"title":"The Tape-Delay President?","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 19-Jan-17 6:54am","format":false,"excerpt":"Given that people hang on Donald Trump's every tweet as voices screaming out like Monsters from the Id, the dangers of someone hacking Trump's account and posting something that could crash the stock market or send missiles flying can't be completely discounted.[1] That said, I'm not sure we need or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131800,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/15\/on-the-religious-right-and-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":131749,"position":1},"title":"On the Religious Right and Trump","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 15-Oct-16 4:22pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't agree with most of Ross Douthat's points here -- that older social conservatives were more enthusiastic about Ted Cruz than Donald Trump doesn't make me think better of them; quite the opposite. But it's worth noting that he makes a few good observations. Not all religious conservatives are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131774,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/11\/the-useful-axiom-that-there-is-no-such-thing-as-rock-bottom.html","url_meta":{"origin":131749,"position":2},"title":""The useful axiom that there is no such thing as rock bottom"","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 11-Oct-16 7:29am","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not sure I can think of a policy topic where I've agreed with George F. Will in many, many years (if ever). But I can do little but admire his systematic takedown here of, not just Trump, but the Republican politicos and pundits who so eagerly backed him, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130939,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/22\/the-pastor-the-presumptive-and-the-playboy.html","url_meta":{"origin":131749,"position":3},"title":"The Pastor, the Presumptive, and the Playboy","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 22-Jun-16 6:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Religious Right leader Jerry Falwall Jr was tickled to introduce Donald Trump at an evangelical summit today. So tickled, he had a picture taken in Trump's office of himself, Trump, Becki Falwell ... oh, and a framed edition of Trump's 1990 cover shot in Playboy.http:\/\/www.dailydot.com\/lol\/donald-trump-playboy-magazine-jerry-falwell-jr\/I'm not bothered myself by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Trump%2BPlayboy.PNGimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135415,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/26\/religious-freedom-freedom-oppress-religious-opinions.html","url_meta":{"origin":131749,"position":4},"title":"When “religious freedom” is “freedom to oppress other religious opinions”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Nov-17 11:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, who is truly surprised that Donald Trump -- a man with few truly definable religious opinions -- is more than happy to garner political support by nominating a theocratic zany to the federal bench? \u201cReligious Freedom\u201d Proponent Jeff Mateer Is the Most Dangerous of Trump\u2019s Judicial Nominees Mateer defends\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/unnamed-5.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135622,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/12\/vigorously-denying-president.html","url_meta":{"origin":131749,"position":5},"title":"The Vigorously Denying President","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 12-Dec-17 3:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The #metoo resurgence of accusations against sexual misconductors has led to a resurgence of previously made accusations against Donald Trump. These were mostly raised during the presidential campaign (and indirectly supported by Trump's reprehensible Access Hollywood tape), but amidst general disbelief that Trump would get anywhere near the White House,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Sarah-Huckabee-Sanders-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131749\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}