One of my Republican friends in America refused to vote for Trump in 2016. And she’ll probably refuse to vote the way many Republicans will in 2020 too. She couldn’t vote for Trump. She couldn’t vote for a man who routinely disrespects and insults his rivals. She couldn’t write Donald Trump’s name on her ballot—she couldn’t vote for a man whose character is inconsistent with conservative values.
She refused to vote for Trump because of her principles, not his policies. She mostly agrees with Trump’s policies. She’s an evangelical. And that’s why she refused to vote for Hilary Clinton too. Donald Trump’s character is disappointing, but Hilary Clinton’s character is worse.
Some of Donald Trump’s words are disrespectful to women. Some of Hilary Clinton’s words and policies are disrespectful to women. So she refused to vote for the lesser evil, and she voted for neither. She voted for a write-in candidate.
She did the right thing. It was a difficult choice. She believed that not voting for Trump could hurt America. But she couldn’t betray her conscience. I admire her for that.
One of my other Republican friends in America gladly voted for Trump. And he’ll probably vote the same way many Republicans will in 2020 too. He had to vote for Trump. He had to vote for the only man who had the courage to pushback against the Democrats and the media for routinely disrespecting and insulting conservatives. He had to write Donald Trump’s name on his ballot—he had to vote for the person who was most consistent with his conservative values.
Donald Trump is more conservative than Hilary Clinton. Trump is pro-life, Clinton is not. He voted for Trump’s policies because they are more aligned with his principles. Donald Trump’s character is disappointing, but Hilary Clinton’s character is worse. And voting for neither candidates in his swing state would get the greater evil elected. He had to choose between the lesser evil, and he voted for Trump.
He did the right thing. It was a difficult choice. He believed voting for the lesser evil could hurt America. But he couldn’t betray his conscience. I admire him for that.
Refusing to vote for Trump isn’t a bad thing, depending on the reasoning, it could be a righteous choice. And voting for Trump isn’t a bad thing, depending on the reasoning, it could be a righteous choice too.
My two friends are godly American citizens who do not share the same beliefs about their president. But they are citizens of heaven, and they share the same faith about their King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And yet, sometimes, instead of acting like Christ toward each other, they act like their president—insulting each other to defend themselves.
And it appears to me that there’s a temptation among many evangelical Trump voters to justify many of his moral failures. There are evangelicals like Jerry Falwell Jr. who appear to have sold their souls to become ambassadors for Trump, not Christ. Sacrificing your principles for your president isn’t worth the cheap applause.
On the other hand, there are evangelicals like Mark Galli, the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, whose ‘never-Trump’ bias appears to be clouding his judgement. Yesterday, he shared that Trump should be removed from office following the impeachment.
In the article, Galli appears to embrace the Democrats talking points. He suggests in the article (and in interviews) it’s obvious Trump is guilty of “attempting to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents.” Except, it’s not obvious at all. It’s an accusation without credible evidence. It’s a subjective opinion without an apparent attempt for objective thinking.
This impeachment is the first partisan impeachment in American history. And if Galli was less partisan he would at least reserve judgement until the impeach process and the investigation was complete. Galli is receiving the inevitable cheap applause from regressives and leftists this morning.
But if Christianity Today’s ‘never-Trump’ positions are grounded in biblical morality, they’ve betrayed the biblical principle of refusing to condemn a person—especially the president of the United states—without credible evidence and without the opportunity to defend himself.
In doing so, Mark Galli and Christianity Today have sacrificed their principles against the president. And though my two friends do not agree on voting for Trump, they agree that we shouldn’t sacrifice our Christian principles for or against Trump.