David Barton Complains Leopard Ate His Face

It's Trump's party and you'll cry if he wants you to.

You know the meme:

I bet Christian nationalist leaders David Barton, Tony Perkins and their pro-life compadres never thought Donald Trump would shapeshift on them. And surely, they never thought he would get all totalitarian on them. Well, here’s a sad story of face eating leopards eating faces.

With wrinkled brow, Barton wrote a concerned op-ed for Glenn Beck’s The Blaze website about the heavy-handed, undemocratic tactics Trump’s forces used with the GOP platform committee this past Sunday night. Listen to just some of what happened according to Barton:

We knew that the Trump campaign was working in several states to get hand-picked delegates on the platform committee, blocking other elected delegates, and even at times holding unauthorized parallel conventions where campaign officials didn't follow GOP guidelines or rules to achieve their goals. In many cases, these delegates were more loyal to the campaign than to the process.

Trump not following the rules to select delegates? Where have I heard that before? Something about alternate electors, perhaps? What Trump failed to do in 2020 with his fake elector scheme, he found much easier to do in his own party.

Barton noted that C-Span was not allowed to cover the proceedings as they had in the past, and then things got worse.

Each delegate entering the room the next morning to begin work on the platform was required to place his or her phone and smart watch in a sealed Faraday bag that only the RNC or campaign staff could open. In fact, when one committee member later took out his computer to make notes for himself, eight staffers and two security guards came over and physically took his computer from him. Yet the RNC and campaign staffers were allowed to retain and use their phones and devices.

At least 50 RNC staffers lined the walls. They walked around watching and monitoring delegates as if we were schoolchildren locked in detention, ensuring no one was using a hidden phone or computer.

I don’t know about you, but I would begin to sense the leopard getting near me about then. It gets crazier.

Whenever a vote was taking place, the campaign had a staffer at the front who walked around holding up a sign that read, “Vote Yes,” instructing campaign-picked delegates how to vote on each issue. One first-time delegate asked a seatmate why they were doing that. The response: “They don’t think you’re smart enough to think for yourself.”

Our traditional values side never had more than 29 votes against the campaign’s strong-arm efforts. The intimidation was simply too much. In fact, when votes were taken, staffers took pictures of delegates who voted against the campaign and the RNC’s heavy-handed process.

Note the distinction Barton makes between the “traditional values side” and “the campaign.” Barton gives away the truth that he doesn’t see the campaign and his side as being the same. Perhaps he hoped by aligning with the candidate that eats people’s face, he would save face. Most likely, a picture of his actual face was taken by one of the Trump staffers. I’m surprised he wrote this op-ed. You know what they say about snitches.

Turn the Page

Barton may have tried to make up with another op-ed he wrote with Steve Deace and Ryan Walters. Deace is a talk show host and Walters is the Superintendent of Education in Oklahoma. They wrote a full-throated endorsement of the platform and Trump campaign in the Washington Times.

The trio of Christian nationalists mainly appeal to readers on the basis of Trump’s conservative court appointments. They summarize their position this way:

Mr. Trump’s track record of appointing strong, conservative judicial candidates underscores his alignment with evangelical values. His vision to “make America great again” is not just a political slogan but a call to restore America’s Christian heritage since its greatness came from the Christian faith that inspired her. He will end diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He will make sure that we put America first. He will end atheism as a state-run religion. He will protect those who still believe in faith, family and freedom. For evangelicals, his administration stands as the only viable option for those of us who value religious freedom and the sanctity of life.

Even though Barton, faceless because of his run in with the leopard, experienced first-hand the dishonesty and bullying of the Trump campaign, he is still willing to recommend it as a Christian good. Out of one side of his face, he laments the break with tradition, the dishonesty, and the disregard for the rules; out if the other, he says Trump is a great defender of Christian heritage.

This is the deal that Barton and many Christian nationalists want us to make. In order for help from the regime to enact their moral views into law, they will put up with a totalitarian, face eating regime. This platform episode displays the deal in real time. Barton and his colleagues can be intimidated into being good comrades because they believe they get something out of the deal. Even if the new Trump government is a little autocratic, at least maybe the apparatchiks will have the ear of Dear Leader when he comes into his kingdom.

I hope you can see the problem. It’s a foolish and ultimately self-defeating bargain. You never know what a dictatorial leader will ask you to do next. And the ruler won’t spare his followers if they appear to be in his way. But one thing you do know: the leopard will eat your face. No faces are safe and now Barton knows it. He’s must feel too committed to back out. And judging from these two op-eds, he seems to have two faces. He still has the Washington Times face.

For now.