Will Republicans Find Their Soul?
I am not betting on it, but there is still time
One very nice thing about Christianity is that redemption is always available. You can sin up a storm and Jesus awaits with his big old (really old) cosmic arms to welcome you back into the fold. Now, that doesn’t mean you miss all of the consequences of dirty deeds, but it does mean it is never too late to do the right thing.
Take Republicans (please!). No, I mean let’s consider the GOP. They left me in 2015. I have been never-Trump since there was a Trump. I am now an Independent politically but will never vote Republican again until Trumpism is dead. This is not new news to anyone who has read my Tweets or blog.
But can the GOP be saved? Maybe if the party decides to stop worshipping Trump and returns to principles historically associated with conservatism. Don’t misunderstand, I am not sure I am thoroughly a conservative any longer. I don’t think one should be in order to get the best policies and practice for the most people. I don’t think Christians need to be aligned with any political philosophy. I think all of that is relative to time, place, and situation, but I digress.
Where I am going with this is that I want to advocate for public character as an leading indicator of sound political leadership. I say public character because I don’t really know what is in someone’s heart, but I can observe what they say and do. Using Trump as an example, there is no way anyone can say character matters and choose Trump for anything.
Divided or Tense
I am reminded of the handwringing among evangelicals over character by an interview given by Christianity Today editor Russell Moore on Face the Nation about Donald Trump’s legal troubles — most notably his liability for defamation and sexual battery against writer E. Jean Carroll. Moore said most evangelical congregations he knows are “divided or tense” about the controversies generated by Trump during his time in public life.
I like Moore and he is probably right. But it makes me angry that he is right. That’s all? Divided and tense? How about repulsed and sickened? How about angry and had enough? Why is a group of people allegedly concerned about morality so ready to support the least moral leaders out there?
Republicans can no longer use the excuse that there is a binary choice. Primaries are coming, but it is almost as if Republican voters en masse don’t care. Give us the worst you have, they shout, and here comes Donald Trump, basking in their adulation and leading in the polls.
One might complain that the other Republicans are just like Trump. However, there is one, as far as I can tell, who has consistently criticized Trump and offers an alternative. Asa Hutchinson former governor of Arkansas, an evangelical himself, sits at about 1% but seems like a viable alternative on the issues of character and election lies. Hutchinson has called for an alternative to Trump and believes it has harmed the party to push the election lies and conspiracy theories. In other words, he is touch with basic reality. Again, I am not talking about his policies or saying I favor them, but I am talking about an alternative to Trump with better character and a grasp on basic reality.
In his interview, Moore said that it appears we may be about to reexperience the madness of 2020 again. Maybe. Is it possible that the evangelical voting bloc will get religion? Can they be saved? Moore said he will never support Trump; will other evangelicals be willing to lose the world in exchange for their soul?
Another evangelical who once said he would never support Trump was Southern Baptist Seminary president Albert Mohler. In 2020, he flipped and announced he would in fact support Trump. He did this after famously saying he would have to apologize to Bill Clinton if ever he supported Trump. Read about another Christian leader who was “divided and tense” but who became wishy and washy as chronicled in these blog posts which remind us of bygone days when evangelicals really preached: Character Counts.
More Al Mohler on Bill Clinton and Public Morality
Character in Leadership - Does it still matter?
Compare What Christian Leaders Said About Bill Clinton in 1998 to Trump Endorsements Now
The answer is "No!"
The Republicans are committed to following Trump over the cliff. The only question left is whether they will take the rest of the country over with them.
The idea that a candidate’s good character and a regular Republican platform do not have to be mutually exclusive startled me, even though after reading this it seems so obvious. The House leaders in Congress have not gotten that message, nor have many of the R governors and state legislators. As a liberal, it delights me that the abortion issue has rocked all of their boats, but I try to keep that tamped down. And Ron DeSantis doesn’t fit the bill either. Like Trump, he wants to wreak vengeance on anybody, human or corporate, when they disagree with him. I read where he stepped on S. Florida’s evangelical toes with his laws about transporting undocumented immigrants. I don’t know where that stands currently. The politics of hate is exhausting though.