A retrospective analysis, based on President Trump’s four years in office.
A little over four years ago, evangelical leaders across America overwhelmingly offered up their support and advocacy for Donald Trump, largely based on the idea that a candidate’s political platform is more important than his character. In spite of being quite conservative on a number of issues, I felt that this idea was sorely wrong-headed. Especially concerning the case of the extreme character deficits of Donald Trump. Narcissistic to the point of believing only what he wants to believe, he has split this country like no other public figure in recent memory. Insisting he won an election (contrary to all evidence), he urged his loyalists to take this ‘rigged’ election back, inciting a mob to swarm the Capitol, resulting in five deaths. (Ironic that he thought voter fraud was perpetrated by the left. If I were to guess who would be the most likely person to attempt to cheat the system, based on their character, it would be Donald Trump!)
I’m sure Trump’s evangelical supporters would cite his loyalty to the anti-abortion platform, appointing and confirming two conservative Supreme Court Justices. Yet his pushing through the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett at the end of his term gave the Democrats just the justification needed to pack the court if they should later so choose (Trump commented that winning elections, i.e, control of the Senate, carried with it the benefit of doing as they should so choose). Did Trump ever care about the death of unborn children? I believe he adopted the anti-abortion stance just so he could secure a large voting block from Catholics and Evangelicals.
And what about his leadership during Covid? I think there is something seriously wrong that America, arguably the most developed, most technologically proficient country in the world, leads the world in total infections and total deaths! Yes, the infection numbers in other countries, and even deaths attributed to Covid may not be as accurately counted in these countries, but consider India. It has three times the population, yet has experienced only approximately 40% of the infections and deaths that we have. Even accounting for what might be poorer tracking and statistics in India, we should have done far better. But to Trump, Covid was initially, “no big deal”. He and Pence flaunted the idea of not wearing masks, setting the worst example imaginable for the general public during this crisis….resulting in far many more deaths than what might have been. And it is my belief that during the last six months he has had little on his mind but his reelection. That’s the way it is when you elect someone for whose whole life has been characterized almost solely by his own self advancement. How would you ever expect someone like this to place the well-being of the citizenry above his own? He couldn’t even be loyal to those who had displayed almost fawning loyalty to him the moment they no longer played to his liking. (He called Mike Pence a coward the moment when Pence chose to do what was absolutely required of him by our constitution).
The unconditional support of Trump has greatly, in my opinion, sullied the reputation and character of evangelical leaders and evangelicals as a whole. Being an evangelical, I am greatly angry and disappointed with these church leaders, many well-known. I believe they need to issue an apology to their followers and to the American people as a whole. And what about those eight Senators and 147 House members who called on Congress to actually overturn the results of the election – overturning the democratic process itself, presumably for reelection’s sake?!!! I feel they should be campaigned against the next time they come up for reelection, regardless of who’s running against them. It doesn’t matter who’s running against them…anyone who hasn’t sold their soul like they have is OK with me.
As for a candidate’s platform being primary, there will always be situations, threats, difficulties which cannot be predicted, and a president’s handling of them will depend on more than what he outlined in his plans for his administration. His preparation, experience, knowledge, wisdom, and character will be called into play.
It’s very hard to really know some people’s character….what really matters to them, what they are willing to risk or sacrifice to do the right thing. The best we can do is look at their history, their behavior, and try to see if their actions have shown self-sacrifice or self-promotion: respect and concern for others or indifference, apathy, or even antipathy: leadership qualities like wisdom in one’s decisions, or failures due to lack of vision, etc. In Donald Trump’s case however, a great deal of his character could be readily seen from his past, and even in his campaign rhetoric and behavior. There was no excuse for putting him forward as a candidate for the Presidency, and even less for the kind of unconditional support he received from some quarters. Character was supposed to be unimportant. Character matters maybe more than anything in a candidate.