We're told that more than a quarter of Republican leaders have abandoned Donald Trump, either out of principle or pragmatism, Many are disgusted by his misogyny and lies, while others are afraid that the growing voter disenchantment will affect their campaigns.
Where is Trump holding strong? With evangelicals, including some of the supposed leaders of that peculiar brand of American Christian. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist icon Billy, had proven himself to be a nut long before the campaign began, declaring his support for Russia's Vladimir Putin. Jerry Falwell was no prize, but his son Jerry Jr. makes his old man look like a moderate. Nothing seems to shake his determination to support Mussolini...excuse me, Trump. Apparently Falwell commented "five years from now, no one will remember what horrible things Donald Trump said about women."
Others haven't budged on their Trumpolatry, and rank and file evangelicals are evenly split in their support even after hearing the hideous things he said about sexually assaulting women. They claim he's a different man now. Where is that evident?
To be fair, there are a fair number of evangelicals who didn't support Trump from the get-go, and in the past week a very few others have withdrawn their support.
In my opinion irreparable harm has been done to conservative Christianity in the United States. It no longer has anything to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has aligned itself with the harsh, "despise the other" politics of the Republican party. Actually, the credibility of a country where "Make America Grope Again" is now the punchline has been deeply harmed around the world.
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It is the same group of evangelicals who "forgave" Jimmy Swaggart after his indiscretions and claimed him to be a "changed man"; they just find it impossible to admit they made a bad judgment call in the first place...
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