Evangelical support for Donald Trump is mind boggling to many
Pastor of First Baptist Dallas Dr. Robert Jeffress explains as normal the hypocrisy of evangelical support for Donald Trump. If one examines Donald Trump’s life from greed to personal proclivities, he is entirely anathema to the evangelical base. Yet, he has strong support from said base of voters. In fact that support surpasses the support garnered by Ted Cruz, whose father himself is an evangelical preacher.
This should be no surprise. After all, were the Pharisees not evangelicals that wore their religion on there sleeves? Didn’t Dave Ramsey redefine Christianity when he said that it is heresy to deny that God entitles the rich? It seems Trump is rich enough to earn their vote unquestioned.
Jeffress was asked to explain the Iowa caucuses given the importance of evangelicals in the Republican race. He said the split support between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump illustrates the divide between the evangelical idealists and the evangelical pragmatists. He said those who want their leader to be a strong leader and also a strong Christian, whose faith dictated their actions, would support Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Ben Carson. He said the pragmatists, who just want a strong leader who will fix the economy, generally gravitate to Donald Trump. He said they understand that they have not even been able to nominate let alone elect evangelicals.
It is ironic that they are never willing to give the benefit of the doubt to President Obama. Neither are they pragmatic with Planned Parenthood which materially make women’s ( and men’s) lives much better including many in his base.
Robert Jeffress appears rather pragmatic in the interview. He is however the vile preacher who in a rather crude video message to his followers, maligned Muslims as he spewed an unchristian like hate.