Patterico's Pontifications

1/9/2020

Lincoln Project Releases Video Aimed At “MAGA Church”

Filed under: General — Dana @ 12:17 pm



[guest post by Dana]

In response to Christianity Today’s call for Trump’s removal from office, the President said, in part, that “no President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close.” As I’ve written before, it’s astounding that evangelicals have easily justified their support of Trump, in spite of his obvious lack of a functioning moral compass and foundational principles. In the summation of Franklin Graham, support for Trump is acceptable because the end justifies the means. I have written about the Evangelical community’s disturbing justification of Trump a number of times. In part:

But how to explain the moral compromise by those whose bread and butter isn’t politics but is instead serving in the house of God? One would think that these individuals would be free from any need of approval by President Trump, or any need to be in his good graces. After all, shouldn’t loyalty to God and the principles He lays out for believers supersede all else? With that, the past two years have been a season of having it repeatedly driven home that we all have feet of clay. Yet it’s not just the elected officials of faith who have meekly fallen in line while clutching the levers of power, it’s also those who stand in pulpits across the nation, telling us how to live while speaking out of both sides of their mouth. Like Franklin Graham:

Franklin Graham, who is the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham and a prominent supporter of President Trump, slammed Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg for being gay, Christian and married. In a series of three tweets Wednesday, he assailed Buttigieg for remarks he has made about being a gay Christian.

“Presidential candidate & South Bend Mayor @PeteButtigieg is right—God doesn’t have a political party,” Graham wrote. “But God does have commandments, laws & standards He gives us to live by. God doesn’t change. His Word is the same yesterday, today & forever.”

Then, Graham added, “Mayor Buttigieg says he’s a gay Christian. As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized. The Bible says marriage is between a man & a woman—not two men, not two women.”

Here’s the thing: It’s just a bit rich when an Evangelical pastor uses his bully pulpit to point out one man’s sin, while ignoring another man’s sin because that other individual is the guy he’s put his reputation on the line for and thrown his support behind.

The Evangelical church has consistently ignored Trump’s sins, or worse, rationalized them while at the same time condemning those across the political aisle for their sins. God is an equal-opportunity condemner of sin, no matter how the individual votes. Not so in the Evangelical community.

Anyway, the Lincoln Project, a group whose mission is to “defeat President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box,” and whose advisers include George Conway, Steve Schmidt, and Rick Wilson, among others, has released its first video targeting the “MAGA Church” and the relationship between Trump and the Evangelical church. According to the Lincoln Project, the video is “highlighting the hypocrisy of those who claim the mantle of Jesus while supporting or ignoring President Donald Trump’s immoral acts”:

Clearly Trump needs the continued support of the Evangelical community. However, with 26% of the electorate being Evangelicals, I don’t see it decreasing anytime soon. While I find the video choppy, inartfully done, and obnoxious enough to want to turn it off quickly, we are already three years into a Trump administration, with a nation severely polarized as a result. Thus, I have to wonder exactly whose mind they think this will change.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

54 Responses to “Lincoln Project Releases Video Aimed At “MAGA Church””

  1. Ugh all the way around.

    Dana (643cd6)

  2. My mom, an evangelist minister, passed away suddenly overseas in June 2016. We never had a chance to talk about Trump, but I’ve always wondered if she would have been taken in by his con.

    I have some confidence that the answer is no, as she was quite sharp and I think Trump’s vulgarity and crass insincerity in matters of faith would have put her off. She was very slow to trust anyone outside the extended community of evangelicals that she moved in. On the other hand, she probably would have agreed with most of Trump’s schtick, so who knows…

    Dave (f97271)

  3. “we are already three years into a Trump administration, with a nation severely polarized as a result.”

    Everyone who was born sometime in the past three years probably agrees.

    Munroe (dd6b64)

  4. Your point, I guess, that the polarization started long before Trump. Quite true, but he revels in it and exploits it unlike any before him.

    JRH (14e837)

  5. #4

    Your point, I guess, that the polarization started long before Trump. Quite true, but he revels in it and exploits it unlike any before him.

    JRH (14e837) — 1/9/2020 @ 2:00 pm

    The Democrats in Obama era exploited the polarization (and racial!) relentlessly. So, in my view, Trump’s actions is “more of the same”.

    whembly (fd57f6)

  6. As I’ve written before, it’s astounding that evangelicals have easily justified their support of Trump

    Evangelicals as a group are a little more complex than the WWJD, pop-culture, send me your money versions in that video. And also in some ways less. I’m not sure it’s even something that can be discussed in a group of more than 3 people and not offend all of them in some way. It’s more complex than “hypocritical Christians” although that’s going on too.

    I’m not that astounded though. In the same way that people joke about Clinton being the first black president, I’d say Trump is the first evangelical.

    If you’re in the astounded group do you think you know the difference between the Religious Right, the Moral Majority, and Evangelicals? I’m not really asking for an answer. It’s more if I said those groups are different to what degree would you agree.

    Some of this can be explained as a version of the two men that went into the temple to pray or in terms of Matthew or Paul’s origin story.

    But the real question is does anyone really want to understand the issue or is this just a case of wanting to manipulate people? The people that made that video are certainly doing that second thing.

    frosty (f27e97)

  7. Why would a christian vote for a baby killing organ harvester catholic like Pelosi?

    mg (8cbc69)

  8. Franklin Graham.

    The only bigger azz is stitched to the butt end of the King Kong exhibit at Universal Orlando.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  9. Hey Frosty, I agree with you again. I’ll add that there are policy issues where I disagree with the christian voters. I used to feel that even though I though they were wrong about a values issue (Access to BC for instance) i could at least respect that they were adhering to a principle. Maybe not on I shared, but I could respect people who made decision based on morals and values. The way Trump has been supported and glorified has pretty much eliminated that for me. Now when someone says they support a position for moral reasons I don’t believe them. I don’t think that matters much, except that I don’t think I’m the only person who doesn’t believe Christians are motivated by religious principles in their politics anymore.

    Time123 (235fc4)

  10. @5 shocking that you think Trump’s behavior is an appropriate response.

    Time123 (235fc4)

  11. ‘…it’s astounding that evangelicals have easily justified their support of Trump, in spite of his obvious lack of a functioning moral compass and foundational principles.’

    There’s nothing “astounding” about it; ‘evangelicals’ oppose everything that’s immoral, illegal or fattening– until it services their agenda.

    “I have here in my pocket – and thank heaven you can’t see them – lewd, dirty, obscene, and I’m ashamed to say this: French postcards. They were sold to me in front of your own innocent high school by a man with a black beard… a foreigner.” – Elmer Gantry [Burt Lancaster] ‘Elmer Gantry’ 1960

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  12. Why would a christian vote for a baby killing organ harvester catholic like Pelosi

    Why would a Christian vote for a man whose agenda is based on “hate your neighbor”?

    Kishnevi (8f80b4)

  13. I got that video in my email as the setup for a fundraising appeal. I didn’t watch it, but the context in which it was placed suggests converting Evangelicals to the Truth may not be its primary object.

    Kishnevi (8f80b4)

  14. The MAGA Church isn’t a patch on the TDS Church:

    Tom Elliott
    @tomselliott
    Chris Matthews: Soleimani killing on par with deaths of Elvis, Princess Diana
    __ _

    Lt. Col. Griddle
    @JimmyGriddle
    ·
    Yeah, I remember when Elvis planted that roadside IED and tried to take out The Beatles.

    _

    harkin (d6cfee)

  15. @7 This is one of my favorites; dear evangelicals we’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is we’ve got a reliable candidate for you. The bad news is they are guaranteed to actively promote things you’re against like baby-killing and you paying for baby-killing. You don’t like that? You want to roll the dice on this smooth-talking carnival barker making all these promises? Three years later; but isn’t gambling a sin?

    frosty (f27e97)

  16. I think there are evangelicals who are not blind to Trump’s flaws and who support him only for policy reasons. Jim Bakke was widely derided for saying only a Christian could love Trump, but I think he was misrepresented. I think what he meant was that Trump is such a flawed person that only a Christian trying to put the Gospel into practice, trying to sincerely love even the worst of us, could love Trump.

    Kishnevi (8f80b4)

  17. ‘Jim Bakke[r] was widely derided for saying only a Christian could love Trump, but I think he was misrepresented.’

    Another thieving, jailbird charlatan.

    Let’s ask Jessica Hahn.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  18. Let’s try a venn diagram.

    Draw a circle representing that segment of the population who detract and mock evangelicals.

    Draw another circle representing those who detract and mock Trump Deplorables.

    Do the two circles intersect? To what extent? Does the area of intersection dwarf the other part?

    Munroe (dd6b64)

  19. Time123 (235fc4) — 1/9/2020 @ 3:46 pm

    A cynical person might say that if you play the separation of church and state card long enough, that if you mock the idea of using your faith to guide your political decisions and do everything you can to push moral relativism you just might convince some people. A cynical person might have a comment about karma.

    I’m not a cynical person but you know people and you hear things, etc.

    frosty (f27e97)

  20. It is simple. Trump won’t jail evangelicals because of their religious practices. Every time some lefty prosecutor lines up another cake baker, Trump gets another voter.

    The lefts desire to criminalize hate speech is seen as aimed at evangelicals as well.

    Frank (ab57c6)

  21. 13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

    14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

    15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.Matthew 23:13-15 (KJV)

    16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

    nk (dbc370)

  22. Sorry. Scripture deserves to be quoted more cleanly:

    13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

    14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

    15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

    16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
    — Matthew 23:13-16 (KJV)

    nk (dbc370)

  23. hating your neighbor is not a mortal sin, whereas killing babies…
    and then to harvest the organs of these babies, the democrats own this.

    mg (8cbc69)

  24. #10

    @5 shocking that you think Trump’s behavior is an appropriate response.

    Time123 (235fc4) — 1/9/2020 @ 3:47 pm

    You may find it shocking that I didn’t say that was appropriate.

    whembly (c30c83)

  25. Time123 (235fc4) — 1/9/2020 @ 3:46 pm

    A cynical person might say that if you play the separation of church and state card long enough, that if you mock the idea of using your faith to guide your political decisions and do everything you can to push moral relativism you just might convince some people. A cynical person might have a comment about karma.

    I’m not a cynical person but you know people and you hear things, etc.

    frosty (f27e97) — 1/9/2020 @ 4:40 pm

    I get nihilism. But it makes the argument “we feel we should do this because it follows the teachings of Jesus” unpersuasive.

    Take a guy like Mike Pence. Before Trump I’d have said he was a moral man whose behavior I could reliably predict because it’s based on faith. Where i disagreed with is his policies, such as gay conversion, I could at least respect that they were based on his deep commitment to biblical teaching. I could, potentially, support a man like that.

    Now I don’t think his policies or decisions are at all bound by Jesus’s teachings. I can’t support him. I might vote for him as a least bad choice, but I don’t respect him.

    Again, I’m one vote, but I don’t think I’m the only person that feels this way.

    Time123 (66d88c)

  26. @24, did I misunderstand you? Wasn’t your point that Trump’s behavior is justified and appropriate? If I’ve got it wrong, what was your point?

    Time123 (66d88c)

  27. There’s a big gulf between the people (possibly some on this thread) who say “Trump may be a bad person but he is doing good things” and the peroxide blonde collection plate specialists who say “To say ‘no’ to President Trump would be saying ‘no’ to God”, as well. Possibly as wide as the gulf between Abraham and the rich man in the parable of Lazarus.

    nk (dbc370)

  28. @24, did I misunderstand you? Wasn’t your point that Trump’s behavior is justified and appropriate? If I’ve got it wrong, what was your point?

    He said Trumpism was a predictable response. Which is not the same as appropriate.

    But I disagree with his characterization of the Democrats as relentless racebaiters. That is really talk radio myth that was useful as a way of avoiding talking about the actual issues involved.

    Kishnevi (8f80b4)

  29. @25 I find it hard to believe that you were ever someone who accepted “I’m a Christian trust me” at face value.

    I also don’t believe for a minute that prior to Trump

    whose behavior I could reliably predict because it’s based on faith.

    such a simple calculus would be something you routinely did.

    frosty (f27e97)

  30. #26

    @24, did I misunderstand you? Wasn’t your point that Trump’s behavior is justified and appropriate? If I’ve got it wrong, what was your point?

    Time123 (66d88c) — 1/9/2020 @ 5:30 pm

    My point was that Trumpism divisiveness isn’t new.

    Democrats/Obama/lefty media were exceptionally divisive during Obama’s Presidency.

    That is, polarization has been just as bad then as it is now.

    That’s not an endorsement…merely an observation.

    It’s going to take a very special politician(s) to tone down these polarizations…and that ain’t Trump.

    whembly (c30c83)

  31. nk (dbc370) — 1/9/2020 @ 5:32 pm

    I’m pretty sure Matthew 7:21 et seq applies to those folks.

    I got curious and went down the rabbit hole of Protestant commentaries on Matthew 23:16. Amazing how so many of them couldn’t get basic facts right (a lot of them seemed to think the Priests and the Pharisees were one and the same group. They weren’t. A lot of priests were in fact Sadducees.) To illustrate the use of “by the Temple” one of them gives three instances in which the phrase was used to drive home the truth of something or which was a vow that was fulfilled–exactly opposite of the Gospel’s point. Some caught on to the idea that Jesus was duscouraging the use of oaths. Ironically, that was a point the Pharisees (and modern Judaism) were fairly insistent on. Don’t make a vow or oath, and if you do, make sure you keep it or have it annulled.

    Kishnevi (8f80b4)

  32. #28

    @24, did I misunderstand you? Wasn’t your point that Trump’s behavior is justified and appropriate? If I’ve got it wrong, what was your point?

    He said Trumpism was a predictable response. Which is not the same as appropriate.

    Correct.

    But I disagree with his characterization of the Democrats as relentless racebaiters. That is really talk radio myth that was useful as a way of avoiding talking about the actual issues involved.

    Kishnevi (8f80b4) — 1/9/2020 @ 5:50 pm

    I lived 15 minutes away from Ferguson, MO during the riots.

    Have people forget how much democrat, media…and yes, Obama added fuel to that fire?

    What George Zimmerman? Especially early on when folks tried to peg him as white, in efforts to drum up a racial narrative?

    Have we forgotten already?

    I’m not saying Trump shouldn’t be criticized here…he should be. But, don’t forget history here either.

    Which is my point: The divisiveness, tribal/racial/whatever has been bad for a long time. It really went up several notches during Dubya’s administration and never looked back.

    whembly (c30c83)

  33. Matthew 7:21
    21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (KJV)

    Yes.

    nk (dbc370)

  34. I have nothing kind to say about Pence. From what I have seen of his public behavior, I believe his personal propriety to be due more to timidity and under-active glands than to morality. He is a flatterer and a sycophant.

    nk (dbc370)

  35. @23 But hating your neighbor is a mortal sin. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P81.HTM

    Nic (896fdf)

  36. The New Trumpian Edition Bible translation of the Beatitudes:

    Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they will be weak enough to absorb my every contradiction.

    Blessed are those who moan and whine, for they will find their standard-bearer in me.
    Blessed are the meek, for they will never have the pride or dignity to dare challenge the rule of Ignorance.

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for self-righteous establishmentarianism, for they will be sated almost to the point of vomiting.

    Blessed are the merciless, for they will be granted endless objects of hatred by the GOP’s conservative media flunkies.

    Blessed are the pure in self-imposed naïveté, for they will see in a piggish court jester a divine being without flaw.

    Blessed are those who mistake physical comfort and pain-avoidance for peace, for they will be granted a leader too cowardly and stupid to resist tyranny.

    Blessed are those who are ridiculed for their cultish idolatry, for they will own the future of Progressive America.

    Blessed are you when people criticize you, beg you to think, and correctly describe you as hypocritical groupies because of your blind submission to me.

    Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Uniparty heaven, for in this same way the infidels (i.e., principled constitutional conservatives) criticized all the dupes of the Republican establishment who came before you.

    Daren Jonescu (2f5857)

  37. R.I.P. Edd Byrnes

    ‘Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb…’

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT9QZBGyXjU

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  38. Obama administration led by rod rosenstein secretly and illegally spied on then cbs reporter cheryl attkinson for being “too” conservative!

    asset (baebef)

  39. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/272249?fbclid=IwAR399b6_tBQfYY0KAgQbFASHYdbr871Zp3kbot4afpV2IrrXgk-CCalUB_M
    with these ingrates in congress – soon churches will be a thing of the past.

    mg (8cbc69)

  40. 20. It is simple. Trump won’t jail evangelicals because of their religious practices. Every time some lefty prosecutor lines up another cake baker, Trump gets another voter.

    We have a winner! I have seen a number of the faith community interviewed, attempting to show them as hopelessly ignorant, Amish type ludites. But in the 2 minute interview, what comes out, is Trump is keeping the leftist hostile,’destroy any religion (except Muslim ((because they will kill you)) at bay, and works to Protect a every persons ability to worship as they wish.

    Most everybody is overthinking this.

    BTW when did “access to birthcontrol” morph into “birthcontrol is a Constitutional Right, which requires the Federal government provide free to all”? I cant think of a single politician that floated the idea of banning birthcontrol.

    iowan2 (9c8856)

  41. In my opinion, the people that ad will move are not Evangelical Christians. If it aimed to do that, I believe it missed it’s mark.

    It might, however, get the attention of swing voters. They may be targeting moderates…. those voters who may otherwise be convinced to tolerate Trump but dislike religious radicals, their hypocrisy and Trump’s alliance with them.

    noel (f22371)

  42. As with the above comments, I have heard plenty of my fellow Pro-lifers justify supporting Trump because of the issue of abortion. You can support a President that is Pro-life without supporting THIS president. He should be removed.

    noel (f22371)

  43. He should be removed.

    Just 20 little votes. Just 20 little men who can be big men for once in their lives and make history. But the games the Democrats are playing is making it more and more difficult for them.

    And that’s the way it is, this 23rd day of the #FakeImpeachment.

    nk (dbc370)

  44. @29

    it Came up in a local election not too long ago. My options were
    Candidate that I felt was too socially conservative but who had business policies I liked and was competent.
    Candidate that I mostly agreed with on social issues but wanted to spend money in ways I didn’t like and was competent.
    Candidates that had no reasonable chance of winning.

    I voted for the social conservative, donated 100$ their campaign and put their sign in my yard. We had some areas of disagreement, but I could respect them, and I felt they were honest. I don’t know that I’d make the same call today. Again, I’m not influential, but I don’t think I’m the only person that thinks this way.

    Time123 (66d88c)

  45. Time123 (66d88c) — 1/10/2020 @ 7:38 am

    If you had a do-over would you pick the spender or the one with no chance?

    frosty (f27e97)

  46. Original headline:

    An Iranian General Dies In US Attack And Innocents Suffer

    Then it became this w no correction added:

    As Iran And US Step Back From The Brink, Canada Grieves

    The church of TDS thrives on the uninformed.

    Meanwhile they continue to eat their own:

    Gabriel Sherman
    @gabrielsherman
    There’s something super disconcerting hearing NPR anchors talk about Trump in that soothing NPR voice. Normalizes Trump in a way that he shouldn’t be.
    __ _

    Carl Bradley
    @CarlDBradley
    .
    Right. Because as every journalism student knows- BIAS is the bedrock of proper reporting. Level headed sharing of information is for dopes.
    __ _

    FieldRoamer
    @FieldRoamer
    ·
    Some anti-Trump people are crazier than they think he is.
    __ _

    Ryan James Girdusky
    @RyanGirdus

    NPR/Marist poll
    How much do you trust the media?
    a great deal/not much

    Overall – 29/69
    Voters – 32/66
    Dems – 60/38
    GOP – 8/92
    Indies – 26/71
    Trump Supporters – 4/95

    _

    harkin (d6cfee)

  47. How much do you trust the media?

    At least they’re predictable

    frosty (f27e97)

  48. #12
    kishnevi

    I do believe that it would be impossible for Trump to love his neighbor as himself even if he tried.
    It made me laugh to think about Trump trying to figure out how in the hell is anyone supposed to love someone else even a tiny fraction as much as he loves himself. He’d need to dismiss the idea immediately or his head would explode

    steveg (354706)

  49. NPR/Marist poll
    How much do you trust the media?
    a great deal/not much

    Interesting. 4% eh? If only there was a way to ask “How much do you trust pollsters”.

    PTw (894877)

  50. Woe unto the Iranian anti aircraft systems…. oops. Woe unto their launch sequence may they fizzle on the launch pad.
    Sometimes its better for me to be specific in my “woe unto” others prayers. Sorry.

    Evangelicals let the different branches each handle their opposite.
    Christianity Today Jim Wallis and the guy who wrote the editorial, they handle Trump.
    Graham slaps Buttigieg.

    Being even handed is hard. Here. II’ll try.
    The Democrats are a covetous bunch of baby killing whiners. And I am an ass#ole.

    steveg (354706)

  51. I love myself so much II doubled up on my III’s

    steveg (354706)

  52. 4% of Trump supporters trust the media but nearly all of them believe the guy who brought you Trump University.

    Just think of that one thing alone. How many people have ever run a fake university? Why don’t you try that?

    noel (f22371)

  53. How many people have ever run a fake university?

    Judging from the number of SJW degrees, pretty much all of them are fake. And taxpayer funded. Not to mention the alternative was to trust the people who put a commie in charge of the CIA, a commie-leaner in charge of the FBI, another commie in charge of NYC, a commie front runner for the D POTUS nomination, the poop on the streets of nearly every city west of the San Andreas Fault, cop stand-downs from Antifa, NAFTA, Iran treaties, Globalistic Warmist Religion, Greta Thunberg, Jeffery Epstein and His Suicide Squad, Three-Felonies-A-Day criminal ‘justice’, etc. Not to mention the deluded people here who believe such nonsense that shooting down Yamamoto was some sort of strategic error, etc. All told, Trump University is a blip. And seeing how Trump has come through on many, many promises that other GOP pretenders have promised yet failed to deliver for decades now, it wasn’t all that bad of a risk. But hey, you live your miserable reality and I’ll live mine, Okey-Dokey? God bless you and let’s Keep America G-R-R-R-REAT! M’k?

    PTw (894877)

  54. Frosty, I’m not sure honestly. Would likely not have donated or put up a yard sign.

    Time123 (b87ded)


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