Editor's Note: This is Part II of a two-part series.
Despite the ire on both ends of the political spectrum this week, no one can deny that Trump has kept many of his promises.
Trump “Kept More Promises Than He Made”
President Trump famously bragged several times in 2018 that he kept more promises than he had made. Such an outrageous claim by the president set on fire the hair of the mainstream media, who screamed that such a thing was not possible.
Newsweek claimed: “Some may beg to differ on Trump’s claims of promises kept. The Washington Post reported in September that of the 60 pledges made after he was elected, he had kept 14 and broken 16. Ones he had broken, according to the Post, included reducing tax brackets, fully repealing Obamacare and making Mexico pay the United States for the full cost of the proposed southern border wall.”
Here’s another so-called broken promise reported by the Washington Post: “Trump says he will create 25 million jobs over ten years, so we will track a prorated figure of 10 million in four years, or 2.5 million a year. In his first year, job growth has not kept pace at a level for Trump to meet his goal.” Give me a break. Trump sets lofty goals. If he wanted 10 million new jobs and it came in at 9.9 million, would that be a promise broken? I don’t think so.
There seems to be so much hatred of the president that if Trump found a cure for cancer, the leftist media would say he was putting doctors out of work. I realize this sentiment isn’t unique to Trump, or even to Republicans. President Lyndon Johnson once famously quipped: “If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: ‘President Can’t Swim.’”
Trump Promised to Support Religious Freedom
One of the most important promises to me as a Christian is the president’s pledge to fight for religious liberty and persecuted Christians around the world. The right of religious freedom is enshrined in the First Amendment before the other freedoms. That’s because God is the giver of our rights, and religious freedom is the foundation for all other rights.
When Turkey wrongly imprisoned Pastor Andrew Brunson for two years, President Trump worked diligently to free the persecuted pastor—even to the point of imposing sanctions on Turkey. But no one should be shocked about this. Trump promised during his presidential campaign that he would pursue religious freedom for America’s citizens—from the Christian baker who feels convicted about baking a cake for a gay wedding to the falsely accused minister whose only crime is sharing the gospel.
There are so many examples of President Trump being an advocate for religious liberty. For instance, he promised he would change the so-called Johnson Amendment, which muzzles churches and nonprofits from speaking up when politics is involved, and he issued an executive order to the IRS to not enforce it. The deregulations he has put in place not only have helped businesses but have freed faith-based entities to be able to help more people.
Trump also made it clear that he would use the power and influence of the United States to defend the interests of men and women in the faith community. Since that time, he has taken an interest in the plight of Christians suffering from persecution around the world.
Evidence that the president has taken the challenge seriously was the appointment of former senator and governor Sam Brownback, as ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom. This confirmation signaled that the president would be an advocate for religious freedom around the world.
One vitally important reason to reelect the president, and the primary reason I wrote “God, Trump, and the 2020 Election,” is that come inauguration day 2021, if a Democrat is taking the oath of office, many of the changes Trump has made will be undone with a vengeance. I believe the Left, if given a chance to be in power again, will oppress and persecute its opponents—especially conservative Christians—to such a degree that we might never recover.
(Stephen E. Strang is an award-winning journalist, founder and author of the best-seller “God and Donald Trump.” This content was excerpted from his new book, “God, Trump, and the 2020 Election,” out Jan. 14.)