President Trump enjoyed support from large swaths of evangelicals in the 2016 election. But, a leading evangelical magazine, Christianity Today, has just joined in on the calls for his impeachment.
In his Thursday editorial, CT editor in chief Mark Galli explains that he and his staff believe that Trump absolutely abused his power in his phone call with Ukraine when he asked President Zelensky to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. As he describes it, Trump tried "to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents." Galli also urged other evangelicals to consider the president's "immoral" behavior.
"This president," Galli writes, "has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration." He adds that the president's Twitter feed is evidence of "a human being who is morally lost and confused."
Trump responded on his Twitter feed Friday morning.
....have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President. No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close. You’ll not get anything from those Dems on stage. I won’t be reading ET again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2019
(Yes, quite a few followers noted his typo.)
Christianity Today was founded by the late Billy Graham in 1956. His son, Franklin Graham, has often defended Trump these past few years. Yet, according to the magazine, the Ukraine scandal and Trump's bombastic personality were enough.
The CT editorial came a day after Trump delivered a controversial insult for Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and her late husband John, who he said was probably "looking up" from hell. The White House has defended Trump's rally remarks, noting that he's a "counter-puncher" who is trying to hit back at Democrats who just went through with their "partisan witch hunt."
In the past three years, Trump has welcomed pastors all over the country to the White House to pray with him, and vice versa. In 2016, he hosted 1,000 Christian activists and leaders in an evangelical meeting in Times Square. And there are still plenty of evangelicals who appreciate what the president is doing in terms of protecting First Amendment freedoms, and nominating and confirming pro-life justices to serve on our nation's courts.