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Society & Culture
James Dobson
Donald Trump
Evangelicals

“The sanctity of human life, the Constitutional guarantees of religious liberty that are being shredded, and the promise by Mr. Trump to appoint pro-life Justices to the Supreme Court” CPost

Discussion

Tue, 01/17/17

Maybe not the top 3 reasons, but 3 reasons I didn’t vote for Trump.

  • It was (and remains) far from clear that Trump will do more good than harm in the long run
  • It remains to be seen whether Trump will do more harm to conservative causes (by virtue of his character, methods and general lack of principle) than Hillary would have done
  • Some things are just wrong, even if they might have a better results. (I.e., utilitarianism is not a Christian ethical model)

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Tue, 01/17/17

….for pulling the lever for Trump, despite the very real possibilities Aaron mentions, is that (a) it wasn’t totally clear that he belonged in jail and his opponent does belong in jail and (b) if and when he misbehaves, it is plausible for Congress to remove him from office, where Mrs. Clinton could count on at least 34 Democrats in the Senate to vote against conviction almost no matter what she did.

He’s a pleasant surprise so far, except for his tweets.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Tue, 01/17/17

It seems to me that pragmatism in politics is good, even necessary, whereas pragmatism in evangelism and gospel related issues is dangerous. We must not compromise the gospel. Politics demands a significant measure of compromise, and in that arena, children of light need to learn a few lessons from the children of this world, who are in matters political, usually wiser than children of light.

G. N. Barkman

Tue, 01/17/17

I worry for his life. I remember the hysterics when Reagan was elected, i.e. “He is going to start WW3!”. But I haven’t seen this much rancor against an incoming President that I’m not sure he can escape his term without someone acting on the rhetoric.

Tue, 01/17/17

[Bert Perry]

….for pulling the lever for Trump, despite the very real possibilities Aaron mentions, is that (a) it wasn’t totally clear that he belonged in jail and his opponent does belong in jail and (b) if and when he misbehaves, it is plausible for Congress to remove him from office, where Mrs. Clinton could count on at least 34 Democrats in the Senate to vote against conviction almost no matter what she did.

He’s a pleasant surprise so far, except for his tweets.

Similar to my thinking. I’d go even farther on the “remove him from office” comment. It’s far more likely that our system will exercise checks and balances with Trump than it ever would have with Clinton. He’s still not my first choice, and I didn’t vote for him in the primaries, but as Bert said, there are a number of decisions and picks he’s made that have been pleasant surprises.

Dave Barnhart

Tue, 01/17/17

Some days I am pleasantly surprised and have to admit: there’s always the chance the weight of responsibility and history of the office will have a maturing affect even on one so clearly set in his ways. In other words, there’s a chance he will rise to the occasion. Certainly other men have grown in office.

So when I remember to pray (thanks for the reminder, Jim) it tends to be in that direction.

I want to be able to say “I told you so” when he creates disaster. But I’d really rather be wrong. I don’t think “I told you so” will be much comfort in that turn of events. So maybe some will be able to tell me “I told you so,” as things run their course.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Wed, 01/18/17

Let’s not romanticize the Trump victory and the part evangelicals played in it. The 3 reasons that Trump won are simple:

1) Hillary was the other option

2) Hillary was the other option

3) Hillary was the other option

I can’t say that I was glad to see him win, but I have prayed for years that Hillary would be humiliated and drummed out of public life with practically no credibility at any level. It’s looking more and more like the Lord has seen fit to answer my prayer in the affirmative.

Lee

Thu, 01/19/17

I got a HUGE (YUGE?) smile out of Lee’s comment, but it’s worth noting that a monster factor that would also help Trump among evangelicals is that Trump actually spoke to populist concerns that blue collar workers have. We’ll see whether, and how, he delivers, but the GOP has totally failed to speak to populists more or less since Reagan. Trump has at least tried to remedy this.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.