The 2020 presidential election is only 22 months off, but with Democrats having won control of the House in the 2018 midterms, three factors could be significant in the presidential campaign already underway.
First, while the Republican party lost its House majority but won three new Senate seats in 2018, the GOP will have to defend 22 Senate incumbents to the Democrats’ 12.
Second, the only thing worse for the GOP than a Democratic takeover of the Senate is that President Trump’s serial mendacity, chaotic governance and ominous “bromances” with Russian, Chinese and North Korean autocrats will lead voters to make him a one-termer.
Michael LoftinAnd barring some major event, it will take more than restiveness to alienate a major segment of the Trump base: white Christian evangelicals. Eighty percent of them voted for Trump in 2016, so their votes were valuable.
But as spiritual and political true believers, what would it take for them to abandon their “dear leader”?
Since they are aware of Trump’s cratering approval ratings, will they nevertheless renew their allegiance, hoping that his reelection will prove to be, you know, predestined?
A corollary concern, especially among evangelicals who are not Trump devotees, is whether those who have surrendered to his seductive presidency have in effect undermined their respective ministries. One concern: the increasing number of those for whom spiritual faith is irrelevant.
To the extent that they remain Trump loyalists, evangelical leaders must remember that their calling is primarily spiritual, not political (though some have opted for a shotgun marriage of the spiritual and the political.)
It follows that faithfulness to their calling transcends Oval Office photo ops and other White House events intended to appeal to their (political) souls. But while they are free to involve themselves in politics, they might remember the Apostle Paul’s warning to “beware lest this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.”
That admonition is usually applied to personal issues but it’s equally applicable when a prominent evangelical’s political rhetoric becomes Trump-like.
For example, in a recent Washington Post interview, Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University and Trump loyalist, asserted that Democratic party supporters are “no longer liberals – they’ve become fascists, they’re Brownshirts.” Huh?
The problem here is three-fold:
If, as is likely, some Liberty students have relatives who are Democrats, what does it profit Falwell to relieve himself of such a slur?
Clearly he believes Christians cannot be Democrats, which is demonstrably untrue. But instead of exhibiting (evangelical) cognitive dissonance, why not trust his students to make their independent preference?
Finally, his derision was unworthy of a Christian college president responsible for nurturing the educational and spiritual development of its students. It suggests a WWJD acronym: “Who Would Jesus Demonize?”
Most evangelicals support Trump for his promise to name only conservatives to the Supreme Court, thus implicitly suggesting the overturn of Roe v. Wade decision of 1973. It is rare but not impossible for the court to overturn “settled law.”
But meanwhile, evangelicals could extend their admirable “pro-life” advocacy to other issues, such as income inequality and the provision of health care to millions of families – including children already born – through the expansion of Medicaid.
Evangelical leaders are obliged to respect presidents but also beware of pride, that most subtle of sins. Becoming a president’s spiritual counselor is an honor, but only as long as it doesn’t undermine the responsibility of “speaking truth to power.” Think of the prophet Nathan in Second Samuel 12, who rebuked King David for gross sins. Those who decline to be a Nathan to Trump should not be surprised by accusations that they are “speaking obsequiousness to power.”
Michael Loftin is a former opinion page editor of The Chattanooga Times.