*45th POTUS Donald Trump – Page 84

Although Donald Trump’s base consists largely of white evangelicals, not all evangelicals see Trump as the Anointed One. To those who do, however, speaking out against Trump, his behavior, or his policies, is akin to blasphemy. Indeed, many evangelicals appear to have embraced the dogma of “Trumpism” as part of their Christian theology.

Last week, however, about 50 evangelicals, concerned about the negative perception of American evangelicals, met at Wheaton College, a conservative Christian school in Illinois, to discuss the future of the evangelical movement in the era of Donald Trump as president. Several who attended the invitation-only gathering left after the first day, offended by the “fault-finding” toward Donald Trump and his supporters, and characterizing the event as a “Trump bashing.”

Many are concerned that, to the rest of the world, including Americans who don’t support Trump, “evangelical” is synonymous with “Trump supporter.” And they’re concerned that “Trump supporter,” in turn, is associated with white racism, divisiveness, and nationalism.

“When you Google evangelicals, you get Trump,” said Doug Birdsall, honorary chair of the international evangelical movement Lausanne, and organizer of the Wheaton event. “When people say what does it mean to be an evangelical, people don’t say evangelism or the gospel. There’s a grotesque caricature of what it means to be an evangelical.”

“Trumpist” evangelicals stress that whomever God puts into office is there for His purpose (except, apparently, Barack Obama). Indeed, it’s easy to see God’s hand in the matter when the one who wins the election appears to further your agenda. The evangelicals are pleased with Trump’s judicial appointments, and they’re over the moon with Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem (putting things in place for some elements of Biblical prophecy to come true, they believe).

Yet, despite Trump’s “pro-Christian” moves (does anyone really believe Donald Trump makes any decision on the basis of its “Christ-centeredness”?) a growing number of evangelicals feel that association with Trump has tainted the movement.

It’s difficult to understand how a group of people who claim to follow the teachings of a man (Christ) who is believed to symbolize goodness, mercy, love, and empathy, can reconcile their political choice of a modern-day leader (Trump) who is the antithesis of those qualities. On the other hand, it’s refreshing to know that some members of that same group find the association with Trump to be repugnant.

“No matter what happens to American evangelicalism, it is here to stay, says Darrell Block, of Dallas Theological Seminary, and a co-organizer of the gathering in Wheaton. Perhaps, but will we ever be able to undo the negative association of evangelicalism with Donald Trump? It may be that the only hope for those evangelicals who don’t want to associate themselves with Trumpism is to change the name of their movement.

Faith leaders reportedly hold anti-Trump meeting | Fox News [2018-04-19]

Leaders Criticize Trump right or wrong??? | [2018-04-19] Truth Time Radio

After serving since 1998 in Washington, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has announced that he will be retiring in January. Though a certain amount of House turnover should be considered normal (the average is 22 members during each cycle), Paul Ryan joins an unusually large current number of Republicans who will not be running again.

To date, at least 43 Republicans in the House have announced that they will not run for re-election. Though there is speculation about the “real” reason Paul Ryan is retiring, Ryan cites wanting to spend more time with his children as his reason for stepping down.

But some speculate that Paul Ryan is afraid he’ll lose if he runs again in November. Recent polls show dissatisfaction with the current state of the Republican party. In a Newsweek poll, for example, only two-thirds of Trump voters said they would definitely vote for a Republican representative in the next election.

On today’s spectrum, “conservative” is a relative term. Though Paul Ryan, a “classic Conservative,” may be seen as too conservative by many, he is not conservative enough for others, such as members of the Freedom Caucus. Many will see Paul Ryan’s departure as a positive, but for varying reasons. Though Democrats may applaud the fact that Paul Ryan is stepping down, his exit and subsequent replacement is likely to turn on the faucet of Trumpism full-force.

“This party is the party of Trump now…This is the bloodletting of classic conservatives (like Paul Ryan),” said Meghan McCain, on ABC’s The View.

McCain speculates that one reason for Paul Ryan’s retirement now is that “He doesn’t want to deal with it any more. He doesn’t want to go home to his constituents in Wisconsin and try to explain some of the tweeting, and some of the more incendiary things that Trump is doing right now.”

Indeed, of the 43 House Republicans who have made the choice to leave office, some are leaving in the wake of various scandals, others are running for a different office, but several, such as Senator Jeff Flake and Rep. Charlie Dent, have openly stated that they are doing so because they can no longer support the “dysfunction, disorder, and chaos” (Dent) in the Trump administration.

Paul Ryan likely has more than one reason for not seeking re-election, and we can only continue to speculate. All of us would like to believe that it is because he wants to be there for his children. Many of us would also like to believe that it’s at least in part because he can no longer stomach the current political climate in Washington. No matter what the full truth is, though, Paul Ryan’s departure leaves our government at risk of being thrown even farther off balance than it already is.

Paul Ryan Won’t Run For Re-Election | The View [2018-04-11]

Paul Ryan retiring over trouble with Trump? | Fox Business [2018-04-11]

Category: *45th POTUS Donald Trump

Not All Evangelicals Want to Be Associated with Trumpism

Paul Ryan to Retire