It’s been almost an entire year since President Donald Trump was sworn into office and the left is still reeling from the massive loss they have suffered, complaining non-stop about the new administration and looking for any excuse, legitimate or otherwise to hinder any sort of progress currently being made in restoring our country.
In fact, the folks over at Right Wing Watch, a leftist blog, are extremely upset that not only did Trump move into the White House, but that he brought the “religious right” with him, meaning that once again, conservative Christians are gaining some influence over the political direction of our nation.
This, of course, is a good thing, though you wouldn’t believe it based on the latest piece put out by RWW, who seem to have a bone to pick about the fact these religious leaders are pro-life — or as they put it without a hint of shame for their ridiculous propaganda pushing, “anti-choice” — apparently terrified that these awful religious zealots might actually make progress in making the murder of the unborn illegal.
As Christians, though, seeing Trump on numerous occasions bring evangelicals to the table and appeal to their concerns and issues is a breath of fresh air, especially after the cold shoulder this demographic received at the hands of former President Barack Obama.
The Right Wing Watch article in question actually features an explanation of how Trump managed to win the favor of many evangelicals despite their initial reluctance to support him:
Donald Trump wasn’t exactly the dream candidate of the Religious Right. Throughout the Republican primary contest, many in the social conservative movement urged voters to pick what one group of anti-choice activists called “anyone but Donald Trump.”
But once it became clear that Trump was going to win the GOP nomination, he started aggressively courting the evangelical Right, including holding a massive meeting for Religious Right leaders in New York that many cite as a turning point for their support. On the day of that meeting, Trump announced the formation of an evangelical advisory board that included Religious Right leaders including James Dobson and Michele Bachmann. Trump’s selection of Mike Pence as his running mate sealed the deal for many on the Religious Right. Trump’s “amen corner” of prosperity gospel preachers and domininionists eventually expanded to include the large share of Religious Right leaders, who offered various theological explanations for their embrace of a morally flawed candidate.
Once he was elected—with 80 percent of the white evangelical vote—Trump kept his evangelical advisory board intact and promised to give it unprecedented access to the White House. He stacked his Cabinet with friends of the Religious Right, including Tom Price at Health and Human Services, Betsy DeVos at Education and Ben Carson at Housing and Urban Development. Far-right pastor Ralph Drollinger worked with Trump’s transition team to set up weekly Bible studies for Trump’s Cabinet members. The conservative Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society vetted potential judicial nominees.
The White House continues to hold weekly calls with evangelical advisory board members. Conservative leaders also receive a weekly email from the White House compiling “highlights for—and requests for action from—the conservative world.” And Religious Right leaders report enjoying an open door with the Trump administration. Former Southern Baptist Convention official Richard Land told The New York Times that conservative evangelical leaders have a “regular, ongoing and continuing dialogue” with the administration.
Now, while it is obviously a plus that evangelical Christians are finally having their voices heard and being given a chance to once again exert influence on the affairs of our country — something that hearkens back to the days of our founding when it was believers leading the charge in the fight for liberty — this doesn’t mean that we should just blindly throw support behind President Trump. We still need to hold him accountable for implementing the conservative platform.
Here’s a good example.
Trump has the power and authority granted to him by God and the American people to end the holocaust of abortion and to defund Planned Parenthood, two critical issues of the utmost importance as they concern the violation of rights for our most vulnerable citizens, and yet, little to nothing is being done.
Since these evangelical leaders have the president’s ear, his trust, and his attention, they need to start applying the pressure to him and his administration to get something done about this issue immediately.
If God is allowing us as His people to once again have influence over the affairs of America, we should make sure we do not waste it with complacency and get busy pushing for changes with regard to the treatment of the unborn.
For those interested, here’s a sample of the RWW timeline that shows the developing relationship between Trump and the “religious right.”
January 20: Trump starts the day at a prayer service led by longtime backer Robert Jeffress, who explains how the Bible supports Trump’s call to build a wall and his attacks on the media. He is then inaugurated in a ceremony that includes prayers from his spiritual adviser Paula White, Religious Right leaders Franklin Graham and Samuel Rodriguez, and conservative New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan. That night, Religious Right groups celebrate with an inaugural ball hosted by the Family Research Council.
January 23: Trump reinstates and expands the Mexico City Policy, also known as the global gag rule, which denies U.S. aid to NGOs that use other money to perform abortions, refer patients to abortion providers or advocate for abortion rights. Reinstating the policy was a top item on the wish list of Religious Right groups.
January 26: The night before the March for Life, Pence hosts 40 anti-choice leaders at the White House, including National Right to Life president Carol Tobias, Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins, conservative radio host Eric Metaxas and anti-choice activist Abby Johnson.
January 27: Pence and white House counselor Kellyanne Conway speak at the March for Life, where they trumpet the Mexico City Policy decision and make certain to spend plenty of time praising Trump.
January 27: Trump sits down for an interview with David Brody, a political correspondent with Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network, which has joined Fox News as a functional propaganda arm of the administration.
January 31: Trump nominates Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins is in attendance. The Religious Right is thrilled.
February 2: Trump gathers conservative leaders, including representatives from the NRA, the Chamber of Commerce and Americans for Tax Reform, along with the Susan B. Anthony List’s Dannenfelser, Concerned Women for America’s Nance, National Right to Life’s David O’Steen, Charmaine Yoest of American Values and, of course, Paula White, to personally thank him for the Gorsuch nomination and to discuss the confirmation fight ahead.
February 23: The departments of justice and education withdraw protections for transgender students in public schools that had been implemented by the Obama administration. Religious Right groups express their gratitude.
March 13: Trump names “representatives from two intensely anti-choice and anti-LGBTQ groups, C-Fam and the Heritage Foundation, to be part of the official U.S. delegation to the session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.”
March 13: HHS announces its intention to eliminate “questions seeking to identify gay, lesbian and bisexual elders in a U.S. health survey.” The plan is later dropped.
March 24: ProPublica reports that the Trump administration has “quietly appointed” former Heritage Foundation official Roger Severino to head the HHS Office for Civil Rights.
March 29: The Census Bureau proposes and then quickly un-proposes counting LGBTQ people in the 2020 census.
April 7: Neil Gorsuch is confirmed to the Supreme Court.
April 10: Nance and Dannenfelser go to the White House to celebrate with Gorsuch .
You can see the full timeline at the quoted article above.
