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Character doesn’t matter?

Character doesn’t matter?

Last updated on: September 5, 2018 at 9:53 am by Dan Peterson

Character doesn’t matter? 2018-09-05T09:53:29-06:00 Dan Peterson

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I don’t know who created this image of the pious paterfamilias Donald Trump. I would be very happy to, um, “credit” him or her for it! Note the “Bible” in (a future?) Mrs. Trump’s hand.

A fan declares his support for Mr. Donald J. Trump. (Wikimedia Commons image)

President Trump is guided in his actions by wise counselors.

We’ve finally got a Christian president again!

Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder and leader of the “Moral Majority” movement, is the president of Virginia’s staunchly evangelical Liberty University. He is also a longtime and enthusiastic backer of President Donald J. Trump. Here, he is shown with his wife, Becki, in one of Mr. Trump’s offices. Just above Mrs. Falwell’s left shoulder is a magazine cover that features a younger Donald Trump. I can’t tell what magazine it is. Can you? I think it must surely be “Christianity Today.”

The images above speak eloquently, in my opinion. One or two of them may be satirical. (I devoutly hope so.) If they aren’t, then they’re indicative of a level of political idolatry to which I would object if it were devoted to George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, let alone to Mr. Donald J. Trump.

Now, before anybody demands of me whether I’m unwilling to see anything good in the presidency of Mr. Trump, let me say again, as I’ve said before, that there have been a number of good things. His nominations to the federal judiciary — notable among them the naming of Justice Gorsuch — have been very welcome. I’m grateful that he effectively outsourced these nominations to the Heritage Foundation. And there have been several other positive things. Although I don’t believe that Mr. Trump is a genuine conservative, he has governed more or less along conservative lines — on the principle, I suspect, of dancing with the one what brung ya. That’s fine. As long as he does that, things won’t go entirely bad.

But Trump’s trade wars and tariffs, his praise of murderous tyrants such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping, his unseemly personal life — does anybody really, seriously, doubt that he had affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal? — his tweets, his often unpresidential demeanor, and so on and so forth (I’ll reserve the matter of immigration and children for another post), all of these make at least one conservative, me, profoundly uncomfortable.

As I’ve said before, the American presidency combines both the functional role of head of government (equivalent to the prime ministry in many countries) and the symbolic role of head of state (equivalent to the monarch in Britain or to the presidency in Israel). Even if a president is a smashing success as head of government, he might be a disaster as symbolic head of state, as the person who represents the nation on solemn occasions and supposedly inspires the nation’s children.

“Read Jeff Flake’s Commencement Speech on the Rule of Law and Trump: ‘We May Have Hit Bottom'”

At the very least, Mr. Trump reminds me of Ether 10:9-12, a passage in that very wise volume, the Book of Mormon:

9 And it came to pass after the space of many years, Morianton, (he being a descendant of Riplakish) gathered together an army of outcasts, and went forth and gave battle unto the people; and he gained power over many cities; and the war became exceedingly sore, and did last for the space of many years; and he did gain power over all the land, and did establish himself king over all the land.

10 And after that he had established himself king he did ease the burden of the people, by which he did gain favor in the eyes of the people, and they did anoint him to be their king.

11 And he did do justice unto the people, but not unto himself because of his many whoredoms; wherefore he was cut off from the presence of the Lord.

12 And it came to pass that Morianton built up many cities, and the people became exceedingly rich under his reign, both in buildings, and in gold and silver, and in raising grain, and in flocks, and herds, and such things which had been restored unto them.

“He did do justice unto the people, but not unto himself.”

Wow.

Anyway, while I can understand some degree of reconciliation to Mr. Trump, on the part of many conservatives, because of his administration’s record in terms of policy and appointments, I simply do not understand, and must voice my reservations about, the full-throated praises being sung to him in some quarters — which, as the illustrations above may show, sometimes border on idolatry.

***

Whatever the reality or unreality of alleged evangelical support in Nevada, this certainly isn’t the Republican Party of a generation ago:

“Trump-loving evangelicals at it again, showing affection for ‘self-styled top U.S. pimp’ — but really?”

Progress?

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)

Posted from Newport Beach, California

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