On December 19, 2019 the editor in chief of Christianity Today magazine, Mark Galli, published an editorial entitled “Trump Should Be Removed from Office,” Galli’s analysis was so flawed that one is tempted to respond with something like “Mark Galli Should Be Removed from [His] Office,” but apparently he’s already decided to move on and wrote the piece as he was on his way out the door.
One should note that Galli has not exactly distinguished himself in his tenure at CT. No longer the significant evangelical “flagship publication” founded by Billy Graham in the mid-1950s, CT has lost subscribers and influence in recent years due to its attempts to appear relevant and “Woke” – a trend that has nothing in common with being Awakened.
But back to the article. Franklin Graham wrote a stinging rebuke of Galli in which he stated: “Christianity Today released an editorial stating that President Trump should be removed from office – and they invoked my father’s name (I suppose to try to bring legitimacy to their statements), so I feel it is important for me to respond. Yes, my father Billy Graham founded Christianity Today; but no, he would not agree with their opinion piece. In fact, he would be very disappointed…. Christianity Today said it’s time to call a spade a spade. The spade is this – Christianity Today has been used by the left for their political agenda. It’s obvious that Christianity Today has moved to the left and is representing the elitist liberal wing of evangelicalism.” [see article here]
In fact, Galli’s editorial was little more than a political hit-job. He parrots the Democrats’ talking points with the illegitimate assertion that “The president of the United States attempted to use his power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents.” In fact, he did not. There was no quid pro quo, nor was there any “bribery” on his part – allegations that even the most partisan Democrats dropped when they finally published their articles of impeachment. Furthermore, presidents and State Department officials have a responsibility to assure that U.S. foreign aide is spent responsibly on designated items and programs. Government corruption in the receiving country should always be a matter of concern – especially in the case of such an obvious conflict of interest such as that involving the Bidens.
In his article, Galli writes that “We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people. None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.”
No one should doubt that a president’s character is important, but no one should doubt that a president’s policies and programs matter far more than his personality or character in that policies and programs directly impact the lives of tens of millions of Americans. Whether one “likes” the President’s personality or not is relatively insignificant. Most of Trump’s policies have been positive and necessary – and he would have done far more if he had any support from any Democrats in Congress. Furthermore, I’ll take the professional opinion of honest legal experts such as Jonathan Turley, Alan Dershowitz and Greg Jarrett – not to mention informed journalists and commentators such as Sarah Carter, Mark Levin, Victor Davis Hanson, Peter Schweizer or Dennis Prager – over those of the editor of Christianity Today.
Galli continues: “To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve.” I can assure Mr. Galli that I don’t “serve” Donald Trump any more than he serves Nancy Pelosi or Bernie Sanders. Ultimately, the real issue is simply this: For better or worse, Trump is the only alternative right now to the radical left-wing Democrats who are hell-bent on destroying anything good that remains in American culture and our institutions – including our political institutions.
To borrow the rhetoric of the secular (and religious) left, the impeachment of Donald Trump was itself a political “hate crime.” I have no doubt that Trump brings much of this animosity on himself with his often provocative, wreckless and rude rhetoric. For some, that may be reason to oppose his reelection, but it certainly is no basis whatsoever for impeachment. No other president in history would have been impeached on such flimsy and unconstitutional grounds.
I understand that it is hard to defend Trump. In reality, I’m not “pro-Trump” as much as I’m committed to doing everything possible to defeat the socialistic Democratic Party and their immoral and insane agenda. Much of what Trump says (and Tweets) is immature, petty, undignified, irresponsible and indefensible. His character flaws are obvious. There is much about his style, his mannerisms, and his personality that I do not like. Furthermore, unlike most politicians he is totally indiscreet when it comes to flaunting his character flaws. (A modicum of concealment would be welcomed.)
Trump does, however, have one character trait that is admirable: courage. This is something that is woefully missing in the vast majority of politicians – including most Republicans. Regardless of his motives, some of which appear to be exceedingly petty, he nonetheless seems to have been awakened in recent years to the fact that there is a culture war raging in America. In reality, it is more than just a clash of opposing value systems; it is virtually a war between two different worldviews. On the surface these issues may appear to be political, but beneath the surface they are mostly moral. (And as many Christians understand, most of these divisive issues are manifestations of the spiritual warfare being waged for the souls of humankind as C. S. Lewis depicted so effectively in The Screwtape Letters).
As I wrote in the article, “The Culture War and the Two Americas: The Undeniable Realities,” the differences that divide conservatives and liberals are not superficial or simply stylistic or primarily tactical. In substance, the division is between those who believe in absolute truth and universal moral laws versus those who think everything is relative and subjective. As the Christian cultural apologist Francis Schaeffer concluded in his last major work, A Christian Manifesto, “It is not too strong to say that we are at war, and there are no neutral parties in the struggle.” Furthermore, one side is going to win: either the socialists associated with the Democratic Party, or else those who attempt to uphold the kinds of traditional moral and legal values that made America such a unique society and culture in the past.
I doubt that Gen. George Patton was an admirable man personally, but he knew how to fight and how to win a war. Most Christians and conservatives appear to be clueless of the fact that a ferocious culture war is raging that will define the future of our civilization. “Nice” Republicans like Dole, McCain, Romney, and the Bushes are not fighters, and they share much of the blame for the perilous state of the nation that Trump inherited.
Someone is going to be president. It’s either going to be Trump, with all his obvious and annoying flaws, or else it will be a socialist Democrat who hates most everything associated with biblical Christianity and the principles on which this country was founded. If Democrats win, they will continue to aggressively push their pro-abortion, open-borders, anti-religious freedom, pro-LGBTQ, and Big Government socialist agenda.
In the words of the conservative radio talk show host Dennis Prager, “America will be united only when one [of these worldviews] prevails over the other.” Many cultural liberals seem to understand this, but many cultural conservatives, including many Christians, apparently do not. If and when the Democrats win, I suppose that Galli might feel quite pious and morally superior because he wouldn’t lower himself to vote for such an uncouth cretin as Trump. But America – including our children and grandchildren – will certainly suffer the consequences.
