Trump and preacher who says gay rights pave way for Antichrist
JUST days after the Orlando shooting in a gay nightclub, Donald Trump has published a photograph of himself standing, smiling, beside an American pastor who has claimed homosexuals “pave the way” for the Antichrist.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has spent much time in recent days asserting himself as the greatest defender of gay rights, in the wake of the murder of 49 people in the worst American mass shooting of modern times.
This weekend he reposted online a message in which Robert Jeffress, a Dallas Right-wing preacher said he was “honoured to pray” for Mr Trump.
The message, posted by Mr Trump to his Twitter account, came with a photograph of the preacher and the presidential candidate grinning and giving the camera the thumbs up.
Mr Jeffress last month described rules allowing greater rights for transgender people as “society’s rebellion against the plan of God”, saying they posed a “greater threat to America” than the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The First Baptist Church pastor was quoted last year as saying the gay rights movement “will pave the way for that future world dictator, the Antichrist, to persecute and martyr Christians without any repercussions whatsoever”.
Mr Trump’s move came as members of the Westboro Baptist church, the radical Right-wing movement who claimed that “God sent the shooter” of the Orlando attacks prepared to picket the victims funerals.
In response yesterday, actors from two Orlando theatres dressed as angels and lined the streets where the funerals took place, their large white fabric wings blocking the Westboro protestors from view.
Mr Trump’s alliance with the preacher is further evidence of the real estate mogul’s contradictory views when it comes to winning the support of opposing groups.
Mr Trump has in the past both expressed support for LGBT rights and said he opposes gay marriage.
These conflicting positions are just some of the issues that Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee is preparing to use against the Republican candidate, as they plan to roll out some $41 million (£39 million) in advertising against Mr Trump in crucial swing states, including Ohio, Florida and Nevada over the next six weeks.