Evangelical rift grows over Trump remarks

NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s vulgar remarks questioning why the U.S. should admit immigrants from Haiti and Africa have spotlighted the bitter divide among American evangelicals about his presidency.

While some of his evangelical backers expressed support for his leadership, other conservative Christians are calling the president racist and say church leaders had a moral imperative to condemn him.

“Your pro-life argument rings hollow if you don’t have an issue with this xenophobic bigotry,” tweeted pastor Earon James of Relevant Life Church in Pace, Fla.

Trump won 80 percent of the white evangelical vote in the 2016 election. But recent polls show 61 percent approving of his job performance, compared with 78 percent last February, according to the Pew Research Center.

Still, conservative Christians remain as polarized as ever.

Many evangelical leaders who defended him in the past would not comment on Trump’s remarks to a group of senators. A few offered some criticism. Pastor Ronnie Floyd, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said it was “not good” to devalue any person.

Johnnie Moore, a public relations executive and a leader among Trump’s evangelical advisers, said the reports of what Trump said were “absolutely suspect and politicized.”

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who attended the Oval Office meeting Thursday, said Trump did make the comments as reported: He questioned why the U.S. would accept more immigrants from Haiti and “shithole countries” in Africa as he rejected a bipartisan immigration deal.

Pastor Mark Burns from South Carolina said if the remarks were true, Trump was only reacting to poor conditions in Haiti and Africa that were the fault of “lazy governments” there.

The Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Dallas and a frequent guest at the White House, said that apart from the president’s choice of words, “Trump is right on target in his policy,” putting the needs of the U.S. above those of other countries.