Evangelical magazine demands removal of ‘immoral’ Trump
‘Unambiguous’ facts in case, editorial says
Washington • The first crack in Donald Trump’s support among the evangelical community in the United States emerged as a prominent Christian magazine called the president’s conduct “profoundly immoral” and said he should be removed from office.
Up to a quarter of U. S. voters identify as evangelical Christians and they have been a foundation of Trump’s support — he took over 80 per cent of the evangelical vote in the 2016 election. Leading figures in the movement have stood by him ever since, as he appointed religious conservative judges to the U. S. Supreme Court.
But in an editorial supporting impeachment on Thursday, Christianity Today’s Mark Galli said: “The facts in this instance are unambiguous: the president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents.
“That is not only a violation of the constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.” Galli, the editor in chief, said Trump was “morally lost and confused.”
The Illinois- based publication, which has 80,000 print subscribers, has been described as the “flagship magazine” of evangelicalism and was founded in 1956 by the late Billy Graham.
On Friday, Trump responded on Twitter that it was a “far- left magazine” which “hasn’t been involved with the Billy Graham family for many years” and would “rather have a radical left non- believer, who wants to take your religion and your guns as president.”
He added: “No president has done more for the evangelical community, and it’s not even close.”
Trump was backed by Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, himself a prominent evangelist.
Graham said his father, who died last year, voted for Trump and would have been “very embarrassed” that the magazine had become a “leftist elite within the evangelical community.”
Meanwhile, U. S. l awmakers who control Trump’s fate left Washington for a holiday break with no agreement over how they will handle the Senate trial to consider his impeachment charges in January.
Trump, a Republican, stands little chance of being convicted and removed from office by the Republican- controlled Senate, which will weigh the two impeachment charges that were passed on Wednesday by the Democratic-led House of Representatives.
Republicans and Democrats are at loggerheads over how the trial will play out. Democrats want to call top Trump aides as witnesses, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not yet sent the impeachment package to the Senate, a bid to increase pressure on Republicans in the upper chamber.
Many Republican lawmakers prefer a quick trial to get the matter behind them, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell has dismissed the idea of calling witnesses. Some Republicans suggested Democrats were delaying because they had a weak case.
“Hypocritical to argue this is a solemn constitutional duty and POTUS is an imminent threat to democracy and then sit on the articles. No one is fooled,” Senator John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said on Twitter.
Democrats have argued that i mpeachment was an urgent matter because Trump represented a threat to democracy, particularly the integrity of the 2020 election.
The House will not be able to send over the impeachment articles until it reconvenes on Jan. 7, at the earliest, according to a Democratic congressional aide. The Senate is due to return on Jan. 3 but will not hold votes until Jan. 6, according to McConnell.
No matter the outcome, Democrats have ensured that Trump will go down in history as one of only three U. S. presidents to be impeached, following Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 as he faced impeachment.
NO PRESIDENT HAS DONE MORE FOR THE EVANGELICAL COMMUNITY.