At the 2016 Republican National Convention, when I told Paula White, Donald Trump's “God Whisperer,” that he referred to her as his pastor, she said she was his spiritual advisor, as if it were some kind of card to “get out of jail free.” for her. And yet White worked hard in our conversation to convince me that the foul-mouthed person on the campaign trail was godly.
opinion columnist
LZ Granderson
LZ Granderson writes about culture, politics, sports, and living life in America.
Then it was his turn to speak at the convention. most of The seats were empty when White took the stage.which says a lot about the interest that the attendees had in the words of Trump's spiritual advisor.
It was as if they had already made a decision.
This was after Trump referred to a book of the Bible as “Two Corinthians” in a speech at Liberty University, the private Christian university where Jerry Falwell Jr. was president before a sex scandal forced him to resign that same year. anus. This was after Trump mocked a journalist's disability. This was after walking down the Trump Tower escalator and kicking off his campaign by attacking Mexico and Latinos before saying, “and some, I guess, are good people.” Trump had shown what kind of person he was and somehow still had the support of evangelical Christians.
But he must have feared there was some limit to his capacity for cognitive dissonance, because he didn't want evangelical voters to find out about his 2006 affair with Stormy Daniels. She paid him money to keep quiet days before the election. I don't know if that's what White spiritually advised her to do, but she served Trump in the White House, so she must have made peace with the deception.
The reason Trump is on trial in New York is not because of President Biden or the Democrats. It's because he wanted to mislead a crucial bloc of voters, and in doing so, he is accused of falsely claiming hush payments as legal services in business documents. And he is accused of falsifying documents in connection with other crimes.
In other words, it is not a witch hunt. They are repercussions.
Now it seems like it's House Speaker Mike Johnson's turn to find some kind of balance between his personal faith and his professional interest. He joint press conference between Trump and Johnson on Friday It will most likely help Johnson keep his job, which was murky after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene questioned his leadership, but it does nothing to erase the fact that he is aligned with a thrice-married adulterer who mocked Johnson. Jimmy Carter the day after Rosalynn Carter. His wife of 77 years was admitted to a hospice.
The image of Johnson standing at the lectern, while Trump stood behind him like a pumpkin the day after Halloween, was terrifying. Baffling. It was not a show of force; It was another sign of the extent to which some white evangelicals are willing to drag their faith through the mud just to be on the side of power.
Christians believe in something called grace, and God knows I have benefited greatly from it in life. But Trump expresses no remorse for his affair with Daniels or for the money spent to deceive his Christian supporters. He has been found responsible for sexual abuse. He brags about grabbing women by their private parts and kissing them without consent.
The fact that Trump can be forgiven is irrelevant if he has not changed or stopped his abuses or given any indication of repentance. What we have in Trump is not a story of redemption but a clear account of who he really is and who he has always been.
In February, during a demonstration, said this about his opponent Nikki Haley: “Where is your husband? Ah, he's far away. He is away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is the? “He's gone!”
It was no secret: Haley's husband was deployed overseas with the South Carolina National Guard, something she openly discussed at campaign events. Trump knew “what happened to her husband.” But he simply bet that some in his audience didn't know and that he could score cheap political points by smearing a service member.
You don't have to act surprised. That's the kind of person Trump has always been, regardless of whether or not he had a “God whisperer” on his staff. This is the kind of person Johnson approached last week in a desperate attempt to keep his job.
I'm not sure what the former president's current spiritual advisor is whispering in his ear these days, but by now it's clear he doesn't need to listen to get re-elected.
