David French has written a rather scathing open letter at NRO, chastizing evangelical Christians who support or defend President Trump. He makes some good points, at least regarding those Christians who've actually excused or rationalized Trump's pre-presidency licentiousness, and to the extent that that's who the letter's targeted toward, I fully agree with him, but I think he's casting a wider net than just those who've winked at Mr. Trump's boorish and adulterous behavior.
As I read Mr. French he seems to be upset, not just with those who seek to justify Mr. Trump's earlier behavior, but with anyone who calls him or herself a Christian and who also supports Donald Trump. If that's a fair assessment of Mr. French's intent then I think his missive raises certain questions that I wish he had addressed more thoroughly. Here are some:
Is it possible to support - even be enthusiastic about - the policies of the man while still deploring his past personal conduct? If a president's economic policies are of great benefit to the poor and middle class, if he's bringing peace to the world and common sense to the judiciary, should we ignore all that because there are extra-marital affairs in his past?
Would Mr. French have applied the same standard to JFK, RR or WJC? Would he have insisted that those Christians, and there were many, who supported Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton were shredding their moral credibility in the eyes of the world by so doing? Reagan was a bit of a rake in his early years, and Kennedy and Clinton carried their rakishness all the way into the Oval Office. How does Trump differ significantly from these men?
Nor does French ever tell us what the alternative is for Christians who take Christian morality seriously. Does he think they should support the campaign to remove Trump from office on the basis of past sins? Should they support impeachment simply because the man is, to them, distasteful or boorish? Should they withdraw from the political sphere like the Amish and refuse to risk sullying their reputations and moral credibility by unsavory associations with flawed men? What, exactly, does he think conservative Christians should actually do, aside from refusing to excuse sinful behavior?
Is it possible, moreover, that Trump has repented of his former life and is currently a spiritual and moral work in progress? Has he shown, since being elected to office, any signs of infidelity to his wife? It may be that he's an impulsive prevaricator of Clintonian dimensions, but has he corrupted his office with venal or illegal activity? Aside from some of his earlier tweets, how, exactly, has he demeaned, much less disgraced, the presidency since taking office, any more than did many of his predecessors? Shouldn't Christians always hold out the possibility of repentance and redemption?
Furthermore, is it possible that God has raised up Trump like He raised up Abraham (a liar), Jacob (a cheat) or David (an adulterer and murderer but who was nevertheless declared to be a man after God's own heart) onto whose lineage it even pleased God to graft His only Son? Is it possible that for all his unfortunate personal blemishes he is in fact the man whose strengths God has chosen to utilize at this point in our history?
French may have good answers to some of these questions, but, if so, I wish he had included them in his angry epistle. Otherwise, it just sounds as if the difference between a Christian supporting Clinton or Obama, both of whom were radically pro-abortion in addition to being mendacious, and a Christian supporting Trump is, for French, that the former were loved by the elites and thus supporting them won elite favor, whereas Trump is despised by the elites, so supporting him, or at least his policies, is an unacceptable compromise of principle.
It would be helpful if conservative Never-Trumpers would stop scolding those who feel caught in a difficult moral situation by insisting that Trump is irredeemably bad and that Christians are betraying their calling by supporting him, even if what they support is what he's doing for the country and the world. It would also be helpful if those same Never-Trumpers would clearly explain what they think the proper course for Christian citizens should be vis a vis the president.
