*10 Fred Trump (note - Donald's father) grew up in the home of first-generation immigrants who embodied the culture and worldview of Luther's Germany. hard work is the duty of those who walk with God, rather than good work being the path TO God. in true 'melting pot' fashion, Elizabeth (note - Trump's mother and her children had Americanized their cultural inheritance and passed it along to their Children. but what do we make of that 'cultural inheritance'?
First, all the Trumps - living and dead, blue collar and white - are known for being hard workers. that is an undisputed fact. the Trumps incarnate the abstract 'Protestant work ethic' concept. Donald's won statement about his father - 'the hardest-working man I ever knew' - is supported by thousands of people who worked alongside Fred or who lived in his buildings. you don't build tens of thousands of middle-income residential units without knowing how
*11 to put in a hard day's work. Fred knew (as does Donald) how to read a blueprint, frame a building and lay bricks; he knew how to retar a roof and how to lay a plumb line'.
...also, Luther taught that all honest vocations have equal merit and worth in the eyes of God. people who build literal houses are doing so in service to God just as much as pastors who build up the spiritual house of God. the Augsburg Confession affirmed the righteousness of everyday (non-clergy) vocations: 'The Gospel does not overthrow civil authority, the state and marriage but requires that all these be kept as true orders of god and that everyone, each according to his won calling, manifest Christian love and genuine good works in his station of life.'
such a conviction not only frees us to pursue a vocation that society may deem 'beneath your status', but it also frees us to treat others with dignity no matter what their vocation. Donald Trump (note- T) said this about Fred: 'It's because of him that I learned, from my youngest age, to respect the dignity of work and the dignity of working people. he was a guy most comfortable in the company of bricklayers, carpenters and electricians - and I have a lot of that in me also.
*13 'look at the work ethic he has instilled in his children. it is remarkable. his children have a work ethic and a focus and an appreciation for work that is truly impressive - and not just for intellectual and theoretical work, but physical, manual labor. the things that he has exposed them to, the things he has taught them to do and the opportunities he has put before them are amazing. if every father in America had done what he has done, we wouldn't have nearly the issues we have with this most current generation and heir sometimes questionable work ethic...
*14 Fred believed that people should discover what they enjoy doing and then learn the skills of that work. 'You must like what you do'...You must pick out the right business or profession. you must learn all about it...
even after he had millions in the bank, Fred Trump never retired. he had wealth, but not flash and glitz. we can agree that such a statement is relative. until his death in 1999, Fred lived in the home that he built in the 1950s. it had dozens of rooms but was not fancy. he never traded up and never left the upper-middle-class neighborhood where he had raised his kids...
there was a humility to his work despite the very public nature of these projects. his brand was the buildings themselves, not his name on top of them. only 2 of Fred's projects used his last name: Trump market, a grocery store he built and quickly sold in 1933, and the Trump Village apartment complex he built in 1963 on Coney Island. 'It took a long time to sell me the idea, T told a reporter, explaining his reluctance at the naming. 'they told me it would be a monument to me and most monuments I know are granite or marble'. the son of one of his partners recalls that though Fred was wealthy, 'he wasn't flashy. he never tried to impress anybody with his wealth. he didn't seem to care if anybody had ever heard of him'. in the end, Fred conceded to the name because it would be 'something to remember the name Trump by'.
there are dozens of stories about Fred's frugality. he would pick up nails off the ground at a job site and give them back to the workers the next day, both to save the pennies ad to set an example to the carpenters. he had chemists figure out the formula for the floor disinfectant he bought in mass quantities, then had hem mix up batches at a fraction of the cost he had been paying. he tried to
*15 eliminate waste wherever possible, 'turning off lights and getting up on a stepladder to remove any bulbs he deemed unnecessary'. in other words , he lived by the 'Waste not Want not' maxim of American frugality flowing from the tradition of Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac.
when asked for the key to success in real estate development, Fred once said, 'You have to follow up and follow up and follow up'. whatever that answer lacks in sophistication it makes up for in real-world wisdom. grit - that combination of discipline, consistency and a determination to get the job done right - defined Fred's career.
*19 (note - Donald Trump['s mother's) maiden name was Mary Anne MacLeod.
these real-life MacLeods got their start from a patriarch named Leod ('Mac' means 'son of') who lived in the 13th century, with a MacLeod line of succession that continues to this day. family history records that Tormod MacLeod was an incredible soldier and fought the English at the Battle of Bannockburn (depicted as the final scene of Mel Gibson's Braveheart.) but the specific line of MacKeod chieftains on the Isle of Lewis reveals that 'almost 10,000 people alive today are all descended from this man' - the original MacLeod patriarch.
but even more fascinating , the genes also show that these
*20 MacLeods descend from 'a Norse aristocrat called Ljot, a relative of Olaf, King of Man'. in other words, from time to time the Vikings would show up and cause havoc, including the siring of offspring.
Mary Anne MacLeold, the 10th of ten children born to Malcolm MacLeod and Mary MacLeod, entered this world on May 10, 1912 - 3 weeks after the sinking of the Titanic. the MacLeods lived in a tiny, one-lane village called tong, about 4 miles north of Stornoway, the biggest city on the island of 10,000. Lewis is part of a series of islands known as the outer Hebrides of Scotland. though not without natural beauty, the geography and culture of this land was rough and primitive.
during Mary Annes's childhood, World War I took the lives of 1,150 of the young men of Lewis - mostly in the trenches of France. an additional 181 soldiers died in 1919 on their way home, killed in a shipwreck just off the coast of Lewis. even with their Christian fortitude and work ethic propelling them, the economic realities on the island gave little hope for a sustainable life. and for young women who longed to marry and have a family, the loss of life during the 'War to End All Wars' dimmed their hopes nearly altogether. for all these reasons, the promise of a new life had pulled Scotland's sons and daughters across the Atlantic for a century. several of Mary Anne's older siblings had already emigrated and in the spring of 1930, the almost 18 year old mother of Donald Trump said good-bye to Scotland and boarded a steamship for New York City.
to live in Scotland is to be surrounded by Presbyterian churches. this is the land of John Knox, the man who brought the Protestant Reformation to Scotland directly from John Calvin's Geneva.
*21 Knox was ordained in 1536 - the same year that William Tyndale was executed for translating he Bible into English and for speaking out against the marriage plans of King Henry VIII. Tyndal's final words were 'Lord, open the King of England's eyes'. likewise, Knox did not live in fear of imprisonment or execution, saying that 'One man with God is always in the majority'. he spoke plainly and boldly to royalty, without fear of the consequences. in modern parlance, Knox 'spoke truth to power', telling kings and queens that they were not the ultimate authority. such ideas were considered treasonous, of course, but Knox persisted, preached and prayed. and from exile, he also pamphleteer. and from exile , he also pamphleteered, spreading his ideas throughout England and Scotland.
Knox and Tyndale worked out a system for ordering the churches they established throughout the land. instead of a pope and bishops, they would convene annually for big decision-making and discussions; but they would also have more localized church governance using districts: presbyteries, Knox had pleaded with God in prayer -"Give me Scotland or I die'. - desiring the gospel to take root among his Scottish countrymen, God answered his prayers and Scotland became a stronghold of vibrant Protestant faith. but his influence brought him into conversation and conflict with the newly installed Mary, Queen of Scots - a Roma Catholic who said, 'T fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe'. in one of their discussions, the Queen asked Knox, 'think ye that subjects, having the power, may resist their princes? ' Knox replied: 'If their princes exceed their bounds, madam, no doubt they may be resisted, even by power'.
Knox's ideas echoed all the way across 2 centuries and the Atlantic ocean, impacting American colonials who questioned whether they had a god-given right to rebel against King George. as British historian Jasper Ridley wrote, 'the theory of the justification of revolution is Knox's special contribution to theological
*22 and political thought'. and this theory wasn't written in an ivory tower or published under a pseudonym. Knox stood in front of the queen when he spoke these words. which is to say, Knox embodied something that Scottish people are known for: straight talk.
..let's consider 5 specific ways in which Scottish Presbyterianism impacted either the history of the United States or the life of Mary Ann McLeod.
First Sabbatarianism - the belief that Sunday was to be set aside for worship and that most work, travel and entertainment was to be curtailed - was practiced throughout Scotland since the time of John Knox.
* 23 ...'as 2 current citizens explain, 'God wants us to have a break from our work outside the home and inside the home. we eat light meals, so there is not too much kitchen work. it gives us time to spend with our children and focus on their souls as well as our own'.
though Mary Anne did not practice Sabbatarianism as a mother in America, the Trumps were regularly in attendance at Sunday worship while raising their family. German-Lutherans in America such as Fred Trump's upbringing was, envisioned a different way to keep the Sabbath. after attending worship, Lutherans believed they had christian freedom to spend Sundays in recreational pursuits - and in that way they saw the day as 'holy' (meaning, 'set apart') because they were working hard the other 6 days of the week.
second, Presbyterians emphasized using the Sabbath day for the spiritual training of the children. this practice, known as catechizing, became the norm throughout Scotland and was still practiced by the churches on Lewis during Mary Anne's childhood. the very idea of having a catechism flows from the idea that the Christian faith goes beyond a personal experience of faith.
*24 ...Third, Presbyterians placed great emphasis on the importance of both family worship and active participation in the local congregation. at present, there is no way of knowing exactly what depth of spiritual instruction took place in the MacLeod home. but we do know the children were baptized into the Sornoway High Church - a congregation affiliated at the time with the Church of Scotland. the mission house in Tong is part of the ministry of the Free Church in Back. the MacLeods could have worshipped there in Tong or walked 4 miles south to Stornoway for worship...
*25 fourth, Scottish Presbyterians directly influenced the colonies in the buildup to the American Revolutionary War. in 1955, Billy Graham came and preached for 6 weeks in what was called the 'All Scotland Crusade'. Grahams's Scottish ancestors had settled in North Carolina and in 1775 they even signed the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence - the first such declaration made in the colonies. as Graham told a group of clergy and press, in explaining his rationale for coming to Scotland: 'Among the Puritans which came to America between 1620 and 1640, one-fifth of them wee of Scottish Presbyterian persuasion. these virile Scots were possessors of a vital faith which helped to pour the foundations of the American way of life. every American owes a debt he can never repay to Scotland, this little country, with only 5,000,000 population, has long had a mighty influence on the United States'.
John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian minister from Scotland, came to the colonies in 1768 to lead the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in its primary mission of training pastors. Witherspoon preached sermons that included such zingers as, 'Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God' and 'there is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost and religious liberty preserved entire'. thus, many of Witherspoon's students joined Washington's army and gave their lives on the battlefield to secure our independence. 'Call this war by whatever name you may, only call it not an American rebellion', a German hessian mercenary wrote during the war.
*26 it is nothing more or less than a Scotch Irish Presbyterian rebellion.'
and Witherspoon's greatest impact on our nation came from his tutelage of James Madison - the
Father of the Constitution'. as Church historian Donald Fortson wrote: 'Witherspoon had taught his students about a balanced political structure where misuse of power may be corrected. Madison had apparently also imbibed from With the old Calvinist doctrine of total depravity and man's natural inclination to vice and political corruption' belief in the need for checks and balances as a mean of resisting tyranny flowed from Calvin to Knox to Samuel Rutherford (another Scottish Presbyterian minister and the author of Lex Rex) to With to Madison.
Fifth, the emergence of a politically engaged evangelicalism in the 1970's was aided by evangelical Presbyterian pastors and authors like Peter Marshall Jr., D. James Kenney and Francis Schaeffer. and since it was the evangelical voting bloc that sent Donald Trump(hereafter 'T') into the White House, this is something worth taking note of. a significant intellectual precursor to the Christian Right was Schaeffer's Book (1976) and film series (1977) How Should We Then Live? Schaeffer then followed up with his book against abortion, Whatever happened to the Human Race (1979), coauthored by Reagan's future surgeon general, C. Everett Koop, an evangelical Presbyterian.
Schaeffer's 1981 book, A Christian Manifesto, laid out a theological and philosophical basis for Christians to practice civil disobedience. the book sold 300,000 copies in its first year alone. it remains in print today and continues to spark a live discussion among the Christian Right. and Schaeffer dedicated the book to Rutherford, calling him 'an important trail marker for our day' - a guide for Christians who believe their government is unresponsive to the people who it should be serving.
*27 it follows from Rutherford's these that citizen have a Moral obligation to resist unjust and tyrannical government. while we must always be subject to the office of the magistrate, we are not to be subject to the man in that office who commands that which is contrary to the Bible....that is exactly what we are facing today. the whole structure of our society is being attacked and destroyed. it is being given an entirely opposite base which gives exactly opposite results. the reversal is much more total and destructive than that which Rutherford or any of the Reformers faced today.
it is impossible to read 'we are not to be subject to the man...who commands that which is contrary to the Bible' without thinking of news stories from the past 4 years that evangelicals followed closely: Little Sisters of the Poor and the Health and Human Services (HHS) Mandate; Floris Arronelle Stutzman; Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis; Sweet cakes by Melissa; Hobby Lobby and abortifacient birth control; high school coach Joe Kennedy's termination for on-field prayers; Houston's mayor issuing a subpoena for the sermons of area pastors.
Schaeffer wrote A Christian Manifesto in the immediate aftermath of Ronald Reagan's 1980 victory, which he described as 'a unique window open in the United States' - a period of opportunity to overturn tyrannies before they do irreparable harm to the nation.
like wise, 6 months after the 2016 election, Robert Jeffress - pastor of First Baptist, Dallas -hosted Trump for an Independence Day celebration that provoked either red-faced cursing on Twitter or tweets of 'Amen'. Jeffress said:
it is also an indisputable fact that in recent years there had been those who tried to separate our nation from its spiritual.
*28 foundation. and that reality has caused many of us, many Christians to despair and to wonder, 'Is God finished with America? are our best days over? has God removed His hands of blessing from us?' but in the midst of that despair came Nov, 8.2016...
millions of Americans believed the election of President Trump represented God giving us another chance. perhaps our last chance to truly make America great again. and how grateful we are. we thank God every day that He gave us a leader like President Trump.
American evangelical politics continues to be shaped by Scottish Presbyterians like Knox and Rutherford. when yet another high school valedictorian gets a written warning against mentioning God or quoting Scripture, evangelicals sense that there really is something at stake for our nation in this season.
former Ohio congressman Bob McEwen (a Scots-Irish name if ever there was one) was elected to office in 1980 with the Moral Majority-fueled Reagan Revolution. we asked him to compare that election with what happened in 2016. McEwen said that to make a change in the direction of the country takes at least 3 presidential terms, maybe four - and that there have only been 3 presidencies when the country fundamentally made a permanent turn: Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and FDR. 'and so, I believe that had Hillary gotten 8 years on top of Obama's 2 terms, the the America that you and I know would not have existed at the end of those 8 years, then the America that you and I know would not have existed at the end of those 8 years. I firmly believe it'.
when T visited the isle of Lewis in 2008, a gaggle of reporters followed him around. after touring the modest home in Tong where Mary Anne grew up, he stood for some pictures with
*29 his cousins who live there. Donald's sister Mary Anne, who has a deep relationship to her mother's homeland, was with Donald also, and even sported a yellow-and-black-patterned scarf - the official MacLeod tartan. Donal turned to the media and made a few remarks: 'I like it. I feel very comfortable here. it's very interesting when your mother, who was such a terrific woman, comes fora specific location - you tend to like that location. I think I do feel Scottish'.
Mary Anne (Donald's mother ) returned to Scotland on numerous occasions, visiting her dad, who lived until 1954 and her mom, who died in 1963. 'She never, ever forgot her roots', Rev. Calum MacLeodsaid. 'Folks speak of her as kind and considerate - and someone who never forgot who she was She never forgot the island that nurtured her before she took off to the States'.
Maryanne (Donald's sister) has visited dozens of times and even donated $250,000 to a nursing home in Stornoway. her generosity came to her by the example of her mother, as Mary Anne always brought a round of gifts to Scotland with her, for family and neighbors alike. 'she was a philanthropist with a genuine interest in helping people', Rev. MacIver said. 'her own background would have led her to do that -growing up in poverty.'
when Mary Anne came back home, she would worship at the church of her youth. people here still remember her visits and not simply because she was a stately and glamorous guest - though that factored in. she would walk around the church, talking to everyone in her native Gaelic tongue and singing heartily - just like things were back in the day, with one motorized exception. unlike her childhood experiences, Mary Anne didn't have to walk the 4 miles to church because Fred would pay to have a car shipped overseas with her so she could get around the island. Mary, queen
*30 of Scots, had her royal carriage; Mary Anne Trump, Scot from Queens, had her Cadillac.
Chapter 5 City on a Jamaican Hill
*44 in 1630, William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury and King Charles I of England punished a Presbyterian medical doctor, Alexander Leighton, for publishing a pamphlet that criticized the Anglican church. Leighton was put in leg irons and thrown in solitary confinement in an open-air cell where he was exposed to the elements for nearly four months. after that came the real punishment. Leighton was 'tied to a stake and received 36 stripes with a heavy cord upon his naked back; he was placed in the pillory for 2 hours in November's frost and snow; he was branded in the face, had his nose split and his ears cut off and was condemned to life imprisonment.
as any student of American history knows, a large portion of the people who left England in the 17th century, braving the 3-month voyage across the Atlantic, did so not because they dreamed of god, but because they pursued religious freedom. the church were Donald Trump grew up, first Presbyterian Church of Jamaica, Queens, sits just south of Jamaica hills and to the west of Jamaica Hills estates ( where the Trumps lived.) this congregation, the oldest continuously active Presbyterian church in the Western Hemisphere, was founded by such men and women.
facing increased persecution, Puritans intensified their immigration to the New World. in the summer of 1630, John Winthrop led a fleet of ships full of Puritans across the sea as part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. before they landed, Winthrop stood on the deck of the Arbella and delivered one of the most significant sermons in
*45 history - 'A Model of Christian Charity' - otherwise know as the 'City Upon a Hill' sermon.
we shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when 10 of us shall be able to resist 1000 of our enemies ; when he shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, 'May the Lord make it like that of New England'. for we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. the eyes of all people are upon us. so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw his present help for us, we shall be made a story and a by-word (def- a word or phrase used proverbially; common saying) through the world.
without using the phrase 'American exceptionalism', Winthrop established that theme and it still guides the consciousness of Winthrop's heir today. Scots-Presbyterian Peter Marshall Jr.'s book The Light and the Glory is essentially a book-length explanation of how Winthrop's vision had been carried out in the US. it sold millions of copies during the patriotic fervor of the mid-1970s and provided the nascent Religious Right with a sense of historical rootedness.
even non-evangelical leaders have been drawn to Winthrop's message for inspiration. 2 weeks before his inauguration, president -elect John F. Kennedy quoted from it in a speech to the legislature of Massachusetts:
...I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arbella 331 years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier. 'We must always consider, he said, that we shall be as a city upon a hill
*46 -the eyes of all people are upon us'. today the eyes of all people are truly upon us - and our government in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill - constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities. for we are setting out upon a voyage in 1961 no less hazardous than that undertaken by the Arbella in 1630. we are committing ourselves to tasks of statecraft no less awesome than that of governing the Massachusetts...
*47 the debate over whether 'America is a Christian nation' will forever reference Winthrop's theses. and the debate gets fierce, even among evangelicals. but one thing that unites all evangelicals is the desire to defend and even expand religious liberty. as Baptists in London wrote in 1640, at a time when they enjoyed precious few religious liberties: 'all other liberties will not be worth the naming much less enjoying.
given that the Trump campaign and now the Trump administration, made religious liberty such a central issue, the fact that he grew up in a church birthed by fresh-off-the-boat, religious liberty-seeking Puritans is something worth taking note of.
*49 ...during the years just before the Revolutionary War, much of the New York leadership of the movement was known to come from the Presbyterian churches. after the sons of Liberty dumped a boatload of English tea into New York Harbor in 1774, a resident to the city wrote to a friend in London to report that the Presbyterians ' have been the chief and principal instruments in all these flaming measures and they always do and ever will act against government, from that restless and turbulent anti-monarchical spirit which has always distinguished them everywhere, whenever they had or by any means could assume power'.
later that same year, when the town of Jamaica appointed a Committee of Correspondence and Observation that would coordinate communications and support with the First Continental Congress, 5 out of 7 of the committee were members of the First Presbyterian Church. the Americans of Long Island were defeated early, on Aug. 27, 1776, and the British occupied the whole of Jamaica for the remainder of the war.
Elas Baylis, an Elder at FPC and the chairman of the Committee
*50 of Correspondence, was captured by the British. being blind and aged, a British officer questioned the soldiers as to why Baylis had been arrested. the answer: 'He's blind, but he can talk'. to that, Baylis let rip 'a few words in vindication of the American cause' - and the officer was convinced, sending him to a prison ship where he remained until he became so sick that they released him, though he died while walking back to his home. it was said of Baylis that he 'stood high in the community for uprightness and ability. he had a sweet voice and could sing whole psalms and hymns from memory'.
the town of Jamaica formed 2 companies of Minute Men, 2/3 of whom were Presbyterians, both led by members of FPC. numerous men from the church gave their lives for the cause of American independence, including a man named Ephraim Marston who was killed in battle shortly after First Presbyterian recorded the baptism of his son, who he had named patriotically: John Hancock Marston.
C.S.Lewis, the British author of the Chronicles of Narnia series, wrote about 'men without chests' -people who have developed no internal 'middle element' that connects their intellects with their appetites. without this middle element - 'chest' -Lewis said that people either cannot or will not believe in the objective nature of truth and reality. but who wants to live in a society governed by such people? Lewis wrote: 'We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. we laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.
tens of thousands of people left family and crossed the Atlantic yearning for religious freedom. later, men died on the battlefield in a fight for the independence they would not live to experience - though they would pass it down as a heritage to their children. and
*51 old men died in prison for speaking up for the very freedoms we enjoy today. such men and women had 'chests' - and we take a step in the direction of having our own whenever we remember the actions they took and the motivations behind them.
being born in a garage doesn't make you a car. and being raised in a church with a rich history of vibrant biblical Christianity and sacrificial love for America makes you neither a patriot nor a Christian. but the fact that, in centuries past, so many of these people worshipped God in the same congregation in which Donald Trump would spend his childhood and teen years means that he grew up in proximity to these stories of 'men With chests'.
*66 ...it was also during the 1950s that the battle to maintain Bible reading in public schools was being fought in the courts. in 1962's Engel v. Vitale and then, in 1963, Abington School District v. Schempp, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that:
No state law or school board may require that passages from the Bible be read or that the Lord's Payer be recited in the public schools of a State at the beginning of each school day - even if individual students may be excused from attending
*67 this ruling is considered by evangelicals to be a day that went down in infamy, when 'praywer and bible reading were taken out of schools' and naked secularism began its reign as the state religion of America. in 1984, Reagan quoted from Justice Potter Stewart (the lone dissenting vote in the case) during a time when the Senate debated 'prayer in schools' legislation. Stewart had written:
...if religious exercises are held to be an impermissible activity in schools , religion is placed at an artificial and state-created disadvantage....and a refusal to permit religious exercises thus is seen, not at the realization of state neutrality, but rather as the establishment of a religion of secularism or at least, as Governmental support of the beliefs of those who think that religious exercises should be conducted only in private...
*130 ...Trump did not run for president in 2000, but in Jan 2004 he started living out those earlier entertainment dreams by starring in The Apprentice, the show's ratings were incredible, as over 20,000,000 people tuned in to watch at the height of its popularity. and the show secured his universal name-recognition status. from coast to coast, his face was everywhere - in everyone's living room - and people enjoyed watching his antics.
in fact, when he announced his candidacy in 2015, many people thought he was just building his brand some more. and since he wasn't seriously running anyway, why get bent out of shape about his statements? 'like an awful lot of people. I just flat out didn't take it seriously early on', conservative columnist David French said. 'I just thought he was funny. my wife and i watched The Apprentice
*131 from the beginning. we enjoyed the show, thought he had a funny persona. I also remember him from WrestleMania. that's kind of how I viewed him - a larger than life reality TV star and a quasi-business mogul, a walking-talking brand.
Robert Schuller, the late founder of the Crystal Cathedral and the Hour of Power Christian television program, inherited Norman Vincent peal's legacy and spread the message of positive thinking - though he tweaked it slightly and called it 'Possibility Thinking'. in his autobiography, Schuller explained his turn from the Calvin-influenced theology of his denomination, the Reformed Church in America:
'I concluded that I'd have to present Bible truths in simple words and simple messages as Jesus had done. no heavy theology. No intimidation. No judgment. Just inspiring ideas that might bring people from doubt to faith...I deduced that if I focused not on generating quilt, but...trust and positive hope., I would be preaching against sin via a creative, redemptive approach.
there doesn't seem to be any record of Donald Trump (T) and Robert Schuller meeting, though they both made a splash at the 1988 Republican National Convention. Schuller gave an opening invocation where he speech-payed about 'someday is today' and celebrated George H.W. Bush as 'a humble man who was able for 8 years to live under the towering shadow of one of the great presidents of our country and never took advantage of opportunities to attract attention to himself. we celebrate a person with emotional health - such healthy self-esteem that he does not yield to boisterous and brash and flamboyant styles of behavior.'
NBC's Chris Wallace interviewed T from the floor of the
*132 convention and CNN's Larry King brought T into his booth - but both asked the same question: they prodded T about the idea of jumping into presidential politics. 'well, I think I'd have a very good chance, ' T told Wallace. 'I like to win - when i do something, I like to win. i like to do well and i think I probable would have a very good chance.
Schuller, like his fellow Californian-from-the -Midwest friend Ronald Reagan, believed that possibility thinking helped people achieve the American dream of being successful. like a character in a Horatio Alger novel, sch felt he had made something of himself as a result of his possibility thinking: 'you can go anywhere from nowhere. my life is witness to that. I was born at the dead end of a dirt road that had no name and no number - in a flood'.
If T ever heard Sch's message, it must have come via television. some people may think it is odd to suggest T would watch Christian TV, but these viewing habits of his are now an established fact. he and Fred would watch or listen to Billy Graham's sermons - either in the Hour of Decision radio format or the Billy Graham TV Classics that are broadcast on cable. T told an audience at Liberty University that he used to watch Jerry Falwell's program The Old-Time Gospel Hour.
and T loves the preaching of David Jeremiah, one of the best-known pastors in America and a writer of best-selling books with a conservative, evangelical message. when Jeremiah came to the Theater at Madison Square Garden in 2013 to celebrate the release of his study Bible, over 5.000 people bought tickets - an even that included worship music and preaching and was more like a church service than a publicity show. without any fanfare or special recognition, Donald and Melania showed up and sat in the front row. one person who sat close by said that if you didn't know
*133 was T, you would have assumed it was a Christian businessman at worship. Jeremiah and T spoke backstage at the event and the 2 have maintained contact since; Jer joined the faith advisory board for T in July 2016, and he attends the group's meetings at the White House.
another preacher that T first discovered on TV is Paula White, currently the pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida. at the time of their first contact, however , White was the co-pastor of Without Walls International Church in Tampa, which she founded with her husband, Randy white. both the churches White has pastored have been called a 'mega-church' due to the size of their membership and budget and from those resources, a TV preaching ministry was birthed. and that's how T encountered Whi.
'I know that so many people have gotten to know T through media, Whi said, but I had the privilege of knowing Donald -Mr. Trump - as a person. the value of that has been invaluable'.
paula said she was in her office one day, about 14 years ago, when she was told that 'Donald Trump is on the phone for you'. she had never met him, so she assumed the call was a prank. but no, it was T after all.
'I got on the phone and he started to quote back to me 3 sermons that i'd preached - i mean, verbatim. I'd done this series bout the 'Value of Vision' and T said, 'You're fantastic'. he said the sermons really ministered to him. we began to have a conversation. he told me how he was confirmed Presbyterian but grew up in Norman Vincent Peale's church and how he was one of the greatest orators. we just began to communicate'.
T asked Whi if she ever came up to New York. at the time, she was doing a Bible study for the Yankees (Tampa is home
*134 to the Yankees' Class A affiliate, playing at George m. Steinbrenner Field). she met with T in NY and gradually became friends with the entire family.
'I didn't know if he did or if he didn't have a relationship with the Lord, Whi said. 'But god connects people strategically an sovereignly for purposes. I felt that the Holy spirit whispered to my heart and said, 'SHOW HIM WHO I AM'. and so that was my assignment - JUST to BE HIS FRIEND. sometimes you just look at your phone and hope it is someone calling just to see how are you today. i wanted to be that person - simply a Christian, a living epistle'.
Whi told T, 'I don't want your money, I have enough of my won. I don't want your fame, I have enough of fame. I WANT YOUR SOUL. I am here for one purpose - to be your friend and show you who God is.
James Robison, a spiritual counselor to T since 2016 and a friend of White's, believes that her testimony of failures and flaws may have been what resonated most with T. 'In Paula, he met a girl who had missed the mark and failed. she never turned loose of Jesus and Jesus never turned loose of her. that impressed him. Paula never, never, never asked him for anything and never took anything from him. she just loved him and his family and HE WATCHED HE HOLD ON TO JESUS.'
Robison was referring to the fact that Whi was converted to Christ as a young adult and that her life has not always been a straight trajectory of sunshine and success. I BELIEVE GOD RAISES UP LITTLE PEOPLE TO DO BIG THINGS', Whi said. 'I didn't grow up in church and never heard the gospel until I was 18. I truly had an encounter with god and got radically saved - and I dedicated my life to Him. I stayed at an altar all night long one night and said to God: IF YOU CAN, THEN USE ME'. (note; I can't stop weeping for Joy through this Whi person!!!!!)I gave God all he reasons that He couldn't use me:although I came from a well-to-do family, my father had committed suicide when I was 5 years old. then, I
*135 had been sexually and physically abused in my childhood and had a child out of wedlock. I WAS JUST THIS YOUNG GIRL THAT BELIEVED THAT GOD COULD TAKE ANYTHING AND ANYONE AND IF THEY WOULD BELIEVE THAT HE COULD USE THEIR LIFE AS A TRANSFORMED LIFE. fast forwa32 years, I still believe that one of the assignments in my life is to be like Naaman's maid, to go in and deliver the Word of the Lord.' II Kings 5.1-19
(note - Naaman, a foreigner in Israel had heard that there was a prophet there who could heal him...'Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and honourable , because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria; he was also a might man in valour, BUT HE WAS A LEPER. and the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. and she said unto her mistress, would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy...(Naaman's king sent a letter to the king of Israel...'and it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes and said, 'Am I God, to kill and to make alive, ...see how he seeketh a quarrel against me....when Elisha the man of god ..heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me and HE SHALL KNOW THAT THERE IS PROPHET IN ISRAEL. so Naaman came with his horses and ..chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. and Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, God and wash in Jordan 7 times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shalt be clean. but Naaman was wroth and went away...I thought, He will surely come..and stand and call on the name of the Lord ...are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than the waters of Israel? and his servants came near and spake unto him and said, My father, if the prophet had said thee DO SOME GREAT THING, souls thou not have done it" how much rather then when he saith to thee, WASH AND BE CLEAN...he went down and dipped himself ...in Jordan and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child and HE WAS CLEAN...' HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!)
Whi also discovered that T loves Southern Gospel music and that one of his favorites is the Gaithers, having seen them on Christian TV. for a birthday or an anniversary, she would send him Bill Gaither tapes, along with books and sermons. 'Have I had in-depth spiritual conversations with Mr. Trump? Absolutely', White said. 'let me say something very literally about our President: 100% he has a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior.
in 2012, T called Wh and told here he was thinking of running for president. there was a time of prayer as he pondered the decision. of course, he didn't run then, but he called again in 2015 and told her, 'I really believe the Lord is speaking to me, that maybe I'm supposed to run for President'. i asked him, 'AS MY FRIEND, WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU? He asked for me to bring some pastors in to him, and I did' time and again, Whi and various pastors have surrounded Trump and placed their hands on his shoulders as prayers were spoken.
it was also during this season in T's life that he began to make new friends from within evangelicalism. Arthur Caliandro retired in 2009 from Marble Collegiate and T admits they haven't been back there since then. but in 2010, he began a friendship with Ralph Feed, conversing about the worldview and values of the Christian faith. through frequent interaction in the studios at Fox News, he and Mike Huckabee - and ordained minister - began to know one another. in 2012, t came to Liberty University for
*136 the first time, speaking to a record number in the audience for their regular convocation. in Nov2013, he and Melania attended an invitation-only 95the birthday party celebration for Billy Graham. and, of course, as I mentioned in the introduction, my first encounter with Tr came in 2011 when I interviewed him at Trump Tower for CBN.
of all the Christin leaders who showed support for T, few have known him longer than white. and among the group, nobody received as much scorn or personal attack as White did during the 2016 campaign. after yet another evangelical theologian called her a heretic and few weeks before the Inauguration, White responded with a written statement:
'In recent days, I have read a great deal of false information being reported about me, my theology and my past. I have been called a heretic, an apostate, an adulterer, a charlatan and an addict. it has been falsely reported that i once fined for bankruptcy and -my personal favorite-that I deny the Trinity!
i have hesitated to even address such patently false accusations about my personal life and my belies so as to not dignify them with a response, but since these comments pose a potential distraction to an otherwise celebratory and historic time in our country, I would like to set the record straight in the hope of returning our collective attention to what's most important.
first of all, I believe and have always believed in the exclusivity and divinity of Jesus Christ, his saving grace and substitutionary atonement made available to all by His death in the cross. I believe and have always believed that He was buried and on the third day rose again. i believe and
*137 have always believed in the Holy Trinity. I believe and have always believed in the virgin birth and the second coming. I also reject any theology that doesn't affirm or acknowledge the entirety of scriptural teaching about God's presence and blessing in suffering as much as in times of prosperity. in fact, I have preached and written as much on the lessons we must learn in times of trial in our lives as I have in times of abundance. many of those sermons are themselves lessons I've learned in the difficult seasons of my own life.
my life and my decisions have been no-whee-near perfect though nothing like what has been falsely conveyed in the media. nevertheless, I am now a 50 year old grandmother who has learned from the good and the bad in my life. I thank God that He has plenty of grace for us all and that he knows that neither my faith, my life, nor y theology originates or is inspired by any other book than the Bible -which I believe is inerrant and god's truth. God also knows that i have poured my life in love and service to others.
White hopes that people realize the long-term nature of the friendship and spiritual counsel she has given to Trump. 'way before his run for the presidency, way before involvement in the Party,
*138 way before becoming a politician - he was a man seeking God. A man who was spiritually hungry, watching Christian television and listening to Southern Gospel music. we are this work in progress that is continually growing, as long as our heart is open to God and as long as we are seeking God'
*141 at the base of the 60 foot high waterfall, Ivanka Trump stood behind a podium adorned with flags. a crowd of journalists, spectators, shoppers and Donald Trump fans sat in chairs or stood close at hand. she stepped up to the microphone and gave a spirited introduction to her father - who wasn't yet present.
then, the recorded music of rocker Neil Young played loudly over speakers assembled on tripods. T, almost the same age as young, consistently lists the rocker as one of his favorite musicians'. 'His voice is perfect and haunting...He's got something special'.
Young, a Canadian by birth, supported Bernie Sanders during the primary. the day after T's announcement, y wrote on his face book page: 'yesterday my song 'Rockin in the Free Wordl' was used in an announcement to a u.S. Presidential candidate without my permission...Music is a universal language, so, I am glad that so many people with varying beliefs get enjoyment from my music, even if they don't share my beliefs. but had i been asked to allow my music to be sued for a candidate - I would have said no'. the campaign and young went back and forth as to whether the T campaign had the right to use the music. Y let his final word on the subject be '--- you, Donald Trump' - said on stage and then posted on his Facebook page. for his part T made his feelings known about the song on Twitter: 'Didn't love it anyway'.
Melania and Donald stood at the top of the escalator, waving to the gathered crowd below. at the precise moment that Melania
*142 Trump's feet touched the top step of the escalator, Young's second stanza began, about seeing a woman holding a baby while standing next to a garbage can and looking for her next hit of drugs. the woman regrets that her kid won't get to go to school or fall in love.
with the juxtaposition of bleak dystopian (def- society characterized by human misery, as squalor. oppression, disease and overcrowding) lyrics echoing across the opulent atrium, T laid out the basic vision for his 2016 campaign. for large numbers of Americans, life sucks. be realistic about that fact and elect a person who knows how to get things done - a successful person, the kind of person who could create Trump Tower. do so, and things can turn around.
though mocked without end on late-night talk shows, the escalator ride and music served as shrewd political stage craft, worthy of comparison to anything Mike Deaver accomplished for Ronald Reagan.
in his opening remarks, T seemed to know that his launch had the right stuff, comparing it to what he saw as poorly planned launches by 2 of his fellow GOP candidates. without mentioning their names, T mocked Rick Perry's heavy-perspiration launch in a hot Dallas airport hangar: 'and I can tell, some of the candidates, they went in. they didn't know the air-conditioner didn't work. they sweated like dogs'. the T lampooned Lincoln Chafee's launch (called 'the worst campaign rollout of the year'. by The New Republic) in an almost empty room. 'and they didn't know the room was too big because they didn't have anybody there. how are they going to beat ISIS? I don't think it's gonna happen'.
though T's announcement speech seemed spontaneous, his most newsworthy lines came just 200 words into his 6,000 word speech. in journalistic lingo, T ...
the US has become a dumping ground for everybody else's problems. (applause)...when Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. they're not sending
*143 you. they're not sending you. they're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems with us. they're bringing drugs. they're bringing crime. they're rapists. and some, I assume, are good people.the outcry came immediately. most pundits assumed a retraction would be forthcoming the next day. such is the nature of modern political speeches that immediate retraction follows an uproar - whether the candidate meant what he or she said or not. in T's case, he meant it. 2 weeks later, Kate Steinle died on the San Francisco Pier from a ricocheted bullet shot by Francisco Sanchez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Sanchez had 7 previous felony convictions and had been deported to Mexico 5 times.
T wore his lack of verbal discretion as a sign of his straight-shooting honesty on the issues. at Trump Tower, he preemptively defended himself against the critiques of his poor speechmaking -by going on the offense against the other candidates' fine speechifying that lacked honesty about the issues:
but you don't hear that from anybody else. you don't hear it from anybody else. and I watch the speeches. I watch the speeches of these people and they say the sun will rise, the moon will set , all sorts of wonderful things will happen. and people are saying, 'what's going on? i just want a job. just get me a job. i don't need the rhetoric. i want a job'.
T even pulled in biblical imagery to explain the futility of following leaders who can't produce results:
...well, you need somebody, because politicians are all talk, no action. nothing's gonna get done. they will not bring us 0believe me - to the promised land. they will not.
*144 if T recalled his Old Testament bible stories, it was Moses who God used to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and to the promised land. and it was Moses who tried to get out of the job by pleading with god, 'oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent ,either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but i am slow of speech and of tongue'. Exodus 4.10
with a bit of superlative talk about how rich he is, T established an ethical premise of his potential governance - he couldn't be bought or bribed. 'I'm using my own money. i'm not using the lobbyists. i'm not using donors. I don't car. i'm really rich'.
when Moses established leaders who would judge disputes, he told the Israelites to 'look for able men who fear god, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe'. Exodus 18.21 the Bible condemns bribery and influence peddling in public office because they destroy the office, damn the nation and bring pain upon the innocent.
T found his fellow Republican candidates to be good men, but men of indecision - and he attributed that fault to their dependency on campaign funds flowing in from moneyed groups.
but all of these politicians that I'm running against now, they're truing to disassociate. I mean, yo looked at Bush, it took him 5 days to answer the question on Iraq. he couldn't answer the question. he did't know. I said, 'Is he intelligent?
then I looked at Rubio. he was unable to answer the question, is Iraq a good thing or bad thing? he didn't know. he couldn't answer the question.
how are these people gonna lead us? how are we gonna - how are we gonna go back and make it great again? we can't. they don't have clue. they can't lead us. they can't . they can't even answer simple questions. it was terrible.
*145 in the close of his speech, T put a dollar amount on his estimated wealth: 'So the total is $8, 737, 540,000
many found his statement to be crass - rightly so. and others found it to be a dishonest calculation of his won wealth - and overstatement by a little or a lot.
T's point, however, went deeper than braggadocio about bank accounts. T uses his wealth to state 2 facts about himself: 1. I'm competent and 2. I can't be bought.
...I'm not doing that to brag because you know what? I don't have to brag. i don't have to, believe it or not.
i'm doing that to say that that's the kind of thinking our country needs. we need that thinking. we have the opposite thinking.
we have losers. w have losers. we have people that don't have it. we have people that are morally corrupt. we have people that are selling this country down the drain....
this is going to be an election that's based on competence because people are tired of these nice people and they're tired of being ripped off by everybody in the world.
for those with ears to hear, T launched his campaign with moral argumentation. not with the language of the ivory tower, mind you, but in the tongue and bluster heard at the counter of a local greasy spoon or rotary Club. t argued that it's wrong to fail to protect your citizens when it's your duty as the head of eh executive branch to do so. it's dishonest to say you're watching out for the country when you're really a puppet of special interest groups. these are moral arguments.
Chapter 14 What is Your Relationship with God
Iowa ranks first in the nation in corn production,edging out its neighbor Illinois. and Iowa also ranks first in pork production, producing 3 times more than second-place North Carolina. but since the 1970s, Iowa also holds the distinction of being the first state in the union to cast votes to decide who the Democrats and republicans will nominate at their party's candidate for president.
Iowans caucus.
they do so in January or early February of an election year. that much is known. as for how caucuses work, it has yet to be proven that an average Iowan understands the process. the rest of us don't , yet we look on with curiosity once every 4 years.
because they go first, Iowa voters receive massive amounts of exposure to the candidates. a mailbox in states with late primaries might not every receive a political postcard. by contrast, Iowans often receive a half-dozen a day - for month on end. politicians who never set foot in Iowa before feeling their Oval office itch will suddenly campout in the state, meet voters and eat pork chops on a stick at county fairs. the ambitious among them will even attempt the 'Full Grassley' - the feat of visiting all 94 counties -'Grassley' - being the name of the state's US senator who makes a point of visiting all the counties each year.
all that is to say, you've got to learn the vocabulary of people who know hags and corn if you hope to have a shot at the White House.
*147 likewise, with nearly 80% of Iowans claiming either Protestantism or Roman Catholicism as their religious preference, you also must learn the language of people who know Jesus. God-talk can't make you uncomfortable.
The Family Leader, Iowa's foremost conservative Christian political organization, hosts a 'Leadership Summit' every July, bringing together politicians and preachers for 2 days of speeches and rallies. several thousand Iowa conservatives travel to Ames to sit in Stephens auditorium on the campus of Iowa State University. the even becomes a first opportunity for candidates to test their messaging out on live people dozens of national media cover the event, taking special note of who received the loudest and longest applause.
in mid-July 2015, one candidate heard both applause And booing ; Donald Trump. public opinion guru Frank Luntz sat on the stage with T for a one-on-one session of questions and answers, opening with a query about his education policy.
'Common core has to be ended. it is a disaster', T said, earning applause by echoing every other GOP candidate's answer on the subject. but then he added Trumpian color; 'I is a way of taking care of the people in Washington that frankly, I don't even think they give a damn about education, half of them. I am sure some maybe do.
'do you want to use that word in this forum? Luntz asked with a smile. The audience leaned in.
'i will, I will. because people want to hear the truth, Frank', T said. 'i watch you all the time; they want to hear the truth'.
Applause errupted.
'I mean, exactly what Frank said is what is wrong with our country. we are so politically correct that we cannot move anymore.
More applause.
*148 'We have to be able to express ourselves, T continued.
'But don't we go too far? Luntz countered.
'Too far?'
Luntz asked T about the statement he made one month earlier; 'Don't you feel that you went too far in what you call Mexicans coming across the border?'
'not at all. No, not at all, T said -again to applause.
2 things . i am so proud of the fact that i got dialogue started on illegal immigration. and people in the media, in all fairness, they were very rough on me in that first week and now then many of them have apologized to me. and almost everybody - because it has turned out i was right. beautiful Kate in San Francisco was shot by an illegal who was here 5 times and they couldn't do anything about it, and believe me. Mexico kept pushing him back, because they didn't want him. believe me, that's true. and now, everybody is saying the T was right. but I tell you, I took alot of abuse.
Luntz challenged T about his calling Arizona senator John McCain a 'dummy'. one week earlier, T had held his second rally of the young campaign and 15,000 Arizonans showed up in Phoenix. up to that point, only Bernie Sanders had attracted such numbers. but when interviewed by Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker, McCain blasted the event: 'it's very bad...because what he did was he fired up the crazies'.
now, to say the McCain is unpopular with Iowa Republicans would be an understatement. in his 20000 campaign, he skipped the Iowa caucuses altogether. and even in 2008 when he won the overall nomination, he lost the Iowa caucus - placing a distant third
*149 with 13% to Mike Huckabee's 32%. and Obama beat him by 10 points in Iowa during the general election that fall.
T responded with force when Luntz mentioned McCain: 'Crazies, he called them all crazy. I said they were not crazy. they were great Americans. these people, if you were to see these people - I know what a crazy is. i know all about crazies. these weren't crazy. so he insulted me and he insulted everybody in that room'.
T could have left it at that. instead, he reflected back to the 2008 election: 'I supported him. I supported him for President. I raised $1 million for him. that's a lot of money. I supported him. he lost He let us down. but, you know, he lost. so, I have never liked him as much after that, because I don't like losers'.
the audience laughed.
'He is a war hero, he's a war hero, Luntz said, countering the 'loser' label by bringing up McCain's military record.
T Could have said, 'Frank, when I called him a loser, you know I was Only talking about the shellacking he took at the hands of Obama. as to his service to our country, of course, he is a hero - and I salute him for his service'.
instead, T infamously responded, 'He hit me - he's not a war hero'.
'5 and a half years... Luntz said, referring to the number of years McCain spent as a POW, enduring torture.
but T barreled along: 'Hes a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK? I hate to tell you. he was a war hero because he was captured, OK? and I believe perhaps he is a war hero, but right now, he said some very bad things about a lot of people. so, what I said is John McCain, I disagree with him, that these people aren't crazy'.
Boos' spilled forth from the crowd. Journalist's keyboards started clicking.
*150 Huckabee sat backstage at that moment. one of T's
new Iowa campaign operatives walked into the room and said, 'Well, I may have the shortest-lived contract in GOP primary history. he cannot survive this'.
it was interesting because we were set up to interview T following his Q%A. it was all arranged ahead of time - a one-on-one, exclusive televised interview for CBN in a private room one floor above the stage. then, between the 'not a hero' and 'forgiveness' comments, the other media folks were pretty much beside themselves: 'you've got to be kidding me. this is going to sink his campaign before it even got started'. there was such a flurry of activity, of journalists running around on cell phones, reporting back to whoever they were telling to - bureau chiefs back in New york -just to say, 'I can't believe what he just said' and 'This is a big story'.
here we are, waiting for the press conference to end, because he's supposed to come up to our room, a floor right above the press conference. then, through our producer Tracy Winborn, I got a message from Hope Hicks: 'David, I'm really sorry, but things are a bit hectic right now and we're just going to have to reschedule'.
as uncomfortable as the 'not a hero' comments were, T produced even more quotables when Luntz probed him about his Christian faith and practice.
'have you ever asked God for forgiveness? asked Luntz.
'that is a tough question, T responded, seemingly unfazed by the fact that in such a setting, the only answer you're supposed to give is 'yes'. but what followed next was authentic T.
*151 'I don't think in terms of- I have - I am a religious person. shockingly - because people are so shocked when they find this out, I'm Protestant, I'm Presbyterian and I go to church and I love God and I love my church.
T then went on to describe his deep fondness for his former pastor, Norman Vincent Peale. Luntz let him finish, then returned to the question at hand; 'But have you ever asked God for forgiveness?
the audience seemed amused, sensing that T had danced around the question. but T didn't seem to be evading - not at all. his answer certainly revealed his lack of a Billy Graham - basic take on the Gospel of Christ. but he answered without evasion or scripted pandering.
'I am not sure I have. I just go and try to do a better job from there.
I don't think so.
I think, if I do something wrong, I think I just try to make it right.
I don't bring God into that picture.
I don't.
now, when I take - you know, when we go in church and when I drink my little wine, which is about the only wine I drink and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness.
and I do that as often as possible, because I feel cleansed, OK?
but, you know, to me, that is important, i do that.
in terms of officially -see, I could tell you, 'Absolutely' -and everybody- I don't think in terms of that.
ironically, if the truth of the matter is that Trump has never asked God for forgiveness, then if T had lied and said 'yes -
*152 then he could have avoided criticism. that is, lying about his practice of confession would have kept him out of trouble with the piety-inspectors.
2 months later, I asked T about what he said about forgiveness' her in Iowa. his response still led with sacramentalism ('I take communion.) but he also admitted something about his response to Luntz: 'Maybe I was getting a little bit cure and we were all having fun'.
'the audience, which was largely evangelical, gave me a standing ovation when I left', T concluded. 'I got the biggest standing ovation of anybody. we were all having fun. I didn't know it was going to be such a big deal. and actually, it turned out not to be a big deal, because the polls came out right after that and the evangelicals like me - so I was happy about that'.
of course, the truth of christian doctrine doesn't depend on standing ovations and poll numbers. in fact, when it comes to orthodoxy, it's usually the exact opposite, TV shows and presidential elections depend on popularity for their survival. Christian theology does not. but T was right when he told me that it 'turned out not to be a big deal, because the comments didn't sink him at all.
Luntz circled back around one final time: 'So, again, you've gone into it, if I don't ask this question, this audience will be disappointed. Straight question, what is your relationship with God'
'well, I pray, I go to church, T answered. 'i do things that are wrong? I guess so. you know, I'm a business person, I really do well at business, I've done great. I've made some of the great deals. I own some of the greatest properties in the world.
does God help you do these great deals? Luntz asked.
'I think God helped me....God helped me by giving me a certain brain, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing...I went through phenomenal school, the Wharton School of Finance, which is said to be the greatest business school in the world. I did really well there. I was a great student. so, I mean, I was born with a certain intellect that is good for this.
T attributed his intellectual and financial success in life to God's gifting. such attribution is a common religious practice -thanksgiving. a more nuanced tongue would be cautious here, making sure not to equate material success as proof of right standing with God. -who Jesus said sends the blessing of sun and rain on the just and on the unjust alike.
the question about forgiveness would come back around at least 2 more times during campaign interviews - notably by Jake Tapper and Cal Thomas. in both instances, T never specifically expressed an evangelical understanding of salvation by grace alone - the 'you must be born again' truth of Christian conversion . (John 3.7) that would make sense in that it's not something he would have heard preached every day in his previous church experiences. but as we'll begin to see later on in his journey, that would change dramatically.
Jesus once told a parable to teach people 'who trusted in themselves that they were righteous' Luke 18.9-14 in the story, there are 2 men - a Pharisee (a religious leader)and a tax collector.
both men were in the Temple praying. the tax collector begged god for mercy and confessed that he was a sinner. but the Pharisee looked up to heaven and gave a prayer of thanks to God 'that i am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector'. he then went through a litany of his good deeds.
Jesus concluded the parable by commending the tax collector: 'this man went down to his house justified' (made right with God).
*154'for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted'.
the spiritual disease of the Pharisee wasn't simply arrogance - though he had plenty of that. it was self-righteousness -thinking that his own religious works had earned God smile. as if God's smile onus is a wage that we earn through good behavior. like the Apostle Paul before his conversion to Christ, religious deeds can numb us to the reality of just how sinful we are - and how much we need the grace of confession.
nothing that T said in Ames had an ill effect on his poll numbers.
'T violated every convention and norm that is known to politics, Huckabee said. 'every time he did something that would have killed anybody else, it only boosted him'.
that's one reason why Huckabee believes that faith played a very minor role in the support for T. 'The faith community - they were against Hillary and against Obama. they really didn't care whether T was a person of faith or not. that just didn't matter. I mean, it's pretty evident by the things that he said'...
*157 Chapter 15 - The B-I-B-L-E Yes, That's the Book for Me
within a week of the Bible Belt rally in Mobile, T talked about the Bible on national television. Mark Halperin and John Heilemann interviewed T for With All Due Respect, their Bloomberg Television talk show.
Trump Tower patrons strolled in the background of the interview as Halperin asked T to explain what he would say to a gay so, daughter or grandchild if they asked him about his opposition to same sex marriage. 'well, it the way it is, T began. 'I mean, I wouldn't speak to them at all about it other than they are who they are. I want them to be happy and I will love them and I will cherish them'.
'But how would you explain your personal opposition to same-sex marriage? Halperin pressed the original question. 'How would you explain it to them?
'I've gone to gay weddings. I've been at gay weddings, T responded. 'I have been against - from the standpoint of the Bible, from the standpoint of my teachings, as growing up and going to Sunday School and going to church - and I've been opposed to it. and we'll just see how it all comes up. if I was ever in that position, I'd just have to explain it'.
Halperin jumped at the opportunity when T mentioned the word 'Bible'.
'You mentioned the Bible, H said. You've been talking about how it's your favorite book. and you said some people are
*158 surprised that you say that. I'm wondering what one or two of your most favorite bible verses are and why?
T's reply became the headline for the next news cycle.
'I wouldn't want to get into it because to me that's very personal. you know, when I talk about the Bible, it's very personal - so i don't want to get into it'.
there's no verse that means a lot to you that you think about or cite? H asked, swatting away the 'it's personal' argument.
'the Bible means a lot to me, but I don't want to get into specifics', T doubled down.
'Even to cit a verse that you like?'
'No, I don't want to do that, T said with more emphasis.
Heilemann jumped in from a different angle, 'Are you an Old Testament guy or new Testament guy?
'Probably equal, T said without a pause. 'I think it's just an incredible - the whole Bible is an incredible - they hold up The Art of the Deal (T's best seller) and i say 'that's my second favorite book of all times'. I just thing the Bible is something very special.
while walking down the hallway of our CBN office in DC my phone rang. it was Donald Trump, I stepped into our green room and took the call.
he talked about the Halperin interview and the question about the Bible verse. even with all the negative headlines about his response, i could tell that he thought it was a good answer.
it was, in fact, a purposeful non-answer. but using the logic of The Art of the Deal and how to handle the media, he thought it was the best way to handle the question because he didn't want to give them anything. as in, it's none of their business and he wasn't going to play their game.
you might agree it's a good thing because he's not letting the media get to him, but most evangelicals would believe it to be their duty
*159 and joy to share some verses - if put in the same situation. Hence, the word 'evangelical' - connected as it is to 'evangelism' - the sharing of the Gospel using the Scriptures (Romans 10:14-7) though T clearly wasn't going to attempt play-acting as an evangelical, a little more biblical meat would be nice.
and on that note, T asked me to send him some of my own favorite Bible verses. he also asked me why the Bible is so important to me.
the call ended. by the end of the day, I had emailed him my response to his questions.
as I reread the following email, I know that I would have written the same message to Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. if any candidate or politician from any party - or Anyone for that matter - asked me why the Bible is important, or if they asked me to give them some of my favorite Bible verses, then i would write what i emailed her. I'm a Christian first and foremost and this episode during the campaign was evidence of that.
Mr. Trump,
as promised, below are some of my favorite Bible verses along with a short commentary to put them in perspective.
i pray these help you draw closer to God, as each one of us needs to do every day. I would encourage you to read a daily devotional that takes just a couple minutes to start you off in the morning....
I commit to praying for you during this campaign. It won't be prayers for political victory (God has that covered) but rather that yo stay healthy and full of endurance, integrity, and patience through what promises to be a presidential race for the ages.
Best wishes, David
*160 My email to T included verses about faith from the Book of Hebrews; grace from the Book of Romans; letting the Lord fight your battles from I Samuel and God's plans for your life from Jeremiah.
one final note of clarity for the reader (T understood what I meant) about my line 'god has that covered'. I didn't mean that God was going to give T the victory. what i meant about God is that he is sovereign and free to shape the world and orchestrate human affairs in whatever way he sees fit.
as the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar testified, after being humbled by God most dramatically:
'For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and His kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and He does according to His will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay His hand
or say to Him, 'What have you done? Daniel 4.34-5
over 15,000 people showed up for a rally in Dallas in September, at the American Airlines Center - the home of the Mavericks and Stars. Robert Jeffress, the pastor of the historic and huge First Baptist Church in downtown Dallas, remembers this rally well because he met T fro the first time that night.
'he had seen me on Fox News and he reached out to me via Twitter', Jeff recalled. 'but that rally was the first time I actually met him in person.
Jeff led the rally in prayer, earlier in the evening before T had even arrived at the arena. the pastor wasn't on the stage or part of the ongoing program after that point.
'but out of the blue, Mr. Trump called me to come up on the
*161 stage with him, Jeff said. 'He thanked me publicly for my support of him. and that's where he first started using the line: 'You know the Pastor says I'm not a perfect Christian, but I'm a pretty good leader', everybody roared with laughter at that.
like the Mobile rally, here was another event deep in the Bible Belt that drew the largest crowds of any GOP candidate.
'we filled up a whole basketball stadium, T told me. 'It was a love fest. a lot of evangelicals, Tea party people, Hispanics - everybody was there. I don't think i ever though it would be this big this fast'.
from a national media standpoint, the Jeffress 'local pastor prays' angle wasn't much to write about. and once the event finished, everyone was focused on the second GOP debate to be held 2 days later at Ronald Reagan Library in California. but there in Dallas, you witnessed T standing alongside the pastor who would preach a private sermon to him on Inauguration morning, 500 days later.
with T, it's about having people vouch for him -especially people in groups that aren't his own natural tribe. (def - a class or set of persons with strong common traits and interests) Jeff wasn't endorsing him at that point - and technically, he never did.
the next afternoon, my CBN colleagues and I spent several hours at Trump National Gold Course in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. overlooking the Pacific Ocean just west of Long Beach, the fairways were a lush green and the clubhouse was regal.
we did part of the interview inside and then golf-carted out to the 18th hole. along the way, he pointed out places where the camera angles would be best for getting a memorable TV shot. I took note, once again, of how t thinks regarding visual aesthetics and broadcasting. we talked throughout the entire time about a dozen subjects, but it was our conversation about the Bible that made the headlines.
*162 attempting to pick up where Mark Halperin left off, I asked T to explain why he says that the Bible is the best book.
there's so many things that you can learn from it, T said. 'Proverbs, the chapter 'never bend to envy'. I've had that thing all of my life where people are bending to envy'.
T then compared the Bible to a great movie or a great work of art.
'I don't like to use this analogy, but like a great movie, a great, incredible movie. you'll see it once in will be good. You'll see it again. you can see it 20 times and every time you'll appreciate it more. the bible is the most special thing.
*166 Chapter Pentecostals, Prayer and Dinner at the Polo
imagine a group of men and women in dress clothes, standing huddled together around one central figure - a tall man with orange-blond hair.
most of the group puts one hand in the air and one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them. those at the center of the ring put their hands directly on the tall man - on his shoulders, his head, his chest. now imagine that everyone is in a mutual and simultaneous conversations with somebody else - someone not physically in the room. one person talks louder than the rest, but the rest are speaking too. and to top it off, everyone's eyes are closed. and there is an intensity to their voices.
who are these people? what is going on?
if you thought 'some folks are having a prayer meeting' then you might be a Christian - or even, an evangelical.
the meeting lasted roughly 2.5 hours and ended with pastors gathering around T and laying their hands on him in prayer, asking the Lord to give the GOP presidential frontrunner wisdom, stability and knowledge necessary to pursue this endeavor. they also prayed for America and for God's will to be done.
*167 during the meeting, T talked about his Christian faith. at one point, he admitted that he may not have read the Bible as much as the pastors in the room.
as the conversation continued, a few of the ministers implored T to tone done some of his harsh rhetoric. T explained that he is a 'counterpuncher' - that he doesn't hit first. he received the message by nodding his head, listening attentively and not being combative at all.
'He has a very high regard and av very deep respect for men and women of the cloth, Darrell Scott remarked.
T told the religious leaders and pastors that he will be a strong supporter of Israel and that defeating ISIS would be a strong part of his agenda. he also discussed trade, balancing the budget, elimination the deficit and tax reform. as for faith issues, he talked about how religious liberty and Christianity is under attack in America and that there is a lot of religious intolerance for Christianity in today's society.
T also had a challenge for the attendees. 'I think you've gotten weak in speaking up and making your own voice heart, Lance Wallnau remembers his saying 'You, me included, as Christians have been spoiled by a long period when Christianity was acceptable'.
the subject of race relations also came up when some of the African-American pastors in the room mentioned that there seems to be some detachment between him and the black community. while citing some polls to the contrary, Scott said T agreed with the overall assessment and would try to do a better job.
'People had a lot to say to him, a lot of advice. it was not a pep rally for Donald Trump, Christian book publisher Don Nori said.
during the prayers, Southern Baptist pastor David Jeremiah, known internationally for his radio preaching ministry, prayed that God would 'bring into his life a strong African-American who can
*168 stand with him and represent that community so that his voice will be heard even in a stronger way there'. Pentecostal preacher Kenneth Copeland prayed for God to 'give this man Your wisdom' and to 'make sure and certain that he hears. Manifest Yourself to him'. He closed by thanking God 'for a bold man, a strong man and an obedient man.
when you have dinner with Donald Trump. you never know who's going to show up. trust me, I know. one clear, starry late September night, it seemed appropriate that the 'stars' were literally out for the evening at The Polo Bar in New York. that's were my wife and I met Melania and Donald Trump for dinner. it was a table for 4...with plenty of celebrity guest appearances.
the establishment is owned by American fashion designer Ralph Lauren, who bills his eatery as 'a causal yet refined setting for food and drink in the heart of NYC'. but make no mistake: you don't just walk in and get a table. this is VIP seating only and on this night, we were on the list.
a few weeks earlier, I had received word from one of his high-ranking associates that Mr. and Mrs. Trump would like to have dinner with us. it made sense: I was out on national television analyzing the presidential candidates and their chances with evangelicals and T knew me to be an hones broker, he figured breaking bread with me simply made sense. plus, we had known each other since 2011, and were both from New York.
my wife and I traveled down the spiral staircase where we met the Trumps in a cozy, small dining room, complete with fine wood paneling and brass accents that seated maybe 100 patrons.
it didn't take long for T to break the ice with the most unusual of first questions. T leaned in slowly and asked inquisitively, 'How's your marriage?' it's not necessarily the first question you think a serious businessman like Donald Trump would ask. but
*169 what it revealed to me is a different side of him, a more caring and gentle side that is far more apparent in private than in public.
while we talked about immigration, evangelical politics and the state or the race, by far the most interesting takeaway was the consistent way throughout our dinner in which T came across as normal. for example, Melania was speaking to my wife he would interrupt but then quickly stop himself and say, 'Oh, sorry honey. Please continue'. Norma.. later in the conversation he showed care and concern when commending my wife for doing so much research on a pending court case regarding her former apartment in Manhattan.
and then there were the celebrities. lots of them: George Lucas from Star Wars fame; owner Ralph Lauren; actor Michael Caine; legendary Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and actor Michael J. Fox. they all came by the table one by one just to quickly say hellos. there was no campaign talk at all. instead, T showed his compassionate side once again by asking them about their lives rather than talking about his own.
we should add here that his empathetic side of T is more prevalent when the cameras aren't rolling. Evangelist James Robison has seen it too. 'I've been back behind the curtain with him when he's with people nobody sees and he keeps noticing the crippled person...or the military person or the person with the police force or the person that looks like they're poor. those are the people he goes to when nobody sees him. he notices them. he notices them when he walks out in the crowd. he'll notice the people that nobody else notices'.
oh, there was one more celebrity in the room. T leaned into me slowly, 'David, don't look but now know who is sitting behind you over there? I wondered who it could be. maybe David Hasselhoff? Nah. somebody much more popular. 'Who? ' I whispered. T paused for effect. 'Oprah'. indeed, it was Oprah, she would
*170 later come over to our table to say hello to the 4 of us. at the end of the conversation, as we all got up to leave the table, T and Oprah had an exchange that I'll never forget. 'Oprah, can you believe I'm having dinner with the Christian Broadcasting Net work? T bellowed with a smile. O replied with a rolling laugh, 'Never in a million years, Donald!
*171 Chapter 17 - Mr. Cyrus Meets Wrecking Ball
'nothing evokes a stronger image of a lunatic-fringe Christian than calling someone a Dallas Evangelist', Lance Wallnau said with a laugh. when journalists want to nail me, that's what they all me: Dallas Evangelist'. Wallnau - definitely from Dallas, but definitely not an evangelist, though once a pastor over a decade ago - runs his won business, a successful consulting firm.
Wal keeps a tight watch on the news cycle, trends and world events. but he did not plan nor foresee that he would be involved in national conversations during the 2016 election cycle. that's ironic, of course, as Wall prophesied publicly and correctly - during the pre-primary days in the fall of 2015 - that Donal Trump would be the next president.
Wall had no personal reason to do so. he did not know T beforehand. he wasn't on the staff or a volunteer for the campaign. and being a conservative Pentecostal Christian, Wall had the same reasons as other evangelicals to lean toward one of the other candidates.
a fellow Pentecostal named Kim Clement was scheduled to attend a meeting at Trump Tower in Sept. 2015. Clement believed he had a message about T - a 'word from the Lord' as Pentecostals would call it. but Cle had a stroke and would not be able to go to New York. somehow - and Wall doesn't know the details - he wound up getting asked to come to the meeting.
he traveled to Trump Tower and had a good time with a group of leaders and T -then flew home again. but he still wasn't sold
*172 on T. and that's when Wall said, 'The word of the Lord that was going to come to Kim about the Presidential candidate - it came to me. this was new territory for me, but I came home and when I was standing in my study in my office, I heard these words. 'Donald Trump is a wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness.
Wall said the words went from his left ear through to his right ear. 'I heard that and I laughed. I thought, 'Donald Trump is a wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness'. so I started saying that. and that was the moment that i got behind Donald Trump. I was enthusiastic for him from that moment on'.
there began to be many ugly altercations at T rallies as protesters - often from the Black Lives Matter movement - showed up at the events. and early on, a line in the sand seemed to be drawn by African- Americans for any of their own community who were thinking about giving support to T. the message was clear. Don't!
enter Darrell Scott, an influential African-American Pentecostal pastor from Cleveland. Scott, who had been friends with T for several years, thought a false narrative about T had emerged, that he was a racist and a bigot. Scott worked to orchestrate a meeting between T and black religious leaders, to help heal the divide.
Scott also called Wallnau, whom he had met at the meeting in Sept and invite him to come to the meeting with the pastors. Wall said he questioned why he should come, telling Scott, 'I'm not involved with race issues. not that I don't are - they're just not my forte. secondly, I'm not a minority and you're having a minority meeting with Donald Trump'. but Wallnau said Scott just laughed it off and told him he needed him there because 'you're a strategist....and besides that, you're a future minority. so you should show up just for that sake'.
Wall decided he would come, but planned on just sitting off to
*173 the side as a spectator. this wasn't his event and he didn't see that he would have anything to offer.
before the trip, however, he had a second experience of hearing from the Lord. 'I'm not one of those guys that's always hearing something, Wall said, admitting the sheepishness he had felt about the experience. 'I'm mostly a teacher - I'm not telling people that I'm hearing from God, but I heard the Lord say, this second time, God spoke right to my ear and said, 'the nest President of the United Sates will be the forty-fifth president and he will be an Isaiah 45 president'. I didn't even know who Isaiah 45 was talking bout, so I opened it up - the bible and it says, 'Thus says the Lord to Cyrus whom I've anointed'. right then I knew that Donald Trump corresponds to the Cyrus character in the Bible. and that he - the wrecking ball -would be the forty-fifth president.'
Wall read further into the chapter: 'and I will build for Israel My people's sake' and though you have not known Me'.
'that line freaked me, Wall said, because 'I always teach that salvation's free but the anointing is given by God for certain tasks and I always thought about it as a Christian currency, of being anointed or blessed. but in this case, it ways God anointed a heathen ruler. and that was the moment I realized God was going to anoint someone who doesn't know Him.'
and then Wall said he 'thought about 'common grace' - what the late Chuck Colson taught - that common grace is the grace that God puts upon unredeemed humanity such as judges and police and governors and rulers for the restraining of evil. if it was up to only the church to restrain evil, then the whole world would be chaos like 'Mad Max'. but God restrains evil through common grace. saving grace is what gets a Christian saved. one aspect of common grace is that God establishes officials -even ones who are not believers - to restrain evil in society'.
ahead of the second meeting in New York, Wall told Darrell
*174 Scott all these things that he had heard and thought about. 'this is something 2 Pentecostal preachers might talk about in a phone call with enthusiasm', Wall explained, but it's nothing you're going to say in front of other people'.
the day of the meeting at Trump Tower arrived.
Wall recalled the sense of drama in the air just before the meeting. 'we're all in that room and you can tell there were a whole bunch of people waiting to posture themselves. I mean, 90% of the African-American community was politically aligned against Donald Trump. the Africa-American community is locked up for the Democratic Party, so you're struggling to find the objectivity. in my opinion, most of the folks who came out to Trump Tower for that meeting would be going back to deliver a report to their people on what they had done to set T straight. they weren't going there to find facts or to build bridges'.
T came into the room holding his Bible, the one his mother gave to him. he held it out in front of him, like a shield. he paused, looked abound the room, and said with a big smile, 'Most of the time I bring this Bible as a prop when I'M SHARING ABOUT MY MOTHER AND MY FAITH. IN THIS CASE, I'M SIMPLY HOLDING IT FOR PROTECTION'.
T took his seat at the head of the table and the dialogue began at a fast pace. Wall recalled the gist of it: 'We can't have people beating up on African-American people. there has to be more compassion.
Wall remembers there being lots of back-and-forth between T and the pastors T explained about people who were being planted at his rallies, paid to be disruptive. he said that the campaign was instructing security to be very careful about how they handle people and that his campaign is not against anybody.
then T got everyone's attention and asked, 'Let me ask you guys a question: in your church, how do you deal with this. while
*175 you're speaking a good sermon if someone got up in the congregation and decided to storm the pulpit to get the microphone or take over he meeting while you're preaching, how would you deal with it?
Wall said that the reaction was instantaneous. 'Nobody even stopped to say, 'Let's be careful how we answer this' - because, in an African-American church the very thought of you getting up and interrupting the man - no, they've got more respect for the man of God, like the Catholic respects their priest. in the African -American church, you'd better respect clergy. they told t, 'We'd take the person out and we may not even e pleasant on the way out the door. we wouldn't be worried about hurting your feelings if you're going to try to storm the pulpit when the preacher's preaching'.
Wall said that T waited until they finished, then looked at them and said: 'That's all I'm saying. the rallies are like my church service. I'm the preacher and I'm trying to deliver my sermon'.
they all looked at each other, wall recalled, and there was this silence - this awkward silence as T had given resolution to what seemed to be an unsolvable problem. and all the racial tensions were just, lie a balloon, out the window.
in the midst of that awkward silence, Darrell Scott -while sitting next to T - turned and saw Wallnau 'hiding in the corner of the room'. he called out to him, Dr. Lance, please tell Mr. T that word you told me'.
Wall said he just froze. 'You know, if I was sitting next to hi, I could quietly say 'no' - but from 20 feet away, I couldn't. so, I asked, 'What part? and he said, 'Tell him the whole thing'. I was lie , Dang'.
Wall remembers that he pulled his Bible out of his briefcase -'one of those big King James Bibles' and 'plopped it open to Isaiah 45'. he read the passage about Cyrus and explained.
*176 how this prophecy had been spoken 100 years before Cyrus came into office.
'I told T that the reason God's hand was on him was because of the grace of God - to restrain evil. and that he would be the 45th president of the United States. and when it was over Mr. T knew that I had prophesied over him.
Wall said that after that meeting, the staff couldn't remember his name, but people at the headquarters said just call him 'the Cyrus guy'.
the 'Cyrus Guy' -what a stupid handle to have - but hey, listen, we take what we can get,' Wall joked.
when Wall finished, T came up to him privately to say something in response. once you've been in Christian circles long enough, you know what to say in such a moment, something like 'that really touched me' or 'that ministered to me'.
'but T doesn't have any of that nomenclature down, Wall said. 't said , 'I don't know how to put it, but that meant a lot to me. and I'm going to think about that. it meant a lot to me'.
*183 the Washington Post published an op-ed by Falwell explaining the endorsement of T he made that day. Fal saw a clear parallel to the financial crisis of the U.S and the nearly bankrupt days Liberty University experienced in the late 1980s and 1990s. Fal's basic argument became the talking points for evangelicals who supported T even ahead of his wining the GOP
*184 nomination. Fal wrote, 'Jimmy Carter is a great Sunday school teacher but the divorced and remarried Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan saved this nation when it was in nearly the same condition as it is today. Jesus said, 'Judge not, lest ye be judged'. let's stop trying to choose the political leaders who we believe are the most godly because, in reality, only god knows people's hearts. you and I don't and we are all sinners.
when we asked Fal about the critics who told him, 'Your father would be ashamed', he said that this was a misunderstanding of his father's politics. 'Dad was a political pragmatist, Fal Jr. said. 'he understood that this is not a theocracy and we're not electing a pastor, we're electing a president. and when you elect a president, that person has to be president of all the people. in order for somebody to get the votes and to get elected, they can't be just like you or like everybody in your particular interest group, because then they wouldn't get the support of others who are much different. Dad figured that out early on and that's why he supported Reagan over Carter.
I interviewed both Fal and T backstage at the Adler Theatre in Davenport, Iowa, a beautiful Art Deco building list on the National Register of Historic Places.
I didn't even know I would be interviewing them until I got a call 5 hours before the Davenport event from campaign manager Cory Lewandowski. 'Hey, I have an exclusive for you if you can get to Davenport in 5 hours...'Umm, sure. let me work on that -since we're a three-hour drive away at this point !'
T surely deserved credit for lasting so long at the top of the pack. it was now 6 months since he'd jumped into the race and he had maintained his lead for nearly the entire time - even with the various verbal miscues that probably would have sunk other candidates. Critics thought he'd be long gone by Jan.
*185 I asked him about the final Des Moines Register poll showing him out in front with less than 48 hours to go before the Iowa Caucus: 'It's a good result and we're really happy about it and with evangelicals, we're leading and that's something that really made me happy, maybe even happier. I'm very happy about that'.
'Those evangelicals could take you over the top? I asked.
'Well, they're fantastic people. we love them'.
when Cruz won the Iowa Caucus, T lost the credibility of his key self-label: winner. but he surprised everyone on 2 counts.
first, the exit polling data made people take notice. T won 22% of the evangelical vote in the state beating Rubio (21%) sure, Cruz won 34% of evangelicals, but he had made his 'I'm one of you' the major theme of his outreach to those voters. if anything, the Iowa results caused people to realize that, for all his reputation that preceded him, evangelical voters were willing to vote for T.
second, T lost graciously. for months, pundits predicted a T meltdown if he lost - that he would go off the rails after spending so much time and energy in the state. but T took it in stride, congratulating Cruz on his performance: 'We finished second and i want to tell you something - I'm just honored...I want to congratulate Ted and I want to congratulate all the incredible candidates - including Mike Huckabee, who has become a really good friend of mine.'
Huck, the winner in 2008, got 1.8% of the vote and Rick Santorum, the winner in 2012, got 1%. both men suspended their campaigns after Iowa, but even before the voting took place both men had appeared with t at his fund-raiser for veterans that took place the night of the final Iowa debate (that T famously skipped). in doing this, they signaled to all their die-hard Iowa supporters that causing for T was a fine thing to do.
*186 all this insider baseball serves to illustrate a basic point: though they never seem to unite on a candidate early on - and although sociologists and theologians can't agree on a one-size-fits-all definition of the term - evangelicals still exerted great power over the GOP results in Iowa. 'the truth is, the evangelical vote is always splintered', Huck said. 'the big myth is that it unites. it didn't unite in 2008. if it had, I'd have been the nominee'.
*187 Pat, the Pope and the Palmetto State Primary
...Charleston is, of course, the city where the Civil War began, with the bombardment of Fort Sumter. the killer - a young man - had soaked his life in white supremacy and draped himself, literally, with the Confederate flag. his actions reopened the debate over the public display of statues and symbols of the confederacy. Nikki Haley, then South Carolina's governor, called for the flag to be taken down from the south Carolina State House.
when asked about the flag, T (who had announced his candidacy just one day before the shooting) said, 'I think they should put in in the museum an let it go. Respect whatever it is you have to respect, because it was a point in time and put it in a museum. but i would take it down. yes'.
2 weeks after the killings, TV Land removed The Dukes of Hazzard from its lineup of syndicated reruns. one week later , the flag came down at the State House.
*188 in my interview that day, I asked T to 'tell me about your core and that 'people want to make sure that you're going to be able to deliver'. knowing that a large portion of the audience of CBN is Christian (hence, the 'C'), T first stated his reflexive triad, 'I'm a Christian, I'm Protestant. I'm Presbyterian' - before launching into what would become a major theme of his campaign outreach to Christians, the Johnson Amendment : 'I think Christians in our country are not treated properly. the bill that was passed during the Lyndon Johnson era is horrible because i see churches where they're afraid to be outspoken because hey don't want to lose their tax-exempt statue and I realize that is one of the problems. essentially, they've taken a lot of the power away from the church. I want to give power back to the church because the church has to have more power. Christianity is really being chopped; little by little it's being taken away'.
T would refer to the Johnson Amendment of 1954 repeatedly throughout the remainder of the campaign. when I interviewed him in the Oval Office, he explained that the genesis of ti began when he was seeking the endorsement of some pastors at Trump Tower. 'when i asked them for the endorsement they said, 'well, we really can't do that'. and I said, 'Why is that?' they said,k 'because of the Johnson Amendment'. that's how the whole amendment issue started. T researched it and then concluded soon after ward:
'I thought about it for a month and then I met with them again a month later, a large group, very large, probably 50. and I met with them again and I said, 'You know, I've been thinking a lot about the Johnson Amendment; I've done some research and we've got to end the Johnson amendment'.
I also brought up the issue of defunding Planned parenthood - an action which at the time many conservatives thought was a real possibility going forward, 6 months earlier, some undercover videos
*189 had exposed a high-level executive with PP eating dinner and sipping wine while casually talking about the selling of fetal body parts obtained through abortion (though liberals believe the videos were selectively edited). as of today, that debate continues - though with the GOP in control of the House, the Senate, and the Oval Office, one could justifiably doubt the political resolve of the Republican party when it comes to stripping taxpayer funds ($60,000 per hour - every hour of every day) from the organization. I asked, 'as President, if a bill came to your desk that would defund Planned Parenthood would you sign that ?
T's one word answer was what the pro-life movement wanted to hear: 'Yes'.
but T also continued his explanation to say words that would never be on the talking-points page of a pro-life spokes-person. Never.
'Yes. as long as they do the abortion, I am not for funding Planned Parenthood, but they do cervical cancer work. they do a lot of good things for women - but as long as they're involved with the abortions - as you know, they say it's 3% of their work, some people say it's 10%, some people say it's 8% - I hear all different percentages, but it doesn't matter. as long as they're involved with abortion, as far as I'm concerned forget it, I wouldn't fund them regardless. but they do other good work. you look at cervical cancer. I've had women tell me they do some excellent work, so I think you also have to put that into account but i would defund planned parenthood because of their view and the fact of their work on abortion'.
I let him finish, then countered: 'all right, but there are other groups as well -not just Planned Parenthood - that do that fine work'. my point being, other nonprofit groups so the 'good work' for women, but without performing abortions. and while both sides of the abortion debate can argue about Planned Parenthood's
*190 role, the publicly available information shows that, among the pregnancy-related services of abortions, adoption referrals and prenatal services, the majority of Planned Parenthood's work is, in fact, abortion-related. the abortion-rights organization will counter that when all services are factored in, it's not a majority. but in typical T fashion, he had a bottom line to the ongoing argument. 'There are a lot of women taken care of by planned Parenthood. so we have to remember that, but i am for defunding planned Parenthood as long as they are involved with abortion.
Abortion is, of course, a core issue of religious conservatives. no, it is not the only issue they are concerned about, but it is the one issue that weighs on the mind and determines whom to vote for - when the candidates differ on the issue. and at the national level of politics, the party platforms are miles apart. how many pro-lifers remain in leadership at the national level of the Democratic Party? how may Republicans in DC are pro-choice? as of 2017: 2 senators and 3 congressmen. the Republicans for choice PAC, created in 1989 by the former wife of roger Stone, spent less than $200,000 for the entire 2016 cycle. by contrast, Planned Parenthood spent $38 million to support Democrats during the same period. unless something fundamentally changes, each party is now set in stone on the issue.
I asked T, 'Do you believe Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided, back in 1973? '
'well, I do. it's been very strongly decided, but it can be changed'. T said. but he noted, correctly, that such decisions depend on who sits on the US Supreme Court. - and that is a slow process: 'It's going to take time because you have a lot of judges to go.
that's true. you can't change SCOTUS overnight. on the other hand, when conservative justice Antonin Scalia died, the issue of
*191 picking judges for the highest court in the land became a central concern for the remainder of the primaries and the general election.
the horse race between T and Cruz had heated up coming out of Iowa.without regurgitating that entire story, there were charges and undercharges that the Cruz campaign had done some campaign shenanigans in Iowa. t had taken to using a label for Cruz: 'Lying Ted'.
'Ted's been caught in a lot of lies', T told me. 'he really lied with Dr. Ben Carson in Iowa. that's where I sort of got wise to him and then he made the voter violation form which is a fraud as far as most people are concerned, and he lies a lot...'
just to be clear: we're not saying we agree with T's assessment of the Cruz-Carson imbroglio. you can go back and read about those events and make up your own mind.
but the point here is that T used that story to promote the idea of hypocrisy - something most people consider worse than outright infidelity. 'He does hold up the Bible', T said to me. 'He holds up the Bible nice and high but he lies and I think the evangelicals have figured it out because I'm leading with evangelicals by a lot'
'so are you questioning his Christian faith? I asked.
'No, not at all. I'm just saying you don't hold up the Bible and lie'.
T's unwillingness to question Cruz's Christianity contrasted sharply with what Pope Francis was saying about T on that very same afternoon: 'A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be and not building bridges, is not a Christian'.
the Pope made the remarks to journalists while on a flight across Mexico during a weeklong trip to the nation that had become such
*192 a focus of T's rhetoric during the campaign. earlier in the day, the pontiff led a Mass in a border city on the Rio Grande - the very border, of course, that T famously said would have a wall built along to keep out illegal immigrants.
the Pope said he didn't plan on inserting himself into the US election, but concluded with this: 'I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that ' and 'we must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.
after my interview with T, he drove about 30 minutes south, for a campaign rally on Kiawah Island. 'I like the Pope, he said, as he read from a prepared text:
If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS's ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened. ISIS would have been eradicate unlike what is happening now either our all talk, no action politicians.
then T addressed the personal nature of Pope Francis's comments:
for a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christina and as President I will not allow Christianity to be consistently attacked and weakened, unlike what is happening now, with our current President. no leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man's religion or faith. they (the Mexican government) are using the Pope as a pawn and they should be ashamed of themselves for doing
*193 so, especially when so many lives are involved and when illegal immigration is so rampant.
T went from 5% in the FRC straw poll in Sept to winning South Carolina 5 months later - on the strength of winning the highest percentage of the 'born-again or evangelical Christian' vote. Evangelicals accounted for 3/4 of the GOP primary voters in South Carolina and gave their support to: T (33%); Cruz, (27) and Rubio, (22) ..overall, Rubio came in second.
many pundits speculated that had evangelicals coalesced behind either Cruz or Rubio (and remember, Carson was still in the mix too) their united vote would have blocked T in South Carolina. but polling - even among evangelicals - that asked 'who is your second choice?' consistently showed inconsistent results: if not Cruz, a lot of people would jump to t; if not Rubio, many favored Kasich. so the idea that evangelicals allowed T to slide in the door by not joining forces in the primaries doesn't hold up. in the first Deep South state where evangelicals had an opportunity to block T , they supported him.
now, at this point in the analysis, we're supposed to tell you that it was the 'not a true Christian' evangelical who got on the T bandwagon. evangelipundits, with deep concern that the brand identity of 'evangelicalism' not be tainted, got busy trying to show that people from their tribe who are very active in their faith - regular church attendance, habitual Bible reading, tithing - were less likely to vote for T.
did the ultra-devout go more to Cruz? yes, but T still won a sizable chunk of them. the reality is that Cruz needed a much larger margin of the weekly churchgoer category to win - and he never got
*194 it. that's the takeaway. in other words, Cruz needed more of the devout to show up and back him. they didn't - they went for T instead. Cruz could have the 'moral victory' of winning weekly church-goers, but T still won upwards of 30% or more of this vote in some states. looking at the empirical data from exit polling in state after state, it was the 'white born-again weekly church-goers' category that put T over the top and thwarted Cruz.
T won 46% of the vote in the Nevada caucuses, twice what either Rubio or Cruz collected. though now being 0 for 4, Rubio did not drop out - despite a lack of historical precedent for being able to win a nomination after starting out with 4 goose eggs.
T took an overnight flight in his plane and arrived in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for a presidential candid ate form at Regent University. founded by Pat Robertson - himself a onetime candidate for president and one of the pioneers of Christian conservative political involvement - Regent hosted as many candidates as would accept an invitation to these events. Bush, Carson, Kasich, Cruz and T made it a priority to come.
I moderated the event by asking questions from the audience. backstage, T and his people were all tired. but he didn't miss a beat once he got in front of the crowd. Pat told T: 'You inspire us all'.
this event , even though the primary season was yet young, showed a glimpse of the idea of continuity between the older generation's 'Religious Right' and what was going on with evangelicals supporting T.
Pat asked him what criteria he would use to pick a Supreme Court justice.
'Pro-life. it starts with that, T replied. 'very conservative - a very, very smart - like judge Scalia - would be perfect. he was a perfect representative.
Chapter 20 - #NeverTrump
*196 ...let's be honest here. in 2016, you would have looked in vain for one single Southern Baptist Convention seminary professor who supported pro-choice Hillary. not going to happen. of course, we Christian Conservatives go through the motions of assessing national Democratic candidates as a formality because of the constant accusation of 'being captive to the GOP', but the T came along. #NeverTrump voices found his candidacy to e a perfect opportunity for disproving the old theory: Christians will come around for any Republican candidate. plus, within their own conscience, they simply couldn't vote for him because of what they saw as flaws in his personal character.
*197 on April 29, 50 faith leaders of the Christian Left signed a document titled 'Christians Called to Resist T's Bigotry'.
'Donald Trump
directly promotes racial and religious bigotry,
disrespects the dignity of women,
harms civil pubic discourse,
offends moral decency and
seeks to manipulate religion.
this is no longer politics as usual, but rather a moral and theological crisis and thus we are compelled to speak out as faith leaders.
*199 in mid=May, T released a list of 21 names - judges he would choose from in nominating the next Supreme Court justice. Ralph Reed told us this was the first of 3 key hinge points that brought evangelicals on board with T. 'Not someone in
*200 a certain model', Reed said. 'Not someone like this or that -but that he would choose someone from that exact list. no one had ever made that kind of commitment before.
one week later, T passed 1,237 pledged delegates -more than enough to secure the nomination. nonetheless. National Review editor Jonah Goldberg wrote, 'Sorry, I Still Won't Ever Vote For Trump':
I honestly believe that a President Trump would do enormous, perhaps fatal, damage to the conservative movement as we know it. I also believe that without the conservative movement, this country is toast. but i further believe that Hillary Clinton would do obvious and enormous damage to the country. that's why I'm not voting for either of them.
'Fatal damage to the conservative movement' versus 'enormous damage to the country? to be sure , Christians had legitimate concerns about the character of Donald J. Trump -and some even staked out a position of #Never Trump on that basis. but when you describe an election in such binary (def - a whole composed of two) terms as Goldberg wrote, most Christians opted out of the Clintonian 'enormous damage to the country' plan.
Chapter 21 Coalesce or Two Evils?
*200 as spring moved into summer, a lingering question remained: would evangelical leaders make the turn and support T - or would they merge with the #NeverTrump group?
in June, I traveled to the annual conference put on by Ralph reed's Faith & Freedom Coalition. with several thousand i attendance, T promised to 'restore faith to its proper mantle in our society' and to 'respect and defend Christian Americans...We'll uphold the values our founders gave us'.
afterward, I asked T if he believed America is a Judeo-Christian nation. 'That's the way it is - and it's been, he affirmed, before going on to say that freedom and good things are for all citizens safe, the threats of 'radical Islamic terrorism', would keep people in fear -not freedom. 'we have to be smart. we have to be vigilant. and we have no choice'.
I changed gears and told him that the word on the street was that would-be supporters wanted T to 'tone down the rhetoric'. what did he think about that?
'well you have to be who you are, he responded and then laid out the facts: 'Ive gotten the largest number of votes in the history of Republican politics - by far. I want to keep doing what we're doing'...
*205 ...Johnnie Moore first came to Liberty University as a student. (here...he is speaking as vice president of communication there)...Moore recalls not knowing what he would think of t in person. how would the big, famous TV superstar TV superstar T -firing people all the time and being brash - respond to students and staff
*206 at Liberty? but Moore said he was 'struck by his kindness and his humility' from the moment he stepped off the plane. 'there was not a person he didn't talk to. he greeted every single person - and even canceled his schedule for the rest of the afternoon and spent it hanging out and taking pictures with students all over campus. that's when I knew that this is not just a celebrity - this is a person who had character and compassion to me in my sort of christian way of viewing things,it was like fruit of the Spirit. that's what it was.'
near the end of the convocation, T answered questions texted in from the students. one student asked a generic question: 'Do you have any advice for us as future leaders? T leaned into the microphone and answered directly: ' I ALWAYS SAY DON'T LET PEOPLE TAKE ADVANTAGE - this goes for a country too by the way - don't let people take advantage. GET EVEN'.
the crowd loved that. but, of course, it caused controversy, so Johnnie and Jerry ended up doing several different radio and TV interviews in T's defense. Moore wrote an op-ed for Fox News, arguing that T's essential point wasn't necessarily counter to the example of Christ:
Of course, as a Bible-believing evangelical, I do not believe that Christians should treat people maliciously, take revenge or fight with others arbitrarily. I believe we should show extraordinary restraint. but, when someone asked me if I thought God would 'get even' with people, I decided to make a nuanced, theological point: 'God would and He did, get even' in the end, God won.
during the 2016 election cycle, Moore launched 'My Faith Votes', which catalyzed efforts to move Christians to the voting booth.
*207 he also helped put together a June 2016 meeting in the New York Marriott marquis hotel. where 1000 evangelicals met with T and began to unite. as the primaries had shown, the grassroots Christian voter gave T the nomination. but institutional Christianity - the think tanks, national ministries, media giants, pastors and activists - had been fighting for 'anyone but T as recently as one month earlier.
2 groups - United in Purpose (led by Bill Dallas) and My Faith Votes (led by Johnnie Moore) - spearheaded the event called 'A Conversation About America's Future, with Donald Trump and Ben Carson', along with others like tony Perkins and James Dobson. Perkins had previously endorse Cruz, though he is quick to note that his organization never attacked T. but even before Cruz dropped out, Perkins's team began making private contact with the T campaign and once the nomination was secure they moved 'full speed ahead' with plans for the meeting in New York. 'all of a sudden it turned out that the event was the hottest ticket in town', Perkins recalled. 'We were having to turn
people away'.
up until that point, there were several of us who were with him, Huckabee said, but most of the people were either very hostile or they were skeptical - and certainly noncommittal. I think that particular day turned the corner, because you had a number of people who began to openly say good things about Donald Trump. I though that meeting was a pivotal moment'.
Huck recalled how it was Ben Carson and Paula White who had told T he needed to work more on the evangelicals - to talk to them directly and all at once. 'He had a number of different meetings that he'd had with smaller groups of pastors. but he had never brought in the 'heads of the families' - to use a mafia term - for a united meeting with all the 'mega stars' and all the leaders that might not be marquee names. we ended up packing the ballroom - way more than anyone thought would happen'.
*208 Mike Huckabee had met T back in 2008 when the former governor and 2-time candidate for president started his own Fox TV show. T was one of the early people interviewed on the show and appeared several times. the 2 men also visited occasionally with each other in T's office.
'He and I had developed a good rapport, Huck said. 'every Mon he was doing Fox and Friends. I would do my interviews with him from Trump Tower. he seemed to like me - and I liked him. I found him intriguing and I liked his brash honesty'.
in April 2011 when political prognosticators began to forecast who might run for the GOP nomination, the "Gallup poll put Huck and T in a tie for first place with 16% (Romney came in third with 13%). friends and family urged Huck to run again. but one month later, he went on his Fox show and told the nation: 'All the factors say go, but my heart says no. under the best of circumstances, being president is a job that takes one to the limit of his or her human capacity. for me to do it apart from an inner confidence that I was undertaking it with God's full blessing is simply unthinkable'.
what is fascinating about Huck's announcement - and remember, this was in May 201 - is that immediately after he finished his monologue, the show broke to a prerecorded 'Huckabee Alert' video of Donald Trump sitting behind a desk at Trump Tower.
'I'm Donald Trump and this is a special announcement Mike Huckabee is not going to be running for president. this might be considered by some people - not necessarily me - bad news because he is a terrific guy. and frankly, I think he'd be a terrific president. but a lot of people are very happy that he will not be running - especially other candidates. so Mike, enjoy the show - your ratings are terrific.
*209 You're making a lot of money. you're building a beautiful house in Florid. Good luck.
the following Mon, T released his own 'I'm not going to run' statement - adding in some characteristic New york swagger for good measure: 'I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and , ultimately, the general election'.
5 years later to the month, T did secure the nomination, leading evangelicals to this time of decision. T sat on the stage for a Q&A session, with Huck as the emcee. Huck remembers telling the crowd that 'Everyone here knows the bible better than Donald Trump' Huckabee likes to say, 'If you handed Donald Trump a tabbed Bible, he'd have a hard time finding John 3.16'. people chuckle at the way Huck puts it, but he lets them know he is serious: 'I just don't think it's a book about which he's deeply familiar'.
Huck, a former Southern Baptist pastor and 2-time president of the Arkansas Baptist Convention, believes T 'has a God consciousness about him that's real'. he says that for all of T's vulgarity and secularist attitudes and life, T has a 'deep, abiding respect, not just for god, but for all people who truly follow God. I think he's intrigued by it. i think it almost is something that he just finds amazing and fascinating. he has real respect for people of faith. I've been around enough politicians who would curry favor with the faith community and they even learn to say the right things. but it was so obvious that it was phony. but with T, even in the private moments when no religious people were around, he never said derogatory things. or frankly, he never said the kind of things that faith people say about each other'. Michael Cohen, T's longtime friend and lawyer, echoes Huckabee's views on Christian duplicity. 'T is not the guy you're going to see kneeling in the pew, but he
*210 prays in his head and his heart on a regular basis. I'd rather be around someone who has religion in their head and heart than someone who just goes through the motions for optics'. (def - pertaining to the eye)
the meeting in the ballroom took 8 hours, with speeches and prayers by evangelical luminaries like George Barna, Franklin Graham and Eric Metaxas surrounding the 2 hours of 'conversation' with T himself. but T also met with smaller groups of leaders, including a meeting of about 40 that took place in the early-morning hours.
Jerry Falwell introduced T as 'God's man to lead our great nation at this crucial crossroads in our history'. Franklin Graham prayed and then James Dobson began a time of frank questioning of the candidate: 'Sir, if you are elected president, how will you protect our religious liberties? will we have to fight another revolutionary war to secure those rights to worship, think and speak? Moore noted that the theme of religious liberty surfaced throughout the entire day.
another participant in the early-morning meeting was Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference - 'the world's largest Hispanic Christian organization'. Rod had been no fan of T's during the primaries and he had voiced his concerns repeatedly. but he had also been vocal about the charge of 'racism' directed at T - and, as a result, the campaign had taken notice of him.
Rod appeared on Univision's Al Punto - the 60Minutes of the Hispanic -American community. the program's host, Jorge Ramos, had famously gotten into verbal brawls with T at news conferences - even to the point of t having Ramos removed from the room. so when Ramos interviewed Rod on the show, he asked: 'Is Donald Trump a racist? Rod answered, 'No'.
later, Heather Sells of CBN repeated the same question to Rod: 'Do you believe Donald Trump is a racist?
*211 'No, in my understanding - Donald Trump is not a racist', Rod remembers telling Sells. 'T engages in rhetoric that is inflammatory and it's not the sort of rhetoric I would use - but i don't think it's racist'.
Rod explained to us that he grew up i a part of rural Pennsylvania that was not ethnically diverse, to put it mildly. he said he experienced racism firsthand - eggs thrown and his car scratched with a key - so he doesn't toss the word around without reason. 'before i plant that label on any human being, I want to know that there is way more than just rhetoric'...
during the primaries there had been attempts to meet with Rod, but it didn't work out. 'It wasn't an issue of my not wanting to meet with him, rod said. 'Quite the contrary, I did because I sought clarity on the immigration issues. I resonated with Mr. T on ICE, on religious liberty and on limited government. I also resonated with him on 'peace through strength'' - having a robust military'.
Rod appeared on Fox and Friends before heading over to meet T. he explained his agreement with T on immigration - though disagreeing with his rhetoric. 'I told them I want him to build a wall but he must simultaneously build a bridge toward the Hispanic-American community.'
then, in the smaller meeting with T, the group was introducing themselves one at a time, working around the big conference table - T seated at the end, just like in The Apprentice.
'I began, 'My name is Rev. Sam Rodriquez. I'm the president of the National Hispanic Christian...' but T interrupted me.
'Sammy, he said , 'you were amazing this morning on TV. I saw the entire interview. you were amazing and I mean truly amazing. you're well-spoken. I need to hear from you. what do your have to say?
*212 'It became an awkward moment, Rod recalled, 'really, awkward. but I just began to share how I agreed with him on immigration, but that he needed to be careful with the rhetoric - and I laid out some preferable terms for him to use.'
Rod continued: 'Mr. T, you can speak to the issue of limited government and multigenerational dependency on Uncle Sam. we're creating a class of citizens dependent on entitlements in perpetuity. but you have an opportunity here to shake things up - not just for the white community with the populist message - but for African-Americans and Latinos too'.
T heard Rod's entire pitch and affirmed it there in front of the other leaders. 'That began the relationship, Rod said, 'i met with him again and was continuously emailing the campaign with ideas and concepts and terms and descriptors and so forth'.
by the end of the day, T had put a lot of evangelical leaders at ease. 'He listened, Perkins said. 'he did some talking -but he did a lot of listening. and though there was still some skepticism - the feedback from the evangelical world that we got coming out of that meeting was very positive.'
one tangible result of the event was the formation of a 25 member Evangelical Executive Advisory Board. members made clear that their presence on the board did not mean a public endorsement of T - and several said they would have accepted a similar invitation from Hillary Clinton. the meeting and the advisory board may not have been an evangelical coronation of t, but it was at least a coalescing around T. they showed they were willing to stand beside him.
for evangelicals yet skittish about T, his next action -choosing a running mate - would need to be stellar.
*213 Chapter 22 - Cleveland Rocks ....and Prays
it was perfectly appropriate for Cleveland, Ohio, to be the scene of the 2016 Republican National Convention. the city's unofficial anthem is 'Cleveland rocks', written by Ian Hunter, who felt his adopted home was always made fun of and never given the respect it deserved. Sound familiar? Donald Trump, welcome to Cleveland! but 3 days before the GOP presidential nominee made his way to town, he had some unfinished business to take care of: picking a vice president, a guy by the name of Michael Richard Pence. you may have heard of him.
when I sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office, he relayed an interesting spiritual aspect to the story of when he met Pence in mid-July at the governor's mansion in Indiana to discuss the vice presidency. 'When I left, he (Pence) said, 'Let us pray'. and I said, 'that's great' and he prayed. ' so what did T think when the evangelical Pence laid that line on him? 'Well, first of all, I said, 'This is very different', because you don't see that too much coming out of a New York real estate office' President Trump said. 'But I though it was great and we get along very well'. the praying hasn't stopped since. 'we do that often', T said. 'Mike Pence has been my friend; he's been great. he's a spiritual person; so am I. it was a wonderful choice as vice president. really a wonderful choice. and he's somebody that you can count on'.
the importance of T's Pence pick can not be emphasized enough. forget the political ramifications for a moment. forget even the explosive impact this would have on how evangelicals
*214 viewed this president. according to those intimately involved in the vice-presidency deliberations, T genuinely wanted a deeply religious man as his number 2, thus revealing something about T's deeper, inner-core beliefs: faith matters to him.
meanwhile, evangelicals were doing spiritual cartwheels over the choice. for those who had their doubts about T, Mike Pence eased fears among the majority of evangelicals who remained skeptical.
'I think it was a huge development and it was critical to him winning the support of evangelicals', Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith &Freedom Coalition, said, 'it revealed so much about Donald Trump's judgment , his decision-making process and his own priorities. he was choosing his partner in governance and he picked the one person that would have been near the top or at the top of every single vice presidential list in the pro-family community'.
Sammy Rodriguez, one of the most influential evangelical leaders in the country, puts it succinctly. 'Mike Pence is like the quintessential antacid sort of pill that you take that calms everything down...he's a blessing indeed!' with Pence now in the fold, it was off to Cleveland, where evangelicals were setting the spiritual mood with a new form of expression for the city: 'Cleveland Prays'.
2 days before the week's political festivities got under way, thousands of Christians gathered at Cleveland State University to pray and worship at an event called The Response. Donald Trump wasn't the focus: Jesus was. specifically, the meg-gathering was a call for spiritual revival in our country, asking God for mercy on an America that they believe has lost its way spiritually and biblically. worship bands blared 'Sound the alarm!' while those on stage asked god for 'healing in this nation and in this state (of Ohio) by the powerful name of Jesus Christ'. Truth be told, evangelicals fully understand that Donald Trump will not heal America. T is just a vessel. god does the real healing
*215 the country was in desperate need of healing in the summer of 2016. in the weeks leading up to the convention, racial tensions were extremely high. shootings of African-American men in Louisiana and Minnesota by police, coupled with the murders of five cops in Dallas by a gunman on the hung for white people, had everyone a bit on edge. convention organizers feared for the worst, especially with a nominee who had come under great criticism by his detractors for stoking racial flames throughout the presidential campaign.
what's ironic, however, is that despite the brewing of racial anxiety in the country that week, Darrell Scott, an African-American pastor from Cleveland and early t supporter, was busy preparing for his prime-time address to convention delegates. as the mainstream media continued their lazy story line about how T harbored racist feelings, it turns out that it was the white Donald Trump who requested that the black pastor speak in prime time. they had been close friends since 2011, when Michael Cohen, T's Jewish lawyer, introduced them. Cohen and Scott went on to be the closest of friends. 'that's one of my very, very best friends. I love that guy', Scott said. so there you have it: a charismatic black preacher, a white Presbyterian businessman and a Jewish lawyer (sounds like the beginning of a joke) all coming together to 'make America Great Again'. the mainstream media conveniently ignored that scenario. didn't fit their narrative, too much racial harmony.
on the Sun before convention week, Scott was working up the congregants from the pulpit at the sprawling New Spirit Revival Center, a 20 minutes drive from Quicken Loans Arena, where Donald Trump would soon deliver his personal 'sermon on the mount' to delegates. but for now, Scott was in full 'fire and brimstone ' mode as he preached from the Book of Romans and Second Corinthians about the need to pay more attention to your inner spiritual life than what people see on the outside. with an organ
*216 rhythmically accentuating each of his passionate biblical pleas, he called for the binding of 'the devil in every way, form and fashion'. he was working up a sweating his snazzy dark gray suit and finely pressed white shirt. he sure had come a long way.
Growing up on the streets of Cleveland in the late seventies and early eighties, Darrell Scott wasn't selling Christ. he was selling drugs, lots of them. but in 1982, his life turned around after he and his wife, Belinda, became born-again Christians. a redeemed life led both of them into full-time ministry and with hearts to help those lost to drugs and abuse. their lives wee humming along and then in 2011, they received an invitation from Pastor Paula White to meet with Donald Trump in New York . he was considering running for president and 'The Donald' wanted to get a bunch of clergy together to seek their advice. Isn't it interesting how God works: a former drug dealer from the streets of Cleveland called on to give godly counsel to a future president of the United States. "Nobody but god could have done something like that, Scott said.
one thing about Darrell Scott, he's a straight shooter, just like T, and so the pastor from Cleveland didn't mince words when he first met T at that meeting in 2011. 'Why do you think black people will vote for you, because word on the street is you're a racist', Scott remembers telling T. 'he(T) looked at me in my eyes and said, 'You know, I'm about the lest racist person you ever want to meet. I work with all kinds of people in my walk of life. I can't be racist doing what i do'. Scott liked T's forthrightness.
when I talked to Scott's wife, Belinda, in Cleveland the day before the convention began, she told me that she liked something else T said at that first meeting with the clergy. 'he said, 'you all have been pursuing your higher calling, your relationship with God, while I was building buildings'. he said, 'Now it's time for me to catch up'. that was real deep. being pastors and being Christians,
*217 we're very discerning of spirits, and we discerned that he was being very authentic and very genuine'. Darrell Scott saw a humbler side. 'In the company of the preachers, he adopted the position of the lesser and he actually acknowledged the preachers in the room as the greater... He has an old-fashioned respect for the clergy. you don't see that anymore. he's got that 1950s respect for clergy'.
but what about his walk with the Lord? T talked plenty in that meeting about how the religious liberty of Christians is severely threatened. but what about tat relationship with Jesus? wow was that going? 'He really is pursuing a deeper spiritual life. I can sense it, Belinda Scott said. 'My prayer for Mr. T is that he will be more sensitive to god than he ever has before... something is going on'. as you get older, many times that happens. you become a whole lot more introspective. 'He's the first one to admit, 'I'm flawed. I'm not perfect. I need to do better. I need to be better'. Darrell Scott admits. 'But he (T) believes in the afterlife. he believes in Heaven and Hell. He wants to go to Heaven'.
T also wanted to get to 16009 Pennsylvania Avenue and it was pastors like Darrell Scott who helped get him there. T values loyalty and Scott never wavered. he was given 8 minutes for his prime-time convention speech and he didn't disappoint. he whipped the crowd into a frenzy, channeling his inner 'New spirit Revival Center preaching style' and declaring in a rising voice, 'I can think of no stronger leader who will place their left hand on a Bible that they believe in, raise their right hand and solemnly swear to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and to the best of his ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of American than Donald J. Trump'. exit stage left. Scott rocked Cleveland.
while Pastor Darrell Scott helped give T political cover among African- Americans, mega-pastor Paula White came to Cleveland with one goal in mind: to prayerfully cover Donald
*218 T. she's known him since the early 2000s and has essentially morphed into one of his closest spiritual mentors. she doesn't want a single thing from T. she's there to offer spiritual guidance and to bring others alongside of him to shower him with prayer and advice from godly men and women. that includes not just T but members of his family as well. she remembers one night in Cleveland during the convention when she was in a car with Trump's son Eric and his five, Lara. Eric asked her for prayer. 'we were prying over a few personal things', white told me that week in Cleveland.
her prayers in Cleveland weren't just for T and his family; they were for a nation. T asked her to give the benediction prayer at the end of the convention's first night. it's the first time a woman has ever done that prayer at the Republican National Convention. she was truly humbled and a bit nervous. 'My heart was racing', white said, 'i yielded myself to the spirit of God' and with that, her prayer, shown in part below, went forth in full biblical preaching style:
help us to pray like we mean it and help us to pray like it matters.
protect us from all of those who aim to destroy us and make America safe again.
give us eyes to see a brighter future for America.
we believe in faith that
It's time for darkness to be dispelled.
It's time for this nation to live out its holy calling in the (world).
it is time for us to bridge the divide and become one again.
we believe in faith that
it's time for us to become the light that this world so desperately needs.
*219 it is time for this nation to uphold truth, proudly and boldly.
we choose by faith
to stand for the way of our God.
To walk in love
To seek peace for the generations to come.
we choose by faith
to raise up a standard against the forces of evil
To have a heart for your presence
To have a thirst for your righteousness.
Dear God
we confess that we need you as never before.
we remember Red Seas that have been parted and the mouths of lions that have been pacified.
we remember the miracles of those times... and in our time
we remember the miracle of America.
in it all we find our hope that we can be great and we can be good as we stand in our righteousness
Lord - as we leave - lead us
so that future generations in this land know of Your goodness.
May You bless us and keep us.
Make Your face to shine upon us.
May You show us Your favor and give us Your peace.
In the name of Jesus Christ who gives us hope though His empty tomb.
and whose life has brought us new life and all the hope in the world.
Amen, Amen and Amen and Amen.
*220 watching Paula White deliver her prayer that evening was a reminder of how god loves to use flawed people for His glory. before God got ahold of her, White had her share of huge abusive obstacles to overcome. yet God is using her in ways that she could never imagine. but that's how God operates. Abraham was old, Joseph was abused, Moses had a speech impediment. Samson was a womanizer and don't even get me started on King David! as for Donald Trump, clearly, god is suing this man in ways millions of people could never imagine. but God knows and that's good enough.
While prayer was in full force during the convention in Cleveland, another 'P' word was also taking place:preparation. the Republican Party's policy platform takes shape every 4 years and the presidential nominee and his staff lead the way in signing off on the final version. what would Donald Trump do? evangelicals were watching to make sure he didn't stray away from socially conservative principles. it turns out, the platform was widely viewed as the most conservative of all time. it contained strong pro-life language, opposed same-sex marriage and transgender bathroom choice. it also reaffirmed he role of traditional parenting.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and someone actively involved in making sure the Republican Party platform stayed true to the pro-family agenda, was pleasantly surprised. 'we aced no opposition from the Trump team. in fact, they worked very closely with us on a number of issues' Perkins rejoiced, considering that i years past, the Bush, McCain and Romney teams opposed them on certain items. 'T didn't distance himself from it,...I think that communicated volumes to evangelicals because this was the most pro-life platform the party has ever produced. it was solidly pro-family, pro-traditional marriage, pro-religious liberty. I think that was critical for him.'
*221 with the party platform nicely sewn up, Perkins was ready to endorse T right there in Cleveland. it was an important endorsement considering Perkins went for Cruz in the primaries. it indicated evangelical solidarity heading into the general election. 'going into the convention and based upon what happened with the platform, I was determined to move forward and again they worked with us. so that's why at the convention at the request of (/t campaign manager) Paul Manafort, i spoke at the convention and endorsed T. we didn't look back after that point'.
all that was left now was the cherry on top: Donald Trump's speech to convention delegates. it would come amid controversy, with some delegates protesting T as the nominee. Ted Cruz took to the convention floor and refused to endorse T, leading to a cascade of boos. it all made for great television, but in the end, it didn't matter.
in T, evangelicals had a candidate that channeled many of their same desires. tired of political correctness, they wanted to see a stronger, more patriotic America again; they wanted to see the return of 'Originalist' Supreme Court justices and to see a president who will not be ashamed of defending their religious liberties in the public square. the good news for evangelicals is that in T they had someone who is loyal. he understood that without them he wouldn't be in Cleveland. and so T mad sure to give them a full-throttle acknowledgment in his speech.
'I would lie to thank the evangelical community who have been so good to me and so supportive. yo have so much to contribute to our politics, yet our laws prevent yo from speaking your minds from your own pulpits. an amendment, pushed by Lyndon Johnson, many years ago. threatens
*222 religious institutions with a loss of their tax exempt status f they openly advocate their political views.I am going to work very hard to repeal that language and protect free speech for all Americans.
while Donald Trump's convention speech would go down as a passionate (his critics would say 'mean') law-and -order manifesto, for evangelicals it was a speech that just made sense: enforce the laws of the land, work hard, do what yo say, etc. but beyond that, it was a speech that told the world that both America and this future president would need to be taken seriously.
with Cleveland in their rearview mirror, T and his newly minted evangelical running mate Pence hit the road for a week of campaigning together the night before they were to go their separate ways, the vice presidential candidate received, at least at the time, an unusual request form the man at the top of the ticket. 'he said to me, 'Before you and Karen take off tomorrow, before we split up, would you mind us having a little prayer time together ?' I said, 'sure, that'd be great'. he knew the importance of faith in our family's life'. after a short night's rest, morning came and Donald Trump was eager to start his day right. 'He came out of the back of the plane and just said, 'Can we pray?' pence said 'I said, 'Yeah, that'd be great. you know the best prayer in our household is my wife'. he said, 'Great, let's go' we just bowed our heads and my wife held forth a prayer on the plane and it was a very special moment. I could tell he was touched by it and said thanks and appreciated it very much.
Chapter 23 - Pastors and Pews
Omar Mateen called Orland's 911 to state his allegiance to ISIS before walking into a local gay nightclub with murderous intent. before dawn broke,53 people were injured and 49 were dead - the highest number of fatalities in a single ass shooting in US history ( until the Las Vegas shooting in Oct 2017).
immediately after such an event, the blame game begins: radical Islam, Christian homophobia and, of course, guns.
CNN's Anderson Cooper and the New York Times argued that people who are against same-sex marriage and transgendered bathrooms have little moral ground to express outrage at the Orlando massacre meanwhile, T tweeted: 'Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism. I don't want congrats, I want toughness and vigilance. we must be smart!'
2 months later, T came to Orlando to speak at a 'Pastors and Pews' event organized by the American
Renewal project and its founder, David Lane. though T's campaign had only confirmed his attendance one week earlier, Marco Rubio - fresh from the realization that he did want to get reelected to the Senate - had been publicized as a speaker for the event. LGBT activists labeled the American Renewal Project speakers 'some of the most hateful anti-LGBT persons' and said they were 'dedicated to oppressing LGBT people'. they called for Rubio to cancel his appearance: 'This is not the America we want. God will not be found anywhere near that event'. Rubio stood his ground, offering a counter-description of the
*224 ARP - the group that had helped him surge in the Iowa polls when he spoke to pastors at one of these events. 'Leave it to the media and liberal activists to label a gathering of faith leaders as an anti-LGBT event. it is nothing of the sort, It is a celebration of faith'.
Huckabee introduced T to the 700, mostly clergy (and their spouses ) in the audience. Teleprompters had been set up for the speech, but T had them taken away and he spoke instead from some notes on sheets of paper that he pulled from his vest pocket. he said that though some professional had written a speech for him, he didn't want to put them to sleep and instead would just talk about an issue he knew would hit their buttons: religious liberty and the Johnson Amendment.
on the way to the event. Huck had a chance to read the original speech. 'I told him, 'There's no way you can give that speech'. Huck explained later. whoever wrote it had no clue how to speak to evangelicals - no direct understanding of their concerns. T spoke almost entirely about the Johnson
Amendment., noting at the end that 'i've explained it in more detail that I ever have'.
T doesn't just bring this subject up in public. privately, he ruminates about it with his evangelical advisory council. one time it led to an interesting spiritual=based discussion, according to Johnnie Moore, who sits on the council. 'We all knew he was saying it in just, but what he said was, 'I figure that repealing the Johnson Amendment is my best bet to get to heaven'. we all laughed and we knew he was joking,bu I remember at that moment James Robison chiming in right there'.
Robison continues the story from there. 'I just spoke up quite boldly. I said, 'Sir, this is James. I just need to correct something. there's nobody going to get to heaven because they did something. you can get rid of the Johnson Amendment, but it's not going to get you to heaven. only one thing gets anybody to heaven and that's
*225 what Jesus did on the cross. there's simply no other way to heaven. that's the only way'. and he kind of indicated. 'Well I was just kind of joking'.
Richard Land closes out the story: 'Mr. Trump said, 'Thank you for reminding me, James'. now i got to tell you, I don't know too many people who have been nominated for president of the United States that would have that reaction to that statement. George W. Bush would have and Reagan would have but I'm no sure of the others might not have gotten their back up a little bit, but he didn't.
back at Pastors and Pews, David Lane told Bloomberg News that rescinding the Johnson Amendment is a 'good first step', but religious liberty involves so much more. he referred to the photographers, bakers and florists who had, in recent years, lost either their religious liberties or theirs- or both - over same-sex marriage issues. 'Doesn't the first amendment give us all a right to our beliefs?'
Lane said the response to T had been good, especially since he 'didn't make himself out to be something that he wasn't.' there was no 'he had the voice of Jacob but the hands of Esau' feeling among the pastors.
events like this one would be crucial to T if he wanted to beat Hillary Clinton. the reality is that evangelical pastors are a truly key ingredient to mobilizing the masses. they hold great power over a captive audience every week in the pews. T needed them to be engaged. when they are, the flocks will typically flow - a bottom-up approach that affects turnout exponentially. the top-down approach of receiving key endorsements doesn't do squat unless the evangelicals sitting in the pews are motivated.
Lane received an email from Paul Manafort, T's campaign manager, to say he was looking forward to being in Orlando the next day.
*226 'Let's you and I talk', Mana wrote. 'i want to get your take on the campaign'.
'so, on Tues morning - the 16th - I was in my hotel room getting ready for the meeting, but i was running late', lane said. 'My phone rang and it was a fried, a farmer - a chicken farmer'.
'How are you doing on the $18 million.
'I haven't raised a dime? Lane said.
'You haven't raised a dime? the chicken farmer asked.
'Nope
'where are you now?
In New York.
'What are you doing there?
'Mime going to see Paul Manfort, Lane said.
'What's going to happen?
'probably, he will narrow down my plan to 5 or 6 states'.
Lane was trying to get his tie on and lace up his shoes, to get out the door for his meeting - which, by now, he was going to be late for. as the two were about to hang up, the chicken farmer said:
'Well, I'm in for $5 million'.
Lane just smiled and thought, 'You've got to be kidding'. he hadn't raised a dime wince coming up with the plan and now he had a commitment of $5 million.
Lane went to his meeting and, as expected, Manafort picked apart the pastors and Pews plan for the first half of the hour-long meeting -then asked, 'How much do you need per state?
'One point five million, Lane answered.
*227 Manafort chose 6 states he wanted to hit: Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Missouri, and Virginia.
'You know, money is hard to come by - there's no money', Mana said.
Lane had not yet told him about the $5 million. he went through the money shuffle with Manafort for the next 15 minutes - right up to the end of the meeting - and then said: 'I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I've got 5 million if you can bring 4'.
'You've got 5 million? Manafort asked.
'I do.
Manafort said, 'Give me 2 days.
Lane went back to his room and loosened his tie. his phone rang. it was the chicken farmer: 'What happened?
Lane related the meeting to the man, including how Manafort said he' be back in 2 days with a response.
'So do you think he's going to do that? he asked Lane.
'In fundraising, you never know, Lane said, but with your 5, we'll go into Florida, Missouri and North Carolina. if Manafort brings the money, we'll add Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
'no, let's not do that, the farmer replied. 'this is already the third week of Aug. you've got September and October to go'.
'What are you saying? Lane asked.
'I'm good for $9 million. Make it happen'.
later that afternoon, Kellyanne Conway texted Lane: 'We're so excited'. he thought it was strange, because he didn't know Conway that well.the next morning, however, the T campaign announced that Paul Manafort had resigned and that Conway would become the campaign manager - so the text suddenly made more sense.
Lane ran his plan entirely with the $9 million from a chicken farmer, the unsung hero of everyone whose worst nightmare was a Hillary Clinton presidency.
*228 Lane describes the sudden investment of $9 million as 'a miracle of God' - and a timely one too. Wayne Hamilton, Lane's friend and a partner at a huge political consultancy firm in Texas, had used $100,000 to train 'field generals' over the past 60 days in preparation for a ground assault of voter mobilization. but then their money fell through - something that happens in politics and campaigns. they were sickened because they were letting all that $100,000 worth of training go back home unused.
but, as lane puts it, 'the Lord took the engine - the $9 million - and hooked it to that train sitting on the tracks'.
the very next Mon the operation began in those 6 states, and within 60 days, they had knocked on a million doors and had made a million phone calls. 'We targeted low-propensity evangelical voters who had only voted once in the last 4 cycles', Lane said. 'and one of the genius ideas, coming from Dave Carney, was to hire 70 bi-vocational pastors to help organize and orchestrate those calls and door knocks'.
on Nov 8, Pennsylvania voted Republican for the first tie since Bush - George H. W. Bush that is. Florida and Virginia voted Republican for the first time since 2004. Missouri overwhelmingly voted for T and in so doing also helped to usher in a GOP governor and senator by small margins.
in 5 out of 6 states where Lane poured resources into mobilizing the faith community to vote - making no mention of any particular candidate - Trump won. and in several of the states, the margin of T's win was less that the total number of contacts that lane's group had made in that state.
this effort sprung from Lane's message to Christians: 'Unless politicians see scalps on the wall, they will never respect our policies, marches, sermons or prayer rallies. registering people to vote
*229 prepares the constituency to move to the voting booth and remove politicians who have a tin ear to Christian values and no appreciation for God-given rights'.
for Lane, it's all about the ground game of getting out the vote - a point he made following the Orlando event. 'T cannot make the same mistake that Romney did in 2012; talking to evangelical national heads through conference calls and national meetings, thinking that will trickle down to evangelical and pro-life Catholic Christians. those types of calls are necessary, but they don't produce a ground game'.
in his article 'How White Evangelicals won the 2016 Election', author and presidential historian Doug Wead concluded that one an, though a mysterious figure due to lack of self-promotion, had been an outsize influence on the 2016 election: David Lane.
'He did not start out supporting Donald Trump. in fact, he didn't start out supporting anybody. he focused on organizing Evangelicals to be participants in the process, regardless of who won the nomination. he arranged for any candidate to meet and interact with evangelical Christians. in the process, over a 17 year period, he built an effective ground game of pastors and activists. and Lane achieved something more. he united the Evangelical leaders in a way that their competing trade organizations and rival denominations could not. lane just kept coming at them, letting petty jealousies and competition roll off him like water off a duck's back. he became the Movement's common denomination.
*231 Connelly said his mandate didn't involve telling people to vote for the GOP. instead, his message to pastors was simple: get your people registered and challenge them to VOTE BIBLICAL VALUES.
.*232 Tony Perkins stood next to Donald Trump many times during the campaign, but the one time that probably had the greatest impact was an event that Perkins would have avoided if he could have. he lost his home to the Louisiana floods of Aug 2016.
on Sat, the 13th , flood waters engulfed Per's house - along with about 60,000 other homes in his parish. he and his family were making their escape from the waters when his phone rang. it was Paul Manafort.
Per talked for a minute but then said: 'paul, I'm going to have to get back with you. our house is flooding and we are escaping in a canoe'.
over the next 4 days. the whole world turned upside down for Per, his family, the members of the large church he served as interim pastor and his extended community. everyone in the area was affected. unfortunately, outside of Louisiana, it seemed that nobody had taken notice of their plight.
'4 days into it, there was still no media attention, Perkins said. 'I had called Franklin Graham and he and Samaritans Purse came on site at our church to do some relief work. no real government assistance. No President Obama. No Hillary Clinton'.
on the following wed, Per called T and the campaign -fist speaking to Manafort, then suddenly to Conway and Bannon instead - to say, 'we could use your help - just by
*233 bringing attention to this situation. and, quite frankly, this would be a great opportunity to show that you can be more presidential than our President'.
Perkins got word Thursday afternoon that they were coming and Fri morning they arrived - T and Pence too.
given the nature of a presidential campaign, news media were there for parts of the interaction. but then, Franklin, Perkins, Pence and Trump got into a vehicle and went out to survey the neighborhoods -without the cameras.
T was visibly taken aback by how significant the devastation and destruction was, Perkins said. 'I could see it was genuine. he old the Secret Service to stop the cars and he got out and went up and met residents in the neighborhoods. he was so warm and genuine in his concern'. Jimmy and olive Morgan experienced that side of T firsthand. when he met them, the couple, in their seventies, were at their lowest point: the home they had lived in for decades was destroyed and they were just sitting in their front yard looking numb. T approached jimmy. Mike pence recalls it vividly. 'The (now ) President is talking to him and says, 'What are you going to do? You're going to rebuild? the guy says, 'Well, were both getting up there and i don't know if we got it in us.'. the President reaches over ,grabs him on the shoulder and says, 'You're going to rebuild. I know you're that kind of guy. You're going to rebuild' Jimmy got emotional. 'Here in this critical moment, a moment of crisis, what proceeds out of him is compassion and encouragement', Pence said. an important footnote to the story; Pence would return to see Jimmy and Olive 9 months later. they had rebuilt. Perkins notes that T is the opposite of most politicians or celebrity types in that his compassionate and caring side comes out the most when he is out of the public's eye.
Perkins himself was actually the recipient of some of T's behind-the-scenes compassion. after spending time with T,
*234
Pence and Franklin Graham through out the day, something happened during that car ride with the foursome. T, feeling moved by what he saw in Louisiana and seeing how Graham's ministry was coming to the rescue, looked over at Franklin and told him he wanted to give his organization a hefty 6-figure check. when he asked where he should send it, Graham didn't miss a beat, telling him to send it to Perkins's church, which had been through so much and helped residents in such a significant way. this is vintage T. he may love the cameras when it comes to branding and publicity for his projects, but when the cameras aren't rolling what you see are acts of kindness like this that he has no desire to let anyone know about.
T has a history of unseen kindness. back in 2010, T saw a 60 Minutes report about how the Maytag plant in Newton, Iowa, was shutting down, affecting the small business community. owner David Mcneer, who was featured , received a call out of the blue from the billionaire mogul offering to help. McNeer eventually began working with T's hotels and later manufacturing T campaign merchandise. Michael Cohen, his longtime lawyer , was there when this happened. 'the first thing he thought of was the Judeo-Christian principle of help and charity', Cohen said. 'Many people don't know about stories like this because when one gives to charity, the right thing to do is to keep it private unfortunately, because he's Donald Trump, nothing in his life remains private....
*249 ...(around Oct. 5) ...then, right into T's steady climb in the polls, the Access Hollywood tape dropped like a bomb.
the reaction among evangelicals was unequivocal in its condemnation of the lewd comments, though there was such disagreement about what should happen next in terms of the continuation of the campaign Major political and religious leaders called for T to step down from the campaign and let Pence be the candidate. across America, the individual secretaries of state were looking into their state's campaign laws and reporting what would happen
*250 if T were to step down with less than a month to go. the details varied, but one thing seemed eminently clear: Hillary Clinton would win the White House
Richard land, a seminary president and the former head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the southern Baptist Convention, related that 'About 20 seconds after the Access Holywood tape came out, i got a phone call from a reporter for a major newspaper who said, 'Professor Land, are you still voting for Donald T? I said, 'well,is he still running against Hillary Clinton?'
Lance Walnau created a Facebook video that went viral with millions of views, to explain how to think about the tape. as he had written in his newly released book, Walnau argued that when T married Melania, he 'decided that he was going to judge the one area of his life that was out of control. the guy doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke - but he was a womanizer billionaire. and he ended that. he got committed to Melania and he's been dedicated to her and to having a rebranded family image ever since then'. Wallnau told us that the reason why the Access video came out when it did was that 'the Lord wanted to circumcise him. He wanted to cut away from him any basis for boasting that it was his own strength. he got into the White House by the grace of God, not because of a perfect campaign - because that Access Hollywood thing would have torpedoed anyone other than someone God's grace was on'.
Johnnie Moore said that the day after the video came out he initiated a phone call with the evangelical advisory board. 'We did not invite any campaign people - nobody affiliated with T was on the call. it was just us alone so we could talk about the video and our response. all of us agreed to stand behind the candidate at that point. we all agreed to it. we had all the grace in the world for this man who had sacrificed his entire life, in my viewpoint and supported us.
*251 how could we not support him? we all believed he was
politically speaking, the leaked tape couldn't have come at a worse time for those who had been working to get #neverTrump leaders to lose the 'Never'. Robert Jeffress recalled his going to a private meeting at Trump tower on Sept 29, to 'mediate a meeting between then candidate t and a group were never Trumpers and you could tell they came ready to give him a piece of their mind that they probably couldn't afford to lose. when he walked into the room, and I introduced them, he listened to them , he delayed his departure and by the end of the meeting he had them eating out of the palm of his hand'.
politically speaking, the leaked tape couldn't have come at a worse time for those who had been working to get #NeverTrump leaders to lose the 'Never'. Robert Jeffress recalled his gong to a private meeting at Trump Tower on Sept 29, to 'mediate a meeting between then candidate T and a group of religious leaders - evangelicals and Catholics. many in that group wee Never Trumpers, and you could tell they came ready to give him a piece of their mind that they probably couldn't afford to lose. when he walked into the room and I introduced them, he listened to them, he delayed his departure and by the end of the meeting he had them eating out of the palm of his hand.
but with the release of the tape, fence-sitting ceased being an option and those who were already committed to the #NeverTrump position solidified their argument even more: 'Never Trump is our best chance to actually make America great again'. longtime evangelical allies appeared on cable talk shows to argue against each other, admitting on-air that it would have seemed impossible to imagine such a scenario where they'd be at such opposing poles regarding a national election. Albert Mohler, who had already pledged he would abstain from voting for either Trump or Clinton, wrote that 'Donald Trump has created an excruciating moment for evangelicals' - asking a poignant question: 'Why now? the Donald Trump revealed on the 11 year old tape did not reveal anything that evangelicals should no have already known about the Republican nominee. plenty of venality was in abundant evidence, even in the candidate's own books'.
'It was a pretty unforgettable weekend. it's something I'm never going to forget for the rest of my life, Ralph Reed told us in his
*252 account of the Access Hollywood events. 'That Fri afternoon I had just finished securing some final commitments i needed to complete Faith&Freedom's get-out-the-vote effort. so to de-stress a little bit, I decided to walk across the street to the mall and catch a movie, which I'll never forget what movie i was watching - Sully with Tom hanks. about halfway through the movie, my cell phone started vibrating and it just wouldn't stop - every 30 seconds - Zzz. Zzz. Zzz.I'm thinking, 'What's going on? did somebody die? Did war break out?' I looked down at my phone to see what was going on and i saw -Washington Post, New York Times, AP, Wall Street Journal -everybody was texting me to get a statement. so I sat there in the theater and banged out my statement, that i found T's remarks to be offensive and inappropriate, but I didn't think it was going to weigh nearly as heavily in the hierarchy of concerns of evangelical and other faith-based voters as the issues facing the country'.
further, Reed said at the time and repeated to us that 'the Donald Trump I had gotten to know was not reflective of what I saw on that tape. I was with him in many private settings in his office, backstage at political events,in private meetings, including times when women were present and I never saw him treat any woman with anything but dignity and respect,including my own daughters.'
Reed believed that evangelical voters would be repulsed by T's decade-old comments, but that still wouldn't overturn their sense that handing Hillary; the White House could do irreversible damage to the country. 'It turned out that i was correct in that judgment, Reed said. 'i didn't know whether I was right or not, but it turned out that that was definitely the case'.
in the third presidential debate in october, there was an exchange between T and Clinton that many; evangelicals consider to be
*253 a campaign-defining moment and it wasn't about a topic that had been the focus of attention by the media. Ralph feed identified these few minutes of debate as 'the third hinge point' of the campaign. T explained in detail the vicious details of partial birth abortion and his opposition to it.
the talking heads went ballistic at the violent rhetoric T used. the pro-like community, less concerned about the rhetoric and more concerned about the violence committed on the babies, asked themselves if Access Hollywood was worth losing the election to Clinton with a candidate like T being willing to say things that respectable Republicans were unwilling to say.
8 months later, the pro-life Center for Medical Progress released an undercover video showing a planned Parenthood official talking about how they would use forceps to hold a fetus inside a mother to accomplish the abortion of a late-term baby. Mallory Quigley, communications director for the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, said, 'That's exactly what Donald Trump said in the third and final presidential debate. he was ridiculed by the media at the time but in their own words, these abortionists are proving the president was spot on in his analysis about happening.
the fact that T did better in the debates than anyone expected could be chalked up to low expectations. but spiritually speaking, the tine was set early, before the first debate, at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, New York. his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway remembers being in the holding room with advisers Steve Bannon and David Bossie when she approached the candidate. 'I W said,, 'would you mind if I led us i prayer? he said, 'Okay'. we grasped hands and bowed our heads and I said a prayer for him and with him and asked God to bless him and give him wisdom and for the protection of him and his family and for God to let His will be done with respect to the direction and leadership of our nation he appreciated that'.
Chapter 26 - The Art of the Unreal
the second Tues in November had finally come: Nov 8, 2016. Election Night. or as Democrats like to call it, 'Hillary and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day'. all the 'professional pollsters' had T losing 'big league' to her. T, a man of extreme confidence, wasn't sure what to expect that night. 'I don't know, Jerry, these exit polls look bad, T told Falwell during an Election Night phone call. 'No, no, no, you got it, Falwell Jr. responded. 'I just have a feeling. you're going to win it. i know it. too much has happened that's been miraculous this year for it not to be of God. You're going to win'. later that evening another phone call took place between them. 'Jerry, we're about to win. they're about to announce that we're going to win Pennsylvania...'That's the game, Falwell Jr. replied. T responded, 'Yup, that'll be the game' Game, Set. Match.
evangelicals delivered T over the finish line. 'I think it was a very important victory for people of faith', President T told me from his desk in the Oval Office. 'I think that our country was becoming unbelievably one-sided and going in the wrong direction...you saw the rules and regulations that they were instituting against faith. and it was getting really bad...It was almost lie they wanted to stomp it out'.
evangelicals agreed in spades. 81% to be exact, a record turnout for a Republican nominee for president. Yes, running against Hillary Clinton helped, but that's the easy tale to tell. the evangelical connection to T goes much deeper than that,
*260 beyond nominating strict constuctionist Supreme Court justices or choosing Mike Pence as his running mate.at the heart of it,T, of all people, became the ultimate fighting champion for evangelicals, confirming that God indeed has a sense of humor. 'President Trump represented to the evangelical community a warrior to fight the encroachment of the federal government in their live and in their institutions', said Robert Costa of the Washington Post, who has covered him extensively. 'In spite of his many differences with the faith community and in spite of his personal foibles over the decades, he was seen as someone who would fight for religious voters. in a sense, they forgave him for all his personal misdeeds because they believed he could be a strong man in taking away regulations or different federal guidelines that they saw as a burden for their church or for their religious institution'.
T also had something else evangelicals liked: authenticity he never pretended to be someone he wasn't . the occasional 'hell' o 'damn' flew from is lips just as easily in front of evangelicals as any other group. in a counterintuitive way, something was refreshing about that. the human nature inside all of us leans toward a desire to know where you stand with someone. put another way, it's called the 'give it to me straight' principle. evangelist James Robison, who became close to T during the campaign, remembers giving T some advice. 'Don't use religious talk, it'll backfire'. ...He did it. he never tried to prove to you or anybody else he's a great spiritual giant. I made it clear that he was growing in his faith. but here's what he knew. 'i can't win without evangelicals and professing Christians'.
with the new title of president elect, T quickly turned his attention to the transition process and during it, evangelicals saw clear signs of T's genuine dedication to evangelicals. he chose
*261 Ken Blackwell, a board member of the pro-family Family Research Council, to run his domestic policy transition team.his cabinet nominees read like a Believers in Politics all-star team:
Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson
CIA director Mike Pompeo
EPA chief Scott Pruitt...
Energy Secretary Rick Perry;
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos
Agriculture Secretry Sunny Perdue;
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
in many cases along the way, T was consulting key evangelical leaders he trusted for counsel. 'he asked me to help him check out some of the people he was looking at an asked my opinion', James Robison said. 'I was the first person, as far as I know , to bring (Rick) Perry up as energy secretary'.
this faith-filled cabinet ended up producing some spiritual fruit when T's administration began holding weekly Bible studies inside a conference room in the Health and Human Services building. Ralph Drollinger, head of Capital Ministries, leads them and says a Bible study like this hasn't existed among cabinet members in at least 100 years....
the 48 degree temperature on Inauguration Day 2017 would go down in the record books as the fourth-warmest January inaugural temperature ever. but there was another record set that day: more prayers were read during Donald Trump's inaugural ceremony that any other presidential inaugural in American history. there were a total of 12: 6 religious prayers, 3
*262 benedictions 3 invocations and a partridge in a pear tree! and we haven't even included the truly remarkable private prayer ceremony that began the day.
since 1933, St. John's Episcopal Church, sitting across the street from the White House, has been where presidents go for the time-honored Inauguration morning prayer service. in T's case, what was waiting for him was some good ol' fashion preachin! with his family next to him in the pews, the president-elect heard from his good evangelical buddy James Robison, host of Life Today TV (remember, T loves to watch Christian television!)Rob said T asked if he would deliver personal remarks and a prayer for him. there was a reason the president-elect wanted Robison to share this special day with and his family. over the course of the presidential campaign, they developed a very special bond. as we know,T is a force of personality and when it comes to talking about Jesus, so is Robison. T got a heavy dose of it from him throughout 2016.
one of the most memorable encounters came on the airport tarmac in Panama City, Florida. they arrived there after Robison flew with T on his campaign plane from Dallas to attend a campaign event that evening. afterward, when they made their way back into a SUV, Robison turned to T and felt led to pray for him. one of T's assistants joined in. Rob remembers it clearly. 'I put my hands on those shoulders and I said , 'Sir , we're going to give this big, rugged piece of clay straight into the hands of the master potter, ever bit of it. and we['re going to ask God to shape you into a vessel of honor'. so what did T do? shat came next was one of the most tender, private moments of the campaign. 'He listened and was unbelievably sensitive and yielded even as I prayed for him,Go said. 'when I walked around the Suburban i didn't know what he would say. he gave me a hug, pulled me p against his chest firmly and said, 'Man, I sure love you'.
*263 T asked Rob to come with him to his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, but Rob couldn't make it. still, T wasn't done with him yet. 'Before he actually stepped into the door of the plane he turned around one more time and said, 'Man, I sure wish you were going with me. I sure love you'. it was an expression that you wouldn't expect from someone who had been counseled to really take some hard serious looks to some approaches which I continue to do today.
so on Inauguration Day, here they were again: Trump and Robison: face-to-face as the evangelist was about to dispense more biblical wisdom, not on a tarmac but at an inauguration church service. Boy, did he deliver! he asked the president elect to rise in front of everyone and then told him the following:
'the first time you and I talked, I shared with you something I thought was very helpful - and knowing you and watching you, sometimes you would wonder if there is any way possible. I said, 'Let me talk with you about humility and meekness, with the emphasis on meekness. It's not weakness'. I said, 'It's taking great power and submitting it with the kind of biblical direction that enables it to fulfill what its strength enables it to do...' I said, 'It's like taking the power of a throughbred like Secretariat and yielding it to the wisdom and guidance of a 100 pound jockey'. I said, 'Sir, the meekness that god has given you is as great as anything I have ever witnessed - and ability to move and motivate people that is nothing short of a divine, supernatural enabling'. I said, 'sir, if you yield the gifts of God and the strength that He put in you, not for your purposes but for His kingdom's purpose, you'll win a triple crown. You'll win an election and you'll save the day, even the future of freedom and restore the foundation and the walls essential
*264 to protect it...I think you have been designed and gifted by god for this moment. if you, too, together will submit to the wisdom God freely offers, it is going to be an amazing journey'.
and then came his prayer for the president:
'We believe, dear God, that the stage is set for the next great spiritual awakening and I believe with all my heart it is absolutely essential. I want to thank you from the depth of my heart for giving us a leader who is fearless, who is tireless, who is committed and who has so obviously, by his very manner and the way he treats people and expresses appreciation for them and the way he has forgiven those who have been unkind and even given them an opportunity to serve. God, I want to thank You that we have seen the transformation of his own heart and mind in his actions. I prey, dear God, that those actions would continue to always speak louder than words.
afterward, it didn't take long for the reviews to come pouring in from the Trump family. 'I immediately began getting texts from Eric saying, 'Dad is talking about what you said. everybody in the car is so grateful', Robison said. it kept coming throughout the momentous day. 'they're texting over dinner to tell me how much m message meant to them and the family and they're sitting there in the White House talking about it on their first evening together in the Whit House. Thanking God for what I shared'.
the spiritual meat offered up at St. John's Episcopal Church that morning seemed to never stop. up next in the 'evangelical hit parade' was a man T came to love and respect deeply: Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas. the night before,
*265 Jeffress was coming under attack from media outlets like the Washington Post. the newspaper claimed T was going to hear from 'a southern Baptist pastor who has a history of inflammatory remarks about Muslins, Mormons, Catholics and gays['. despite the uproar and potential for distraction, t never pulled the plug on Jeffress, thus revealing one of T's key character traits: steadfastness. 'You know, many administrations would have pulled back on that and would have canceled that, but not Donald Trump, Jeffress said, 'He went right ahead, he knew that was an unfair attack and I'm appreciative of his willingness to not throw me overboard'.
Jeffress delivered an impacful sermon, entitled 'When God Chooses a Leader', in front of T and his family on Inauguration Day. he likened the president-elect to Nehemiah in the Bible, who helped rebuild the city of Jerusalem and knew a thing or two about building a wall! 'I thought there was just some natural parallels between Nehemiah, the biblical character I cited in my message, and Donald Trump, Jeffress said. 'Neither Nehemiah nor Donald Trump are politicians by profession, they were builders. yet God used both of them to rebuild a nation that was in disrepair... God uses special people with special gifts for critical times in a nation's history. more than the building of the wall I saw some characteristics in Nehemiah's life that i believe were going to be important for the president if he moved our nation forward. he refused to allow his critics to distract him. he refused to allow setbacks to stop him, and he sought God's supernatural power. I see Donald Trump doing all three of those things and i think that's critical to the success of his administration and also the success of our nation'.
with the private preaching and prayers complete, it was time for the main course. T loves numbers, whether it's crowd size, ratings, you name it. as we noted earlier, the number of prayers recited at his Inauguration ceremony now holds the all-time record, to
*266 grasp the philosophy of the faith of Donald Trump, it's imperative to understand some of the prayer participants on that stage.
Franklin Graham is a household name and has an excellent relationship with the President. 'He's a great tuy and is very much a friend of ours', President Trump told me. 'Frankin has been terrific'. T recalls watching Billy Graham sermos with his father on television in the 1950s, so this was a bit personal for him. 'My ather was a fan of Billy Graham,' teh President told me. 'He liked him a lot. he would go to the 'Crusades', at Yankee Stadium'. 'he told me that he remembers his dad listening to Billy Graham's sermons many, many times and that made an impression on President Trump,', said close personal friend Robert Jeffress. 'I think one reason he is such a fan of billy Graham is his dad was a fan of Billy Graham's'. as for the younger Graham, he knew the election was a potential turning point in American history and while not officially endorsing Donal Trump, he went around the country to all 50 state capitals praying and preaching about Judeo-Christian values, imploring Christians to get out and vote. in an interview with the Religion News Service, Graham concluded, 'I think maybe god has allowed Donald Trump to win this election to protect this nation for the net few years by giving maybe an opportunity to have some good judges'.
Bishop Wayne Jackson of Great Faith Ministries, a lifelong Democrat, became good friends with Donald Trump on the campaign trail. earlier in the book, we described the fascinating scene when T attended his predominately African-American church, complete with him swaying to the music in the pews, being prayed over, and having a Jewish prayer shawl draped over him. Jackson seemed the perfect man for the job, considering he calls his church a 'praying and fasting and Bible-believing church'. 'I believe when he was in the church, he felt the energy of the Holy Spirit through praise and worship and also the love that was displayed to him because
*267 he and I hadn't met', Bishop Jackson said, 'My wife, even after meeting him, her whole attitude changed about him and many of the people who were there, their attitudes changed about him being one on one with him'. the relationship between the 2 blossomed as they stayed in constant contact. 'he called me and told me that he appreciates my Christian love and that he was grateful for that', Bishop Jackson said. 'then the next thing I know, i was asked to do the benediction at the Inauguration!
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez became the first Hispanic evangelical leader to pray at a presidential inauguration. the energetic senior pastor at New Season Christian Worship Center in Sacramento, California, became someone T respected on issues related to immigration. plus, T thinks he's great on TV! Rod though was never shy about confronting T about some of the more rancorous language he used on the subject of immigration during the campaign. but T likes straight shooters and if nothing else that's exactly what Pastor Rodriguez is.
'one of the greatest honors of my life took place on that day behind that podium to lift up the name of Jesus before the world', Rod said. his prayer centered on Matthew Chapter 5, the Sermon on the Mount. 'The impetus in my spirit was could i do anything to help this nation heal? Rod explained further. 'Matthew Chapter 5. 'God will bless those that are persecuted for My name's sake....when they lie about you and say so many evil things about you'. many people suffered during the course of the campaign. every individual has suffered at one moment in their personal lives, a moment of great darkness. my message was an olive branch, for lack of a better phrase. an olive branch, a reconciliatory message'.
the one figure who got the most attention was Paula White. the pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida and chairwoman of T's evangelical advisory board has received
*268 plenty of mentions in this book...and for good reason. her close relationship with Donald Trump is based on a true abiding friendship, one that demands nothing of him and vice versa. she is a true spiritual companion for him and senses that T has been moving along a journey toward becoming closer to God.
when she took the stage on that day in January, White became the first clergywoman to speak at a presidential inauguration. while her critics love to bring up her belief in the so-called prosperity gospel. what they truly don't understand is that her heart is for Jesus first, and then, of course, for this president/ 'the man that i know is a believer, a Christian and a man that's hungry for God', White said, even if 'he doesn't know our 'Christian world'. as for the spiritual critics lined up a t his door, White asked a very simple question: 'If we just want to hold Mr. Trump to saying every day...he's going to be just spot on with God, well then I'd say, 'Are you? No! none of us are. (the Apostle )Paul wasn't. the only one that was, was Jesus Christ'. White understands a basic fact of life: we're all human; we all make mistakes, oodles of them. Jesus made this pint in the Bible when the Pharisees accused the adulterous woman of disobeying the Mosaic Law. Jesus said simply, 'He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her'. that stopped the conversation cold.
*269 later that evening at the ceremonial inaugural balls, the new President and the First Lady danced the night away. in typical T fashion, he would use the occasion of their first dance to poke a little fun at the mainstream media. the song chosen? 'My Way' by Frank Sinatra.
while it played well for chuckles, it raised more pressing and serious questions: Would T's way be god's way?
would he rely on his own powr or the Almighty power of God?
would he listen to James Robison's spiritual advice about echibiting 'biblical meekness' (not weaness)?
who would help him along teh way in the infancy of his presidency?
with teh sport of a political campaign now over, it became tome to govern.
was t ready to tackle his highest hurdle and if, so, where did God fit into the equation? the presidency of the US is the most powerful and awesome job perhaps in all the world, White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said. 'But this President knows there's one above him who is even more awesome and more powerful. he's acutely aware of that'.
*270 Chapter 27 Gorsuch a Time as This
the Bible is full of stories of how God uses the most unlikely people to accomplish His will. for most of his life, Donald Trump was not pro-like. in 1999, he then exclaimed, 'I'm very pro-choice'. but his view began to transform during the following decade. when I sad down with him for our very first interview in 2011, he explained why. 'one of the reasons i changed - one of the primary reasons - a friend of mine's wife as pregnant, in this case, married. she was pregnant and he didn't really want the baby. and he was telling me the story. he was crying as he was telling me the story. he ends up having the baby and the baby is the apple of his eye. it's the greatest thing that's ever happened to him. here's a baby that wasn't going to e let into life. and i heard this and some other stories...they changed my view as to that'.
having a 'conversion story' is great, but the proof is in the pudding. would he deliver the goods now that he's president? an early clue of his resolve came during the third presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, when the topic turned to late-term abortion. 'I think it's terrible, if you go with what Hillary is saying, in the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby. now, you can say that that's OK and Hillary can say that that's OK. but it's not OK with me....' afterward,pro-like leaders fully realized something: they had finally found the person who had the guts to say what needed to be said in such stark terms. 'that was a very pivotal moment' senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told me from her office in the West Wing
Sunday, September 23, 2018
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