By Doug Newman – email me here.
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Posted at A Call to Paul.
Back in January, Donald Trump stated, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
I am reminded of this whenever I contemplate the large numbers of Christians and libertarians who support Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy.
Jesus commanded His followers to observe the fruit people bear – Matthew 7:20. Let us consider the fruit on Trump’s tree.
- He is on his third marriage.
- He is a known adulterer who brags about the women he has slept with.
- He owns a strip club.
- He does not see the need to repent of any wrongdoing.
- Would any self-respecting Christian man let this lecher within 1000 feet of his wife or daughter?
I could go on.
And, as always, whether or not Trump is a Christian is between Him and God. But where is there any fruit of the Holy Spirit in Trump’s life?
And why do so many libertarians support Trump’s bid for the White House?
- He supports single-payer healthcare.
- He wants to build a wall on the Mexican border, which could also very easily be used to keep the American people from leaving.
- He supports mass roundups and deportations of illegal aliens. Such a measure could not happen without a full-frontal police state.
- He would ban Muslim immigration “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” – as if that will ever happen.
- He wants very aggressive protective tariffs on imports from Mexico and China.
- He has attempted to abuse eminent domain in order to line his own pockets.
- He would strengthen libel laws and make it easier to sue journalists critical of his administration.
- He would print money in order to pay off the debt.
- He is in no way a “peace candidate”.
Again, I could go on.
But, but, but … h-h-he’s gonna stick it to the Establishment.
What would that look like in the real world?
In 2008 and 2012, there was a candidate with an impeccable decades-long record of voting in accordance with the Constitution for severely limited government and sound money and against the welfare-warfare-police state. And the establishment – both left and right – shunned him.
Trump, on the other hand, has been the object of endless media attention ever since the early 1980s. The same media that acted as if Ron Paul did not so much as even exist has made Donald Trump one of the most famous people in America. If Trump were truly a threat to the status quo, the mainstream media would be giving him the Ron Paul treatment.
Ron Paul’s campaign was not about Ron Paul the man, but rather about principles of individual liberty and strict adherence to the limits set on government by the Constitution. It was not about “putting the right people in office” so that they could “run the country” and “fix things”. Paul sought to preside over the executive branch of a constitutional republic, whereas Trump aspires to be a dictator.
And almost no one is asking: what if Trump can’t get his agenda through Congress?
Are so many people so desperate for quick fixes by a “great leader” that they will abandon all caution and prudence? In the Old Testament – I Samuel 8:4-20 – God warned the children of Israel about the dangers of an earthly king. Libertarians say they support the Zero Aggression Principle and that they don’t want an all-powerful central government, and yet many will gladly cede power to Trump.
I know, I know, I know Trump is not Hillary or Bernie. However, the “lesser evil” – if that is even what Trump is – is still evil. If you like the lesser evil, why don’t you love the greater evil?
And if you are a Christian who insists on supporting the “lesser evil” again and again, you have no business complaining that so much evil is so rampant in society.
Related: Just Answer the Question Mr. Cruz.
