Former RNC Chair blasts evangelicals who are Trump enablers

Back during the campaign when first confronted with the ethical dilemma of Christian conservatives supporting the obviously un-Christian Donald Trump, their explanation seemed rather quaint -- a sort of out-of-this-world, esoteric bit of religious arcana that I didn't pretend to comprehend.   Something like the more familiar phrase:   "The Lord works in strange and mysterious ways," implying that we don't have to understand everything that God does;  sometimes he uses bad people to accomplish long-range good.    

O-o-o-K-a-a-y.

But now, Michael Steele, the former chair of the Republican National Committee and a political analyst for MSNBC -- someone I have come to respect even when I don't agree with his conclusions -- has had his say.   And it is a doozy.

He started by saying that he has "just about had it" with evangelical Christian leaders who support Donald Trump no matter what.   [This came after the revelations about his lawyer paying a porn star $130,000 just before the November election to keep quiet about an affair they had 12 years ago.]

In response to that latest revelation about Trump, Tony Perkins, head of the conservative Christian Family Research Council awarded Trump "a mulligan" (golf term for a "do-over" when you mess up your shot).   Steele wasn't buying it.

Speaking on MSNBC's "Hardball" news and opinion show, Steele said:  "I have a very simple admonition at this point.   Just shut the hell up and don't ever preach to me about anything ever again.  I don't want to hear it.

[Steele continued]:  "After telling me how to live my life, who to love, what to believe, what not to believe, what to do and what not to do and now you sit back and the prostitutes don't matter?   The grabbing the you-know-what doesn't matter?    [Trump's] outright behavior and lies don't matter?   Just shut up."

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Michael Steele is not an excitable hothead.   He's a smart, reasonable, analytical type of person.   There may be a little of personal animus in this -- but he is reflecting what I and many others are feeling at this point.   Don't you people have any principles left?    You are revealing that your motivating impulses have nothing to do with "Christian values" of love and sacrifice and caring for others, especially the needy and sick.   Republicans have abandoned all those principles in favor of tax cuts for the rich.  And you Christian leaders are going along . . . for what?   

Please explain.   And please be honest about your motives.

Ralph

PS:   Those who may be new to reading this blog need to know that I do not ascribe to any notion that so-called "Christian values" are the exclusive possession of those who believe all the doctrines and theology of the Christian faith.    In short, I do not believe you have to be a "Christian" to be a good person as measured by how you treat other people.    By that measure, I know some Muslims, some Jews, Buddhists, and some atheists whom I consider to better exemplify those values than some of the professional Christians that I also know.  And please also understand that I am not saying that being a Christian rules out your also being good in this sense.