South Carolina Pastor Tweets What He Thinks of Donald Trump
It didn’t exactly register as a “tweet storm,” but one prominent South Carolina megachurch pastor’s comments directed at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump came pretty close.
Perry Noble of NewSpring Church, which has 11 campuses across South Carolina, made it more than clear he has no intention of supporting Trump in Saturday’s Republican presidential primary in a series of tweets on Monday. As of this writing, he hasn’t endorsed a candidate, but has narrowed it down to three other GOP candidates: Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, or Jeb Bush.
His first tweet went out shortly after 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday:
“Going on the record … Will NOT endorse/support @realDonaldTrump in the SC primary, either Rubio, Cruz or Bush!”
Noble has more than 150,000 followers on Twitter. But his commentary on Trump and those who support him didn’t end there. About a half-hour later, he tweeted the following:
“Typically always stay away from politics – but @realDonaldTrump is NOT the best choice among the current candidates!!”
And:
“Asking evangelicals in SC to be #notabouttrump”
About 10 minutes after that, he tweeted the following:
“Seriously concerned that @realDonaldTrump may win SC!!!!’ C’mon y’all – we are better than that!!!!!”
The current Real Clear Politics polling averages in South Carolina have Trump with a 16-point lead over Cruz. Rubio is close behind in third. Polling data also suggests evangelical voters are split, with a plurality supporting Trump over Cruz.
In the past few days, since Noble’s tweets were publicized in the media, he has been contacted by Cruz, Rubio, and Bush. In each case, he said he enjoyed the conversation, and repeated his claim that he remains undecided.
Polls open for the South Carolina Republican Primary at 7 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday.
