When the CT Editor’s Feelings Trump Facts

Mark Galli has used his platform as editor-in-chief of Christianity Today magazine to demand that Donald Trump be removed from office. At one point in the article, Galli compares Trump to Bill Clinton. Strangely, Galli avoided a key issue: Was a law violated? Clinton actually committed a crime. Trump didn’t. Galli fails to make the distinction.

Galli speaks of Clinton’s “immoral acts” in the context of our current president. He fails to note that the president’s acknowledged immoral conduct occurred a dozen years ago and not while he was in the White House, in contrast to Clinton’s conduct (which occurred while in the Oval Office, serving as president). Galli states that Clinton lied. Yes, but more than that, he perjured himself, which is legally serious. Trump didn’t.

Remarkably, Galli claims “the facts in this instance are unambiguous.” The “facts” are “unambiguous”? Many in the House of Representatives—all 196 Republicans and two Democrats who have access to key documents—don’t see it that way. In addition, Americans who are not aligned with either party—Independents—don’t view it that way.

The keys to understanding authentic facts in this case are the actual transcript of the call and the Ukrainian president’s recollection of the phone call. Galli fails to note those two critically important “witnesses” to truth. They might get in the way of his “facts.”

Galli further asserts that the president’s phone call was “a violation of the Constitution.” It is precisely at this point that so many strongly disagree with Galli. Simply put, many contend that there was no violation of the Constitution. Again Galli chooses to state his opinion as “fact.” Even liberal Democrat Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz contends that there was no violation of the Constitution. Amazingly, the Democrats could not even get all of their own to vote for impeachment, let alone any of the Republicans.

Furthermore, those who know the president, with all his flaws, past moral failures and sins, have discerned and commented that he is a man who really wants to do what is right. This fact has been noted by many of the evangelicals who are closest to him. Godly, discerning people around him see it and know it.

Galli writes “the impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see.” There you have it, according to Christianity Today‘s editor-in-chief. Based on Mr. Trump’s failure to model sanctification, he should be impeached? Hardly.

And while we are talking about character—which is one of Galli’s key issues—it is important to point out that what Mr. Trump promised as a candidate is exactly what he has delivered as an elected official. It is indeed a rare treat for a politician to fulfill his word. That is a wonderful indication of character. It’s called honesty.

Condescendingly, Galli lectures evangelicals who support Trump, saying that they “brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency.” To my knowledge, I know every one of the persons who have served as the president’s faith advisers. (In the interest of disclosure, I have been one of them.) Not one of these faith leaders “brushes off” anyone’s immorality or behavior, including the president’s. Not one. They never have. Not one of them has ever said or believed that the (using Galli’s words) “bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end.” Not one. I could speak with specificity here, but I will not. In that one sentence, Galli is participating in character assassination, a favorite tool of many these days.

Closely related to that is the fact that Galli has no grasp of the kind of healthy, spiritual input that is coming from evangelicals to our president. Admittedly, this is a side issue, not Galli’s key issue, but it is still important. The CT editor apparently has no knowledge of the internal meetings that have been constructively pastoral in nature. Numerous high-visibility evangelicals have had opportunity to be with the president, to counsel him and to pray with him. Some have spoken truth to leadership. Wisely, they do not discuss the content of those meetings publicly. Nor should they. They are considerably more aware of the “heart” of the president than is Mr. Galli. If he knew what they know about Mr. Trump, Galli would not have written such an article.

Offensively, Galli seems to invoke the name of Billy Graham to bolster and credential his viewpoint not only in the first sentence of the article, but again in the third paragraph. The only one who can use Billy Graham’s name with integrity is Billy’s son Franklin or daughter Anne Graham Lotz or one of his other children or grandchildren. Interestingly, Franklin Graham is standing 100% with the president. And he even felt compelled to reveal for the first time that his famous father—who knew Donald Trump—voted for him. Franklin Graham is more qualified to speak for Billy Graham than a CT editor.

While it is admittedly not of profound significance to Galli’s article, it still might be important to note that Christianity Today has been losing influence for some time. Why is this relevant? The left will fall all over themselves loving this article, not knowing that CT’s influence peaked a long time ago. Had there not been outside funds to prop CT up, the magazine would likely have folded years ago. It is not the voice it once was. How do I say this nicely? It is rather “yesterday.”

It is hardly news that CT is not a fan of the president. For purposes of transparency, it might be interesting if the editor—since journalists ought to acknowledge their bias—would reveal for whom he voted for in 2016. The once-solid magazine, like the National Association of Evangelicals, has moved leftward for some time. They once reigned. They were supreme. But ask the typical evangelical churchgoer today if he or she reads CT or knows what the NAE is. They don’t. These once-prestigious organizations have now been displaced in influence by other groups, organizations, magazines and news sources.

But one thing is for sure: Mr. Galli will now be exalted by the Trump-haters. They now have a new hero. The left loves CT’s Trump-bashing. CNN and New York Times, for example, were two of the first to run with this story on the national scene. Other disdainers of Trump will do the same. More hated of Trump has been fueled. The self-proclaimed pious ones will be eagerly casting stones at Trump. Mr. Galli has done our nation a great disservice.

Meanwhile, the president will continue:

—Saving the lives of preborn babies.

—Helping families.

—Supporting Israel.

—Defending religious liberty in the U.S.

—Trying to stop religious persecution globally.

—Blessing the nation with a healthy economy—especially impacting the middle class and most notably blacks and Hispanics with jobs, as opposed to Obama’s debilitating massive food stamps increase.

—Reducing governmental intrusions into our everyday lives.

—Advocating for healthy entrepreneurship-driven capitalism.

—Rebuilding the Obama-era broken military.

—Saving young girls from sex trafficking.

—Appointing justices and judges that actually respect the U.S. Constitution.

—Leading in prison reform that is giving many incarcerated persons a new opportunity in life.

—Defeating terrorist organizations like ISIS.

—Stopping the transgender experiments that would destroy our military.

—Stopping nations from taking advantage of America.

—Arresting and removing MS13 gang members.

—Making America truly a great nation.

He will continue doing what the Bible admonishes a governmental leader to do: to protect the citizenry and to punish evil.

But to Galli, and his groupies who will Facebook post his article repeatedly, this does not matter. Why? Because according to Galli, Trump acts wrongly. He is bad. His personality is not that of St. Francis. Trump is not Mother Teresa. Trump, you see, is a bad man, and that qualifies as a “high crime.” Trump—according to Galli—must be removed.

And in case you have not noticed, those advocating impeachment are not merely after the president. They are impeaching those of you who elected him—all 63 million of you. They are impeaching the values of those who voted for him.

It is interesting that Galli never once called for the removal of President Obama, who was responsible for supporting the mutilation of preborn babies more than any president in U.S. history, who helped destroy the definition of marriage and who was the first to defend men dressed as women using women’s bathrooms.

How should we respond to all this? Is there a better response? Yes. For starters, how about a call to pray for our president? (I have followed politics closely, virtually every day since I was 9 years of age. I know that is strange, but I have.) I have never seen a national leader so castigated and attacked on a continual basis. I know few if any who could handle the pressure that our president is under.

What if Galli had interviewed some of the people who are on the “inside” (I am not one of them), who are helping to spiritually guide the president, and have inquired how believers could and should pray for the president in very specific ways at this time? How much better if he would have described ways to help our nation come through the massive divide.

But while Mr. Galli did not do that, you can. You and I can make a difference. We can do these things.

Will you pray for your president? Right now? Will you pray for those who have the opportunity to speak and provide spiritual counsel to our national leaders? Galli condemns them. It might be better to pray for them.

Will you commit to trying to bring healing to our severely divided nation? Will you pray that Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff and Jerrold Nadler would work with our president to address the greatest challenges in our nation?

Would you pray with me that there would be a massive release of scriptural truth to those in high government positions of our nation? Would you pray that there would be a Holy Spirit release of the biblical principles of governance to all of those in governmental authority? In doing so, you would help make American great—and good—again. {eoa}

Dr. Jim Garlow lives in San Diego and is a historian, commentator in approximately 1,400 interviews and heard daily in a one-minute commentary on over 800 radio outlets. He is also the author of 19 books, a lifelong pastor, husband, father of eight and grandfather of 10. He, along with his wife Rosemary Schindler Garlow, has a governmental ministry in Washington, D.C., New York City and Jerusalem. You can learn more at www.WellVersedWorld.org.