Father Trump Knows Best, in His Little House on the Prairie

And he’s plainly leaving it to Beaver, Ozzie and Harriet, the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, and Norman Rockwell:

I don’t know who bears responsibility for this image of the pious paterfamilias Donald Trump — I would be much more than happy to, um, “credit” him or her for it! — but it’s just wrong.  Utterly dishonest.  On so very, very many levels.

For some relevant analysis:

“Could it be that America’s evangelicals just aren’t that evangelical anymore?”

“Donald Trump is No King David: It’s Time for Christians to Take a Stand”

“Call the Bluff of the Trump True Believers”

“CBS reporter arrested at Trump rally: ‘I’ve never seen anything like what I’m witnessing'”

“In a Slow-Motion ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers,’ Media Figures Embrace Trump One by One”

I hope and trust, as large segments of the American evangelical community and of the ostensibly conservative talking heads on American television and radio turn into our local equivalent of the Vichy French, that my own Latter-day Saint community — perhaps standing almost alone — will continue to resist the intellectually and ethically dangerous appeal of Caesarotrumpism.  This coming Tuesday, I hope that Utah will declare a resolute “No!” to Mr. Donald Trump.

In the unlikely event that he becomes president, of course, we might well pay a price for that.  Mr. Trump himself has expressed his hope, should he take over the White House, of restricting First Amendment free speech rights for those who disagree with him, and his spokesperson has already attempted to justify unconstitutional measures against Muslims by approvingly citing garbled precedents of suppressing Mormon churches with approval.  Still, it’s far better to pay a price for defending one’s principles than to pay the far greater price of abandoning them.

I, personally, will not put party loyalty over principle.  I could not do it and continue to look myself in the mirror.  (It’s difficult enough already.)

Whatever happens, my conscience will be clear because I voted conservative.