{"id":1518,"date":"2019-12-26T14:52:08","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T22:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2019-12-27T09:10:25","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T17:10:25","slug":"leithart-makes-a-poor-case-for-keeping-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/12\/26\/leithart-makes-a-poor-case-for-keeping-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Leithart Makes A Poor Case for Keeping Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I respect Peter Leithart<\/a> a great deal and have read several of his books.\u00a0 His writings were actually a helpful part of my journey out of funda-gelicalism. Unfortunately, one can still detect the right-wing, culture-war-training, he no doubt received at Hillsdale<\/a> as an undergrad.\u00a0 From this response<\/a>, it doesn\u2019t appear his political views have caught up to his education.\u00a0 Regardless, he is a true scholar, a man for all seasons as they say.<\/p>\n

And this makes his rebuttal to Mark Galli\u2019s editorial<\/a> in Christianity Today<\/em>, calling for Trump\u2019s removal, all the more puzzling.\u00a0 Beyond puzzling, it is extremely disappointing as it lacks any depth of moral reason and is certainly questionable theologically.<\/p>\n

Here are his main arguments:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cFor starters, there\u2019s a difference between selecting a president and retaining him. Once a ruler is in power, the demands of Romans 13 kick in. We owe honor to whom honor is due, tribute to whom tribute. At times, we have to skate close to giving due to devils.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This is a ridiculous argument.\u00a0 Romans 13 has nothing to do, whatsoever, with a modern democratic republic\u2019s impeachment process or outcome.\u00a0 We can honor and give tribute to the office of the presidency and, at the same time, note that it has been dishonored by its holder.\u00a0 And in noting such, hold the person accountable.<\/p>\n

    Besides, in our day, the congress is a co- \u201cruler\u201d alongside the presidency and the courts.\u00a0 One could just as easily argue we must give honor and tribute to the congress and respect their decision to impeach.\u00a0 Either way, anyone citing Romans 13 here hasn\u2019t thought things through.<\/p>\n

    We do not live under an ancient form of kingship or divine right of rulers, whether by birth or military conquest.\u00a0 Thus, no, we do not have to \u201cskate close\u201d to the devils that under our system answer to laws, customs, institutions, other branches of government, and the people themselves.\u00a0 If we put the devil in, we (the congress as our representatives) can take the devil out.<\/p>\n

    Further, the suggestion here that once a ruler is, \u201cin power,\u201d that somehow this now gives them some sort of right to continue \u201cruling,\u201d no matter their unfitness or actions, is absurd.\u00a0 It\u2019s neither a biblical argument nor an ethical one.<\/p>\n

    Leithart tells us Trump is \u201cno tyrant.\u201d\u00a0 And, of course, we could reply: Only because he has been opposed and told otherwise!\u00a0 Regardless, it\u2019s hardly a comforting assertion or defense.\u00a0 No doubt one of the underlying reasons Trump is being impeached is the fear he doesn\u2019t understand his office, our form of government, and gives every appearance of wanting to be a tyrant.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u201c[Impeachment] will embolden Democrats to pursue their agenda more aggressively. Remember what that agenda includes. The Democratic party provides a nurturing home for moral and social progressivism; it\u2019s the party of abortion rights, of gay marriage, of a moral libertarianism that scorns the moral traditionalism of a significant sector of the American public.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Here he makes the same argument most evangelicals did when voting for Trump, which reveals the same lack of wisdom and moral reason.\u00a0 To wit, we have to throw in with a morally and intellectually unfit person, to prevent, or get what we want in other areas, no matter the hypocrisy it reveals about us.<\/p>\n

      Do I need to point out that the Republican Party under Trump provides a nurturing home for racism, sexism, little regard for the poor, immigrants (children in cages), the environment, the \u201cleast of these,\u201d and favors the rich?\u00a0 Do I need to point out they also appear to be under the spell of a Russian oligarchy\/government that bears the US no good will?\u00a0 How is this better?\u00a0 Why should we embolden this?<\/p>\n

      Do I need to point out what while one party may despise evangelicals, the other treats them like useful idiots?<\/p>\n

      If one wants to go down that road, how about counseling evangelicals, or Christians in general, to not be taken captive by either party?\u00a0 Neither is a friend.\u00a0 And while one could make the case that many aspects of the Democratic party\u2019s platform are more in line with a Judeo-Christian ethic than the Republican Party\u2019s, we should keep a healthy distance from both.<\/p>\n

      Still, this misses the point entirely.\u00a0 Whether it is a Democrat president, Republican, Independent, conservative or progressive, if it becomes evident they are morally and intellectually unfit for the office and if they abuse that office, they should be removed\u2014regardless of whether we think it hurts or helps us politically.\u00a0 My goodness, does this even need to be noted?<\/p>\n

      As to civil unrest, should we allow the mob to dictate our ethical (or any) decisions in these areas?<\/p>\n

      No matter if a pastor has an orthodox theology but is a moral failure, or if a CEO leads the company into greater profitability but is a social and legal disaster, whatever leadership one wants to speak of, we do not allow them to continue in such cases.<\/p>\n

      Outside the office of the presidency (which should require a lower threshold given its weight), Trump would have already been removed from any significant position of leadership, whether religious or secular, under the same circumstances of his clear unfitness and dereliction.\u00a0 Do I not state the obvious?\u00a0 I guess that\u2019s where we are now.<\/p>\n

      This is not a Republican, Democrat, conservative, or progressive issue before us.\u00a0 This is a matter of decency and ethics.\u00a0 This is a matter of moral consistency, integrity and principle.\u00a0 This is not the time for evangelicals, for the first time in their political lives, to decide to become pragmatic Machiavellians.<\/p>\n

      Leithart makes an extremely poor case, whether of reason or theology, for keeping Trump in office.\u00a0 On balance, Galli makes the much better argument for Trump\u2019s removal, mostly, because it\u2019s a principled argument, not an expedient one.<\/p>\n

      (Two more important and related essays here<\/a> and here<\/a><\/em>)<\/p>\n

      I have a Patreon<\/a> Page\u2014please consider supporting my writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I respect Peter Leithart a great deal and have read several of his books.\u00a0 His writings were actually a helpful part of my journey out of funda-gelicalism. Unfortunately, one can still detect the right-wing, culture-war-training, he no doubt received at Hillsdale as an undergrad.\u00a0 From this response, it doesn\u2019t appear his political views have caught […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":1524,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[53,741,789,630,485],"class_list":["post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christianity-today","tag-mark-galli","tag-peter-leithart","tag-political-theology","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nLeithart Makes A Poor Case for Keeping Trump<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I respect Peter Leithart a great deal and have read several of his books.\u00a0 His writings were actually a helpful part of my journey out of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/12\/26\/leithart-makes-a-poor-case-for-keeping-trump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leithart Makes A Poor Case for Keeping Trump\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I respect Peter Leithart a great deal and have read several of his books.\u00a0 His writings were actually a helpful part of my journey out of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/12\/26\/leithart-makes-a-poor-case-for-keeping-trump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Divergence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-26T22:52:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-27T17:10:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1004\/2019\/12\/justice-147214_640.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"552\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@darrelllackey1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/12\/26\/leithart-makes-a-poor-case-for-keeping-trump\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/12\/26\/leithart-makes-a-poor-case-for-keeping-trump\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart Makes A Poor Case for Keeping Trump\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-26T22:52:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-27T17:10:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\"},\"description\":\"I respect Peter Leithart a great deal and have read several of his books.\u00a0 His writings were actually a helpful part of my journey out of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/12\/26\/leithart-makes-a-poor-case-for-keeping-trump\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/12\/26\/leithart-makes-a-poor-case-for-keeping-trump\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/12\/26\/leithart-makes-a-poor-case-for-keeping-trump\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Leithart Makes A Poor Case for Keeping Trump\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\",\"name\":\"Divergence\",\"description\":\"Commentary Regarding Fundamentalism - 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