The Video that Should Have Cost Donald Trump the Conservative Christian Vote

It’s no secret to anyone who’s read my writing in the past that I am no fan of President Trump. It’s also no secret that I am even more frustrated with the biggest portion of his remaining support base, the conservative, fundamentalist Christians. I am frustrated with them because they continue to believe that the president is a chosen instrument of God–that he is a Christian. Trump never talked about Christian values until he needed the votes of Christians to get elected. Once he started talking about his Christianity, it should have been clear to anyone that he was making it up as he went–who could forget his quoting scripture from “Two Timothy” rather than Second Timothy…red flag, anyone? Yet, the far right portion of Christianity ignored all the signs that this was a charlatan in sheep’s clothing and helped put him into the White House.

Yesterday, I came across a video that I had not seen before. This was a recording of an interview with Trump at a Family Leadership Summit that aired on C-Span a couple years ago. This is a link to that video. If you haven’t seen it, take a couple minutes to do so. This video should end the debate, once and for all, that Donald Trump was being sincere when he claimed a history as a Christian–whether he has changed since this video isn’t for me to discern–because it shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the most basic tenets of the faith; how one actually becomes a Christian. Any conservative Christian can tell you that the process to become a Christian involves a few basic steps–confess, repent, believe, receive. A Christian is to confess their sins and ask for forgiveness, turn from those sins, believe the Christ is the Son of God and died for those sins, and receive the Holy Spirit and salvation. Of course, any Christian will also understand that, after becoming a Christian, one continuously falls short of the goal, sins, and asks for forgiveness over and over and over. This is–right or wrong–what conservative Christians believe.

Yet, when asked by the moderator in this video if he had ever asked for God’s forgiveness, Donald Trump stumbled and bumbled around saying, “that’s a very tough question” and then went on to deflect it in an attempt to steer away in a different direction. The moderator, to his credit, didn’t let him off the hook that easily and pressed Trump again for an answer. Trump again could not say that he had ever truly asked for God’s forgiveness.

I ask you, conservative Christian friends, is this not troubling to you? Is this not a smoking gun that reveals that you were duped?

Two years ago, in the middle of the campaign for president, then candidate Trump could not say that he had ever asked God for forgiveness and still managed to pass himself off as a Christian. Millions of Christians on the far right somehow bought it. After more than a year of lying, deceit, bullying, and scandal, far too many of those far right Christians apparently still buy it.

I don’t get it.