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But meetings like this, which presidential candidates have done in the past, tend to be less about policy specifics than an affirmation of a candidate’s faith and why he (or she) believes what he believes. These moments usually serve as literal testimonies to one’s spiritual sojourn, to why the candidate is a follower of (in these Christian contexts) Jesus Christ. Presidents and presidential candidates from Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush and Barack Obama had occasions like this that became vital signposts on their path to the presidency. These events have frequently become memorable how-I-accepted-Christ-as-my-Lord-and-Savior kind of moments.
To that end, what Trump said was well outside the norm of what we have come to expect in venues like this. This was not a come-to-Jesus moment; this was a come-to-Trump moment.
What was said? What was said was Trump. What was said was not just by Trump but about Trump. Even when Trump is tasked to talk to evangelicals (or, as he had called them, “The Evangelicals”), he talks not about God but about himself. This witness to the faith by Trump became a witness to Trump.
“Christianity, I owe so much to it in many ways,” Trump said, as reported by the Christian Post. “Through life, through having incredible children, through so many other things. But also from frankly, standing here because the evangelical vote was mostly gotten by me.”
Donald Trump, in his words, owes so much to Christianity because, as he stated himself, it got him the evangelical vote, which, incidentally (he had to emphasize) “was mostly gotten by me.”
One would expect a Christian testimony to focus on, well, Christ. Trump, however, continued to speak of himself, and did so in the third person, as if standing outside of himself, apart from himself, and in admiration of his accomplishments:
“If you remember, I went to South Carolina and I was going to be beat in a very evangelical state,” Trump boasted to the Christian leaders. “And, I was going to be beaten by [Ted Cruz] or somebody because he [was supposed to] be very strong with the evangelical vote and I ended up getting massive majorities of the evangelical vote. And then everybody said, ‘What’s going on and how did Trump do that?’”
“I won elsewhere and I won the whole South and heavy evangelical and Christian votes,” Trump added.
As the day continued, the billionaire businessman did not seem to pivot much from this focus on this special Trump trinity of me, myself, and I.
“Some of the people are saying, ‘let’s pray for our leaders.’ I said, ‘You can pray for your leaders, and I agree with that, pray for everyone. But what you really have to do is pray to get everyone out to vote for one specific person,'” Trump said.
In other words, what evangelicals really need to pray for, said Trump, is for people to vote Trump. They need to pray for more disciples to board the Trump Train.
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Alas, this series I’m writing is on “Trump vs. Reagan.” And so, how to contrast all of this with Ronald Reagan? Again, the difference is night and day, and still more reason why no Republican or conservative should attempt to compare Donald Trump with Ronald Reagan.
It is very difficult for me to sum up the extent to which Trump bears no resemblance to Reagan faith-wise. Back in 2004, I published a 400-page book strictly on the faith of Reagan, titled, God and Ronald Reagan. Thus, I could give example after example of Reagan’s countless faith testimonies. Here, however, in the interest of space and a more direct comparison to Trump’s remarks, I’ll offer just two contrasts:
When asked his favorite Bible verse, Ronald Reagan was never at a loss for words. He always pointed to one of several passages from the Gospel of John in the New Testament (John 3:16, John 10:10, and others from John 10), or the “city on a hill” passage from Matthew 5:14-16, or (most commonly) the Old Testament verse from 2nd Chronicles 7:14, which states: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
That Old Testament passage had great personal meaning to Reagan, so much so that he invoked it as he literally launched his presidency. It was so significant to Reagan that he literally had his hand on that verse in the open Bible at his inaugural ceremony in January 1981. The Bible he used at the ceremony was his mother’s. Next to the verse, his mother had scribbled: “A wonderful verse for the healing of a nation.” In that inaugural address, which Reagan wrote himself, he thereby pledged his nation to an “era of national renewal.”
Think about that verse. Note the words about people humbling themselves and seeking forgiveness. That was Reagan. And that is the complete opposite of Donald Trump’s statements.
As for Reagan speaking to evangelicals, he did so numerous times, but I’d here like to offer a telling example that is not appreciated enough. It’s the same Reagan speech that I noted in my previous “Trump vs. Reagan” column. It is the Evil Empire address. For all its fire and brimstone directed toward Moscow, people do not remember how inspiring Reagan’s words were in that larger speech. There was so much that Reagan said in that address, but I’ll highlight just a few sentiments that illuminate his view of faith and that yet again stand in stark contrast to Donald Trump.
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One of Reagan’s most-cherished images was George Washington kneeling in the snow in prayer at Valley Forge, which Reagan called the “most sublime image in American history.” Washington in prayer, said Reagan, “personified a people who knew it was not enough to depend on their own courage and goodness; they must also seek help from God, their Father and their Preserver.”
That is the image and the mindset that a president needs when it comes to faith. We need men in the Oval Office who are humble, who seek forgiveness, who know they need and thus want forgiveness, and speak of the greatness of their nation and their God—not of themselves.
Ronald Reagan on religion vs. Donald Trump on religion provides still another telling contrast in these two men.
- Discussion
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Trump vs. Reagan (Part 5): Trump First versus God First https://t.co/Io8oDgf8yE
— Conservative Review (@CR) June 26, 2016
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