Category: Donald Trump

This is What a Court Evangelical Sounds Like

Messiah College’s chair of the history department John Fea coined the phrase “court evangelical” to describe evangelical leaders who defend Donald Trump no matter what he does. Even Republican Senators have expressed confusion and negative reactions to the firing of James Comey, but not the court evangelicals. Watch:


Robert Jeffress is most certainly a court evangelical. Actually, the Comey controversy is real and for more reasons than Trump fired the head of the agency investigating him. Trump sent his surrogates out with a cover story and then changed it the next day. Somewhere in there is a lie and it doesn’t seem very evangelical to lie; except that for the court evangelicals, lying is just one of those political things that strongmen do.
According to Fea (I agree with him), court evangelicals “have put their faith in a political strongman who promises to alleviate their fears and protect them from the forces of secularization.” Fea’s list includes:

Jerry Falwell Jr.
Paula White
James Dobson
Mark Burns
Ralph Reed
Robert Jeffress
Eric Metaxas
Franklin Graham

Trump Contradicts Himself and VP Pence on FBI Director Comey Firing

Yesterday, VP Pence said Trump acted on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General to fire FBI Director James Comey. Watch:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbyRCf6cJFk[/youtube]
First, Deputy AG Rosenstein didn’t directly recommend Comey’s firing and today, Trump says he had already planned to fire Comey without the recommendation, contradicting the White House statement and Pence.


The White House statement from yesterday:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2017
Statement from the Press Secretary
Today, President Donald J. Trump informed FBI Director James Comey that he has been terminated and removed from office. President Trump acted on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“The FBI is one of the Nation’s most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement,” said President Trump.
A search for a new permanent FBI Director will begin immediately.
# # #

On May 3, Sean Spicer said Comey had Trump’s confidence.
We can only hope that the firing of Comey does not create a barrier to the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign and associates.

Reaction to Trump's Religious Liberty Executive Order

Earlier today Donald Trump signed an executive order with religious liberty as the subject matter. However, the order did next to nothing of substance. Everything Trump and his supporters want to change must be done legislatively or via rule making.
Reaction to the order has been much more interesting and in some cases substantial than the order itself. First, I start with comments from Rick Cohen, Director of Communications with the National Council of Nonprofits. After I saw a press release from the group earlier in the day, I asked Rick why the NCN was troubled by the order, which by itself, is of little consequence. In an email, he said:

The EO is only one part of the equation. It removes the bright line that all 501(c)(3) organizations have been able to rely on for sixty years: if you are tax-exempt, you can talk about the issues of the day, but you don’t get to endorse or oppose candidates. Now that bright line is fuzzy. Combine that with pending efforts in Congress to remove the Johnson Amendment altogether through pending standalone bills or incorporating repeal into a broader tax reform package and one of the hallmarks of the nonprofit, religious, and philanthropic sector is under grave threat.

The NCN has taken the position that nonprofits should not become partisan organizations. The position is stated on their website:

The National Council of Nonprofits has long held that the public’s overall trust in the sector would diminish and thus limit the effectiveness of the nonprofit community if individual 501(c)(3) organizations came to be regarded as Democratic charities or Republican charities instead of the nonpartisan problem solvers that they are.

Much reaction is inaccurate. For instance:


In fact, the anti-LGBT provisions were apparently removed.


Somebody needs a civics lesson.
David French has it about right.

Donald Trump Signs Executive Order on Religious Freedom (with Text)

Although it is much ado about nothing much, Donald Trump signed an executive order on religious freedom today. After reading through it, I am pretty sure Christian bakers, florists, and photographers are still going to have to serve gays. I don’t think this order changes anything. All of these directives specify that any actions be done within existing law. Any real changes must come via legislation.
You can read it here and below:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2017
EXECUTIVE ORDER
– – – – – – –
PROMOTING FREE SPEECH AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, in order to guide the executive branch in formulating and implementing policies with implications for the religious liberty of persons and organizations in America, and to further compliance with the Constitution and with applicable statutes and Presidential Directives, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. It shall be the policy of the executive branch to vigorously enforce Federal law’s robust protections for religious freedom. The Founders envisioned a Nation in which religious voices and views were integral to a vibrant public square, and in which religious people and institutions were free to practice their faith without fear of discrimination or retaliation by the Federal Government. For that reason, the United States Constitution enshrines and protects the fundamental right to religious liberty as Americans’ first freedom. Federal law protects the freedom of Americans and their organizations to exercise religion and participate fully in civic life without undue interference by the Federal Government. The executive branch will honor and enforce those protections.
Sec. 2. Respecting Religious and Political Speech. All executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall, to the greatest extent practicable and to the extent permitted by law, respect and protect the freedom of persons and organizations to engage in religious and political speech. In particular, the Secretary of the Treasury shall ensure, to the extent permitted by law, that the Department of the Treasury does not take any adverse action against any individual, house of worship, or other religious organization on the basis that such individual or organization speaks or has spoken about moral or political issues from a religious perspective, where speech of similar character has, consistent with law, not ordinarily been treated as participation or intervention in a political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) a candidate for public office by the Department of the Treasury. As used in this section, the term “adverse action” means the imposition of any tax or tax penalty;
the delay or denial of tax-exempt status; the disallowance of tax deductions for contributions made to entities exempted from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of title 26, United States Code; or any other action that makes unavailable or denies any tax deduction, exemption, credit, or benefit.
Sec. 3. Conscience Protections with Respect to PreventiveCare Mandate. The Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall consider issuing amended regulations, consistent with applicable law, to address conscience-based objections to the preventive care mandate promulgated under section 300gg-13(a)(4) of title 42, United States Code.
Sec. 4. Religious Liberty Guidance. In order to guide all agencies in complying with relevant Federal law, the Attorney General shall, as appropriate, issue guidance interpreting religious liberty protections in Federal law.
Sec. 5. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any individual or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its other provisions to any other individuals or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 4, 2017.
###
I can’t see that it changes anything since the Department of Treasury is required to act within existing law. Since the Johnson Amendment is law, Congress will need to change it. Trump just whipped up a bunch of excitement with little or nothing to show for it.

Donald Trump's Odd Attraction to Andrew Jackson

In an interview slated to air this afternoon on Sirius Radio, Donald Trump reportedly lauds Andrew Jackson and implies Jackson would have prevented the Civil War (link, link). What Trail of Tears?
Who knew history could be so complicated?
Apparently not Trump because, if the reports are accurate, he managed to imply the Civil War wasn’t about slavery and laud the architect of the Indian removal policy which led to mass deaths of native American during the Trail of Tears (see my summary of this horrific episode in American history).
Here is the audio:


Andrew Jackson is not an American hero in my book. He was an unapologetic slave owner and helped insure the deaths of thousands of native people.
Regarding the Civil War, there is no question that expansion of slavery was the cause. Five states declared reasons for secession and slavery was the defining reason. Read those declarations here.