It’s no secret that the religious right is flocking to Donald Trump even though, by any reasonable definition, he is morally unfit for office. The latest evidence of this came on Thursday, when David Barton, the religious right’s favorite revisionist historian, declared that social conservatives have a duty to back him. Why? He thinks that in all likelihood, God selected the Donald as the GOP standardbearer.
On Thursday’s edition of Barton’s radio show, “Wallbuilders Live,” Barton and sidekick Rick Green fielded questions from listeners via email. The first question came from “Pat” from Washington state, who is slated to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention. He claimed that “as a Christian,” he could not in good conscience support “this non-Republican GOP nominee,” and wanted to know if there is any way that “we can get an actual Republican nominee.”
Barton, whose stock in trade is finding “evidence” that this country is a Christian nation, explained that the Bible is full of examples of “people who are not God-fearing people” being used by God. He cited Nebuchadnezzar, whom God described as “my servant” for helping “set up the Kingdom for how he wanted to go.” In Barton’s view, it’s entirely possible that while Trump is “not a God guy” by any stretch, he may be “God’s guy for right now.” He cited Trump’s open assault on “political correctness”–something”a regular God guy” probably wouldn’t have been able to pull off.
After opening the door for the possibility that Trump was God’s man, Barton made the case for why he believed Trump was indeed God’s candidate. People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch got a clip.
Green mused that we may not really know what God was thinking, so there’s a chance Trump could be “a Cyrus or a Nebuchadnezzar.” Barton pointed out that there were “a lot of really good God guys out there” in the primaries–such as Ted Cruz and Ben Carson–as well as a lot of social conservatives turning out in the primaries. For that reason, fundies can’t say that their voice wasn’t heard.
Barton then reminded his listeners that Republican primary voters chose Trump despite “a really high turnout of evangelicals.” That led him to ask, “Hmmm, I wonder where God’s fingerprint is in this?” He then answered his own question.
“It may not be our preferred candidate, but that doesn’t mean it may not be God’s candidate to do something that we don’t see. We may look back in a few years and say, ‘Wow, he really did some things that none of us expected.’ So I am fully open to the possibility that because we did everything as Christians we could, we can’t complain about our turnout, we can’t complain about our quality of candidates, and this is what the people chose. I’m a whole lot more open to the fact that God may have something going here that is much bigger than what we think or see.”
For that reason, Barton–who helmed Cruz’ main super PAC during the primaries–felt he should double down on his earlier vow to vote for Trump, and encourage his fellow fundies to vote for Trump as well.
I have to admit, Barton is right–God does use people whom, on paper, we wouldn’t expect him to use. But it seems pretty hard to believe that God would use a guy who mocks the disabled, plasters private cell phone numbers on social media, condones violence at his rallies, and joins forces with proven con men. It’s not too hard to conclude that Barton and his friends are so determined to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House that they are willing to line up behind anyone with an “R” next to his name, even if he is manifestly unqualified.
One of my radical-lefty charismatic Christian friends thinks that God may be using Trump to remind the religious right that there’s a high price for those who seek power at any cost. It’s hard not to agree at this point. After all, Trump’s fundraising up to this point has been so anemic that even though the RNC is bailing him out, he’s likely to get pounded on the airwaves this summer–and it may be hard for him to recover. Something tells me Barton is going to learn a very sobering lesson on Election Day.
