December 27, 2017

It wasn't a showy moment, but illustrative of how difficult it it to rationalize evangelical support for Trump.

CNN's Bill Weir asks Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) a question that doesn't get asked often enough.

"You're a Southern Baptist minister. I was raised in that world. It always fascinates me so many evangelicals went for a man who might answer the question, 'What would Jesus not do?' How do you reconcile your faith with this president politically?" he said.

You can see Walker struggle to answer.

"Well, I will tell you this. After eight years of the Obama administration, where there was legitimate direct lines of people who were socialist conservatives, things like the former president saying, 'God bless Planned Parenthood.' Those kinds of things riled up the evangelical base to the tune of 81% of electoral turnout. Now, that doesn't give anybody a pass, whether it's President Trump or anyone else. But that is something that I hope that we'll continue to see growth there when it comes to dealing with people, not just in our base. You know, I probably shouldn't say this on CNN or even out loud, but I will tell you this: the Steve Bannons of the world, that kind of language and rhetoric, that's not who we are, but Republicans have to be willing to call out when certain language is used with undertones to our friends and neighbors of all the communities that we serve," he said.

"We have to have the boldness to be willing to say you know what, that's not right. That's not the way we would share what it is we believe. Ultimately when you do that, when you have the right heart, I think people appreciate that. That's beyond. One of the things I'm very proud of is the Democrat support, especially for the minority communities right here in Greensboro, North Carolina. I cherish that. I hope that's in contribution to the right tone, right heart and right spirit, even when there's policies we disagree on."

So something something, Obama, something something Planned Parenthood, Steve Bannon, something something, minority communities, something.

Did you hear an answer in there? More importantly, have you heard any Republican evangelicals call out Trump for "that kind of language and rhetoric"? Didn't think so.

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