What Both Sides of the Evangelical Trump Divide Get Totally Wrong

When it comes to Trump it’s no secret that there’s a polarizing paradigm. While millions upon millions of Americans are somewhere in the middle, the dominant rhetoric falls into one of two categories: either Trump is an evil demagogue bent on destroying America — or he’s a savior swooping in to save America from the brink of disaster.

And caught up in this messy dichotomy are evangelicals, who are pretty divided when it comes to Trump. On one pole are well-known Christians who have totally embraced President Trump and his policies, excusing away any and all blunders. And on the other are the Never Trump Evangelicals -- a cohort that can’t seem to find anything they believe Trump is doing well.

Both sides are convinced the other is somehow abandoning some semblance of their Christian faith -- either compromising to support Trump or abandoning the pro-life and evangelical values Trump sometimes espouses in his policies. But what if both sides are doing it all wrong? What if the reality is that the truth is somewhere in the middle -- that Trump is neither a political Messiah nor a demonic tool who is bent on destroying America.

Let’s first look at the Christians who absolutely love and excuse everything Trump says, does or tweets. There’s a fine line between supporting policies and behavior, and the uncomfortable reality is that there are far too many people who ignore the negatives and herald the positives. Sure, no one wants a “pastor-in-chief” — but that argument gets muddied when Trump says or does things that truly violate our “love others” mandate and we remain silent. Like awkwardly silent.

If you look through the history, Trump has called people horse faces, pencil necks, stupid, lightweights, etc. etc. And many of us sit there and laugh, only commenting when he does something we like. And that’s the problem. Meanwhile, we’d lose it if someone did something similar on the other side. When Obama said people in small towns “get bitter” and “cling to guns or religion,” people freaked. When Hillary Clinton called Trump supporters a basket of deplorables, people again lost it. And the frustration was understandable, but if you compare those blunders to Trump’s insults, they melt down into a pile of convicting nothingness.

You know, for a group of people who have told people about the amazing and transformational ways God loves us and demands that we treat one another well (and love our enemies), silence is a strange and arguably problematic way to respond to Trump’s rhetoric.

Now, on the flip side are those who can’t seem to find anything they support in Trump. They see him as a disaster unbefitting of evangelical support. They point to what I’ve just said and bark, “See, see! He’s a disaster!” But many are so consumed with the anti-Trumpism that they fail to see the fascinating elements of his presidency. Trump has undoubtedly pushed pro-life policies.

And then there’s Israel. President after president promised to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and everyone failed to make that move a reality. Trump, though, delivered on it. And whether people believe he’s sincere or not, the president has repeatedly defended life and religious liberty at a time when the other side is pushing for abortion access up through birth and a shocking restriction on the intents behind the First Amendment.

Listen, it’s not my job to tell Christians how to vote. And I’m certainly not arguing that people take any sort of position. But what I am asking is for some introspection, particularly among Christians. For eons, we have told people to live to a higher standard and to love others, and when we see that not happening some of us remain silent. And yet at a time when we should be praying for our president and heralding some of his accomplishments, many of us are again silent. Let’s all think deeper and pray harder.