On today’s “Wallbuilders Live” radio program, Republican operative and Religious Right activist David Barton and his co-host Rick Green interviewed Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, about the importance of conservative Christians supporting Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election.
Barton, who has been making this case for months, rolled out a new and rather interesting argument aimed at convincing reluctant Christians to support Trump, insisting that those who do so are in no way endorsing the GOP nominee’s deplorable views or behavior and will not be responsible for anything he does while in office because they are simply voting for “policies” and not for the candidate himself.
When Green wondered if voting for Trump means “endorsing or supporting his horrible behavior” or being “responsible for what he does after,” Barton told him that he was looking at the issue in the wrong way.
Elections are too “personality driven” instead of “policy driven,” Barton said, arguing that in voting for Trump, Christians are not supporting the candidate at all but are simply supporting certain policies.
“I’m not endorsing Donald Trump,” Barton insisted, “I’m endorsing the pro-life judges he’s going to appoint. I’m endorsing the military he’s going to put out there that will destroy ISIS. I’m endorsing being a friend of Israel for the first time in eight years.”
“I’m not voting for a personality,” he continued. “I’m voting for policies. So the better question is, do I feel comfortable casting my vote for pro-life judges? Yes I do. Do I feel comfortable casting my vote to once again get a military that will defend America? I definitely do. So, for me, that’s not the question. We are now in a personality-driven cult in America, we’ve got to get back to policy-driven thinking.”
According to Barton, apparently, Christians who vote for Trump will bear no responsibility whatsoever for any terrible things he does if elected because they only voted for a handful of principled policy positions and not the candidate himself.
