Tony Perkins, president of the anti-LGBTQ group Family Research Council, is still trying to defend himself after facing widespread criticism for comments he made that appeared to excuse President Trump’s alleged affair with a porn actress.
Last week, Perkins told Politico that evangelical Christians had given Trump “a mulligan” for his past behavior, including an alleged extramarital affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels soon after the birth of his youngest son. Yesterday, after he encouraged listeners to watch tonight’s State of the Union address with a biblical perspective in mind, Perkins apparently felt the need to defend his statements once more.
“Look at what this president has done since he’s been in office, alright? I’ve made this point many times last week when I was criticized for saying that when the evangelicals decided to support him, they gave the president a do-over. They said that, ‘Look, we know what your past is, we don’t like it, don’t support it.’ In fact, most of us were not there when he was in the primary, but it was only when it came down to a choice between him and Hillary,” Perkins said.
He continued, “And then we decided, ‘Let’s have a conversation with him,’ and he made a promise that he was going to protect religious freedom. He was going to protect the sanctity of human life. And here we are, 12 months later, after the election, he’s been in office, and what has he done? He’s actually done what he said he was going to do. That’s remarkable in and of itself.”
“So now there’s these allegations that have come up of behavior that took place 10 years ago, which we said at the beginning we found reprehensible. But does that change where we are today? No. I mean, nothing has changed since he took office.”
