Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, who hosts a daily radio show on behalf of the anti-LGBTQ hate group, said that recent media criticism about the Religious Right’s quick dismissal of President Trump’s alleged affair with a porn star was simply an effort to “shame evangelicals for their political participation.”
Yesterday, Perkins told “Washington Watch” listeners that he was going to take “a little different track” on that episode because he felt the need to address the fact that some members of the media have called out the Religious Right’s support of Trump in spite of the fact that news has come to light about a $130,000 payout reportedly meant to keep adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford (whose stage name is Stormy Daniels) silent about an alleged affair with Trump. In particular, Perkins wanted to address a long-form essay by columnist Michael Gerson that mentioned Perkins’ “mulligan” remarks about Trump’s alleged affair and noted that one could “only imagine the explosion of outrage if President Barack Obama had been credibly accused of similar offenses.” Perkins and his counterparts, indeed, spent much of the past administration questioning Obama’s Christianity and moral character.
Perkins warned listeners that “the intensity” of media criticism for standing by Trump’s adultery was increasing but told them to dismiss it as an attack on evangelical voters.
“The intensity of this is growing and this is an effort to shame evangelicals for their political participation. And since I’ve spent the last 25 years, since I left the law enforcement realm and entered into the political realm both in activism and in public office, is to bring Christians to an understanding of what our role is, and our role is to be salt in the light,” Perkins said. “Now, first and foremost, that is to take the gospel to people—living it out.”
Later in the program, Perkins rattled off the various ways that the administration has catered to the Religious Right since Trump was sworn into office, such as repealing protections for transgender people who want to serve in the armed forces and nominating Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
“Folks, you have no reason to be ashamed of supporting this president. He has kept his promises, and as long as he continues to keep those promises and he continues to conduct himself in a way that is in keeping with the office—you know, if he were to engage in behavior like Bill Clinton, we’re out of here. That support would evaporate quickly,” Perkins said.
“We’re not making any excuses for what he has done, but what he’s doing right now is keeping his promises, so nothing has changed,” he said. “And the left is going to continually roll out people to shame evangelicals to try to get you to stay home, to retreat from society and not be involved politically.”
