Christianity Today Chief Torches Trump Over Sexual Abuse Case — Drops Jesus Quote When Chuck Todd Asks If He’ll Ever Vote Trump - NEVER - But Not The Orthodox Jews! Trump Featured Speaker at Torah Umesorah Convention...
Christianity Today Editor-in-Chief Russell Moore torched ex-President Donald Trump over his sexual abuse case and ripped ex-VP Mike Pence for downplaying the verdict, then gave Chuck Todd a quote from Jesus when asked if he could ever vote for Trump.
On Sunday morning’s edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, Todd asked Moore about the unanimous verdicts finding Trump liable for sexual battery and defamation of E. Jean Carroll and ordering him to pay Carroll $5 million.
Moore ripped Pence for downplaying it and Trump for defending his infamous Access Hollywood remarks, and mocking Carroll at a town hall, saying “think about the teenage girl in a church somewhere who’s being abused by her youth pastor wondering whether to come forward. And she hears not only that, but when the victim is ridiculed by a presidential candidate in front of a crowd, the response is laughter. That has devastating implications.”
And when asked if he could ever support Trump, Moore offered a scriptural response:
CHUCK TODD: You know, even former Vice President Pence was kind of dismissive of the defamation verdict with E. Jean Carroll against the former president, you know, saying, “Well, I think this is something that the media cares more about.” That was a shocking reaction for me coming from the former vice president. Was it (UNINTEL)?
RUSSELL MOORE: I’m not sure what’s going on in Vice President Pence’s mind at this point. I know it was a shocking moment for me even after everything that we’ve seen. And what’s primarily shocking is the fact that here we are in a week where a former president of the United States is found liable for sexual abuse and sexual assault and defamation of a woman who survived such abuse and assault. And the country just yawns for the most part.
That tells me that something has really, really badly gone awry in this country. And you add to it the demeanor and the content of President Trump’s deposition to simply shrug off and defend the Access Hollywood comments. In 2015, I said that President Trump, or Donald Trump at the time, had the attitude toward women of a Bronze Age war lord.
In that deposition, he said, “Yes, as a matter of fact,” predated it back to millions of years ago, and said, “Unfortunately or fortunately, that’s the way that it is.” Well, think about the teenage girl in a church somewhere who’s being abused by her youth pastor wondering whether to come forward. And she hears not only that, but when the victim is ridiculed by a presidential candidate in front of a crowd, the response is laughter. That has devastating implications.
CHUCK TODD: Eight years ago when Donald Trump first ran, there was a divide inside the evangelical community. And there was a lot of hand-wringing. And many came down on the side of, “Well, if the choice is between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, Donald Trump will appoint the judges that I like.” You seem to indicate after Donald Trump announced his reelection plans after the November 2022 midterms that you didn’t sense a divide anymore in the evangelical community, that politically they’re all in. Do you still sense that?
RUSSELL MOORE: Well, I think that’s probably true with the politically activated, politically energized base. I don’t think that’s true of everyone. And that’s one of the reasons why we see churches divided. We see families divided. I mean, one of the most dismaying aspects of the Trump years is the fact that Donald Trump is at the center of everything.
Almost every congregation that I know is either divided or tense about these sorts of political controversies coming out of the Trump years. Almost every family that I know has people who don’t speak to each other anymore about this personality and this figure.
And I think there are a lot of people, including conservative evangelicals like me, who are looking at this and saying, “Are we really going to do this again? Haven’t we seen this already? Do we really want to repeat it?” And I suppose that will be the question for the rest of the year.
CHUCK TODD: What would you like to see from other candidates? I mean, it seems that they very much don’t want to make a character case against the former president.
RUSSELL MOORE: Well, I think someone needs to step forward and talk about the importance of character and talk about the importance of having someone who can be trusted to have the nuclear codes. I mean, we really need someone to step forward and say, “Let’s remember what’s at stake here.”
We’re not just choosing what kind of entertainment we’re going to have for the next six years. We’re talking about the direction of the country. And we’re talking about what our children are seeing and potentially will replicate.
If you have an entire generation who only grow up seeing this, what’s going to happen? We need somebody who will make that case and say it. And right now, among candidates, among elected officials, sometimes even among church officials, there’s fear. No one wants to speak to this because they’re afraid of what will happen to them. The stakes are too high.
CHUCK TODD: Last question. Is there any circumstance you could imagine supporting Donald Trump?
RUSSELL MOORE: Well, I can’t speak for all evangelicals. I can only speak for myself. And Jesus said, “Let your yes be yes and your no be no.” I’ll let my never, never.
Watch above via NBC’s Meet the Press.
