"Why and how did an adulterous, racist, arrogant, loud-mouthed, casino-owning narcissist make off with the evangelical vote?"

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Evangelicals have one last chance to reject Trump
By Grant Wishard, September 6, 2016

Surrender to the lesser of two evils is a thin justification for tossing aside long-held values.

For the past three decades, conservative Christians have constituted one of the most powerful voting blocs in American politics. White evangelical Protestants account for 19.3% of the U.S. population and a full 39% of the Republican Party. They are highly organized, motivated to vote, and have acted as gatekeepers to the GOP since ushering in Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Against all expectations, Trump has won their support.

He won an early primary victory in South Carolina, receiving a 34% plurality of evangelicals, an early indication of his strength with the group across the country. Trump went on to win every state in the Bible Belt. He won the church-going vote from Massachusetts and Vermont to Georgia and Virginia. Evangelicals were predicted to be a fail-safe to stop Trump’s campaign, and they handed him the nomination instead.

Why and how did an adulterous, racist, arrogant, loud-mouthed, casino-owning narcissist make off with the evangelical vote?

Trump knows he’s gotten away with something. Accepting the nomination at the Republican convention, he said: “I would like to thank the evangelical community because I’ll tell you what, the support they’ve given me, and I’m not sure I totally deserve it … it’s a big reason for me being here tonight.”

These are the same voters who waffled over the rightness of voting for Mitt Romney and his Mormon theology in 2012. As of today, they’re giving Trump more of their support than they gave to the upstanding family man.

Pew reported in the primaries that a mere 15% of devout evangelicals are original, steady Trump supporters — the remainder are latecomers. But now that Trump and Clinton are the nominees, evangelicals face a bifurcated choice and many are determined to take the realistic, make-the-best-of-an-evil-world approach. Most voters, especially this year, are faced with two bad choices. But it’s evangelicals who have always claimed to be “values voters,” expecting their candidates to be of saintly character and orthodox on moral issues, such as abortion and gay marriage.

How do evangelicals justify falling in line behind the morally bankrupt Donald Trump? Many will describe their choice as finding the “lesser of two evils.”

Christian conservatives have long dreaded what they view as the evil possibility of a Clinton presidency. She’s pro-choice, will appoint liberal Supreme Court justices, and will defeat the Right in the culture war. Surrendering to the lesser of two evils is a thin, desperate justification for tossing aside the values evangelicals have touted for 30 years. It’s code for “I would vote for anyone, even Vermin Supreme, to defeat Clinton.”

In July, the New York Times reported fourth-fifths [sic] of white evangelicals plan to vote for Trump. According to Pew, 94% of GOP evangelicals are now on board the Trump train. Half of those voters say they are voting against Clinton.

“The most likely result of not voting for Trump is that you will be abandoning thousands of unborn babies who will be put to death under Hillary Clinton’s Supreme Court. Thousands of poor will never again be able to find high-paying jobs,” writes Christian ethicist Wayne Grudem.

At a critical moment, evangelicals have proven more fearful than principled. The solution for them? Don’t vote for president.

Making an informed decision not to vote for a presidential candidate is one way to participate and vote your conscience. Not voting, when you would have otherwise, is the only way to reform your party. That’s especially true if you vote in other races, so the shortfall at the presidential level is obvious when ballots are tallied. True, your withheld vote won’t affect the outcome of the race and may even help Clinton gain the White House, but it sends a powerful message to the candidates.

The 2016 primary season proved once again that evangelical votes have impact. Republican politics will change forever because a plurality, and now a majority, of evangelicals have shown themselves willing to vote for a monster, as long as he’s their monster.

But there’s one more moment of reckoning, one more choice looming.

On Election Day, evangelical conservatives can help the country pick one of two bad options, or stick to their principles, not vote, walk away, and prove they can’t be so easily bought. They are an essential part of every electoral contest, but this year they’re the cart horse who has forgotten he’s strong enough to run away with the cart.
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