Since you’re still reading this after seeing the title, thanks for being willing to consider my argument. For those who reached the same conclusion months or years ago, I hope that my thoughts resonate with you. But the group I would especially like to address are the Christians who believe that a biblical world view should inform our politics and who voted for Trump in previous elections for the sake of Christian principles. Though I have never voted for Trump, I believe that you and I share very similar core values. My interpretation of those values has led me, a life-long Republican, to once again abandon the Republican nominee. I write this in order to entreat you to seriously consider taking the same step.
I remember the days when Republicans asserted that the character of a leader mattered more than party affiliation. In the name of “character matters,” they agreed with Democrats to seek the impeachment of President Nixon. He knew they would follow through on that commitment and stepped down from office before it could happen. In the name of “character matters,” Republicans declared President Clinton unfit for office and voted to impeach him. With President Trump, the logic twisted. And thousands of Church leaders and self-professed moral crusaders have gone so far as to herald Donald Trump as “God’s anointed.”
The nature of the current presidential campaign is indeed unprecedented. Never before has a presidential nominee faced a litany of felony charges while at the same time running for office. Never before has a plethora of current and former leaders within a political party endorsed the opponent’s nominee because they consider their own nominee to be not only unfit to hold office, but to pose a genuine threat to the democratic process. And never before has the conservative Christian coalition of voters stood so steadfastly behind a candidate who demonstrates core character qualities that are opposed to the fruit of the Spirit.
I have written in previous blogs about how we got to this point. The political right-wing has for decades preached the doctrine that conservatives are an abused class, mocked by the political left and misrepresented in the so called “mainstream media.” When I read or listen to right-wing news sources, I understand why the sense of grievance has grown. The charge that “everything is rigged against us” is relentless and works its way under the skin. Trump, more than any politician before him, harnessed that grievance to his advantage. Conservative Christians, who are often quick to identify evidence of religious persecution from their fellow citizens and political leaders, were predisposed to Trump’s messaging.
Trump also harnessed the theologically conservative Church’s opposition to abortion (even though Trump’s personal stance on the subject wavers according to the context he finds himself in). I have many friends who voted for Trump largely because they anticipated that his Supreme Court nominations would overturn Roe v. Wade. I admit that the constant drumbeat of “protecting women’s reproductive rights” from the Democratic ticket wears on my spirit. I maintain the conviction that the fetus is not a part of the mother’s body, but a developing human person in its own right. Like many of my Christian brothers and sisters, I believe that placing some restrictions on abortion is a valid and just expression of public policy. But Trump’s opposition to abortion remains politically motivated, at best. And now he sees fit to pull back from the topic and “let the states decide.”
Abortion is an important moral issue and government’s role in restricting it will continue to be debated. What should not be up for debate, however, is the peaceful transfer of power under constitutional law. Despite the revisionist history that the MAGA movement would thrust upon us, Donald Trump engaged in a conspiracy to overthrow a valid election. He did so in the plain sight of the American people. He continues to assert baseless claims of election fraud to this very day. No matter what policy planks you may favor or what party you prefer, Donald Trump is not a credible option as a candidate for president. He broke his covenant to defend and protect the constitution of the United States. That disqualifies him. Regardless of whatever else he may claim.
When Jack Smith’s Immunity Filing was released this week, the degree to which it impacted you probably depends upon your previously held convictions. For those who followed the January 6th Committee hearings two years ago, there were no bomb-shell revelations in this filing. It simply served as a confirmation of the testimony given under oath in the hearings. The filing is indeed remarkable, however, in that it relies on the sworn testimony of multiple Trump administration insiders who did not testify in the January 6th congressional hearings, including testimony from former Vice President Pence.
It continues to shock me that the findings of the January 6th Committee are so easily swept aside by so many of my fellow believers. Therefore, I would like to make one last appeal before the next election: please read the Filing on Presidential Immunity. Smith was asked to file this brief because of the Supreme Court’s recent decision granting the US president presumed immunity for “official acts” while performing the duties of the presidency. At the court’s behest, Smith responded to the question of whether Trump’s behavior on and leading up to January 6th constituted official acts or acts as a candidate for office. Smith’s filing gives us a unique window into Trump’s mindset and behavior by recounting examples from the testimony of subpoenaed witnesses before a grand jury.
Whether or not Trump ever faces trial as a defendant for his criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election depends upon the result of the election on November 5th. But Christians who hold that “righteousness exalts a nation” (Proverbs 13:34) must make a decision based on the best available evidence. Smith’s document, though somewhat technical, is eminently readable. I recommend reading Section I which gives the outline of the government’s case. It takes up the first 85 pages, but double spaced and with abundant footnotes, it goes pretty fast. It offers compelling evidence that the former president knew that he had lost the election and nonetheless proceeded to push various theories of how the vote could be declared illegitimate. In Smith’s words:
Following election day and throughout the charged conspiracies, the defendant, his co-conspirators, and their agents spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election, and that he had actually won. These lies included dozens of specific claims that there had been substantial fraud in certain states, such as that large numbers of dead, nonresident, non-citizen, or otherwise ineligible voters had cast ballots, or that voting machines had changed votes for the defendant to votes for Biden. And the defendant and co-conspirators continue to make these unsupported, objectively unreasonable, and ever changing claims even after they had been publicly disproven, or after advisors had directly informed the defendant that they were untrue. (page 10)
The document goes on to cite multiple specific conversations and activities witnessed by Trump officials that confirm this judgment. It offers clear and compelling evidence that Trump began a program of disinformation months before the election. (To cite one example, at the Republican National Convention, he brazenly contended, “The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election.”) Smith’s filing demonstrates that Trump was intimately involved in each step of the conspiracy: the spurious arguments in the courts alleging fraud, the fake elector scheme, the pressure on Pence to refuse to allow the electoral votes to be certified, right down to the physical assault on the capitol. Many of the details are chilling. In response to an aid, informing Trump that his tweets regarding Pence were endangering the vice president’s life, Trump allegedly replied, “So what?”
In our highly polarized political environment, I realize that your gut level response to that revelation may be the all too common, “Fake news!” But allow me to reiterate: the document lays out the merits of the government’s case against Trump on the basis of sworn testimony. The charges that are brought rely on witnesses with first-hand knowledge of the events, not hearsay evidence. Upon their testimony it becomes abundantly clear that Trump knowingly participated in a scheme to defraud the citizens of the United States of their votes.
Admittedly, the case has not been tried in a court of law. If it reaches trial, it is likely that Trump’s defense will be that he was merely going along with the advice of his lawyers and that he truly believed the narrative about massive election fraud. We may never see the day in court, but I urge you to read the document and judge the weight of the testimony for yourself. Because of the High Court’s ruling regarding immunity, we have the rare privilege of getting a bird’s eye view of the prosecution’s case before it goes to trial. I contend that responsible voters who care about Christian principles have a responsibility before God to read the credible source material.
A few weeks ago I came across this verse in my daily reading: “If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked.” (Proverbs 29:12) The passage declares the inevitable moral deterioration that occurs within a government when those in authority willfully embrace a lie. Not only the ruler is affected, but all his officials along with him. The proverb is, of course, a hyperbolic statement. Not every single official will necessarily succumb. But there exists an inexorable tendency for corruption to spread. Every bold lie adds to the superstructure. Every claim of being treated unfairly supports the prevailing victim narrative.
The MAGA movement under Trump has effectively overwhelmed the old guard Republican Party. As evidenced in J. D. Vance’s unwillingness to admit in the debate last Tuesday that Joseph Biden is the rightfully elected president of the United States, the lie of a stolen election has become party orthodoxy. Those who, immediately following January 6th, declared that Trump’s incitement of an insurrection was a bridge too far are now either absent from the party or have succumbed to the party narrative. “All his officials [have] become wicked.”
I submit that the most responsible choice for Christian Republicans in the upcoming election is to join Elizabeth Cheney and countless other Republicans and vote for the Harris/Walz ticket. Not because we are convinced that the Democratic Party has the best ideas, but because we recognize that Donald Trump is a “splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it!” (2 Kings 18:21)
I still have hope for the Republican Party, but not so long as Trump is the party leader. I have proudly witnessed the bravery of various former Trump administrative officials and Republican leaders who are standing up for principle over party. It seems to me, they represent the most sane and capacious minds in my party—those least driven by an insider mentality. They are also the most hopeful. Sadly however, many of those who stand on principle have been driven from office by an electorate that is drunk on Trump wizardry. The only real hope for the Republican party is an exorcism of Trump’s lies. And that will only happen if he and those who amplify his deceit are soundly defeated at the polling places.
Liz Cheney spoke to her fellow Republicans at the Kamala Harris rally in Ripon, Wisconsin:
So help us right the ship of our democracy, so that history will say of us, “When our time of testing came, we did our duty and we prevailed because we loved our country more.”
Let us join her in that unprecedented but necessary path. I am convinced that my Christian duty demands it.
Steve Pecota - a Pastor in Seattle 