Former RNC chairman Michael Steele has a message for Evangelical Christians who have forgiven President Trump for his past moral failings: “Shut the hell up.”
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and a panel of “Hardball” contributors Tuesday night expressed disgust and disdain over the behavior of Mr. Trump’s evangelical supporters. The host mocked the “Faustian bargain” made by Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, before opening the floor to his guests.
“They’re giving up all the moral authority here,” Democrat strategist Jamal Simmons said after listening to Mr. Perkins’ rationale for backing the president.
“I have a very simple admonition at this point,” Mr. Steele added. “Just shut the hell up and don’t ever preach to me about anything ever again. I don’t want to hear it.”
Mr. Perkins recently told Politico’s Isaac Dovere that Mr. Trump would be granted a “do-over” as long as he pushes for sound public policy.
“From a policy standpoint, he has delivered more than any other president in my lifetime,” Mr. Perkins said.
Writer Paul Bois of The Daily Wire, author Ben Shapiro’s conservative website, excoriated Mr. Steel for his stance.
“Nobody on the panel seemed aware of, much less cared for, the Christian concepts of grace and the hierarchy moral imperatives,” Mr. Bois wrote Wednesday. “As Jimmy Carter and Obama showed, living an alleged morally principled life privately does not absolve someone of the sins they commit publicly. A man may be a good husband and good father, but if he treats his subordinates at work like trash, promotes objectively evil policies like abortion, assaults religious institutions with the secular arm of the government, then his being a good father and husband (if that is indeed true) is rendered void by the magnitude of their public life.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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