Earlier, I told you that a number of veteran religious right leaders are standing by Donald Trump even in the face of his outrageous comments about women from 2005. Apparently, respect for women doesn’t matter to these so-called leaders as much as ending abortion and derailing marriage equality.
Well, here’s some refreshing news. At least one of those so-called leaders is actually getting blowback for his deplorable stand. Ralph Reed, best known as the former executive director of the Christian Coalition and current chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, was one of the earliest religious right luminaries to come to Trump’s defense, saying that such comments don’t matter to social conservatives as much as abortion, the economy, and derailing the Iran deal. Reed is also a member of Trump’s evangelical advisory board, which is a who’s who of culture war veterans like himself.
When he doubled down on this stance on Facebook, the reaction wasn’t what you’d expect on the feed of a culture war veteran. As I write this on Saturday night, the great majority of the commenters were outraged that Reed would even appear to downplay how outrageous Trump’s comments were. Considering how many fundies have ignored Trump’s numerous outrages on the trail in the name of stopping Hillary Clinton, this was refreshing.
A number of the commenters were particularly angered by an interview he gave just hours earlier on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday,” in which he told the nation he was still standing behind the Donald. Host Scott Simon got right to the point. He wondered if Trump’s sentiments bothered Reed at all, especially since “he covets another man’s wife.”
Reed said that Trump’s remarks were “offensive and inappropriate.” He then quoted 1 Timothy 5:2, which calls for women to be treated “with absolute purity.” But then Reed fell down hard, echoing the sentiments he’d expressed the night before to CNN.
“But the reality is, Scott, that the roughly one out of every four voters that are conservative people of faith are voting on issues like who will protect unborn life, who’s going to defend religious freedom, who’s going to appoint conservative judges to the Supreme Court, grow the economy, create jobs and oppose the Iran nuclear deal, which we believe poses an existential threat to Israel and which Hillary Clinton helped to negotiate. And I think given the stakes in this election and those and other critical issues, I just don’t think an audiotape of an 11-year-old private conversation with an entertainment talk show host on a tour bus, for which the candidate has apologized profusely, is likely to rank high on the hierarchy of concerns of those faith-based voters.”
When Simon asked Reed if he felt Trump’s apology was really sincere, Reed pointed out that Trump claimed those remarks were “not reflective of his views.” Simon didn’t let him get away with it, rightly pointing out that those “weren’t just views,” but open boasting about “predatory behavior” and the ways he could “take advantage of his celebrity.”
Reed said that he believes Trump was sincere in his apology, and isn’t concerned that the Trump portrayed in the video is the Trump on the ballot now. Apparently Reed doesn’t know that as late as last week, Trump boasted that he fobbed off his previous disrespectful comments about women as simply entertainment.
Reed also added that he has two grown daughters, both of whom will be voting for Trump because they are more concerned about social issues above all else. He then dug an even deeper hole.
“We’ve got a vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, and the question is – are we going to get a liberal who is going to support abortion on demand and undermine religious freedom? Or are we going to have somebody who’s going to stand by those things?”
Well, judging by the comments on Facebook, a significant number of Reed’s own followers–many of whom are veteran social conservatives–aren’t of that mind. Many of them were of the same mind as former Virginia lieutenant governor Bill Bolling.
“Very disappointed in you Ralph. The old adage ‘if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything’ comes to mind. If Christians don’t stand against this type of conduct, no matter who commits it, what’s the purpose of faith and values?”
Frankly, this can only be described as a relief. I had hoped more social conservatives would be like a number of my friends who simply cannot bring themselves to vote for Trump under any circumstances. Could this signal the moment that the sun finally set on this culture war veteran? We can only hope.
