The president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who opposed Trump in 2016, is reversing that decision for 2020 and say he’ll support Trump in November:
CHRISTIAN POST – Calling him the most “consistent” president in American history, prominent Southern Baptist R. Albert Mohler Jr., indicated Wednesday that he will likely support President Donald Trump in 2020 despite not voting for him in 2016 when he also encouraged other Christian leaders to do the same.
“I did not vote for Donald Trump [in 2016], I certainly did not vote for Hillary Clinton, as a matter of fact,” Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, revealed in an Ask Me Anything session posted on YouTube.
Mohler, like many in the “Never Trump” camp in 2016, did not withhold his concern for Trump’s moral character, which some critics dismissed as “borne of false piety and self-righteousness.”
While he doesn’t have a different opinion of Trump’s moral character today, Mohler said he was impressed by the president’s commitment to his campaign promises and as a result he will not make the same decision he did in 2016, when he refused to support him.
“I don’t have a different moral estimation of Donald Trump. Even in office he continually leaves me very frustrated in how he presents himself, how he speaks, but he has been more consistent in pro-life decisions, executive orders … than any president of the United States in any party. He’s been more consistent than any Republican certainly in the quality of appointments he has made to the federal judiciary, which will far outlive any presidency,” he said, noting that he will “will make a different political calculation in 2020.”
“I’m having to look at the situation differently,” he added, “because 2020 is not 2016.”
Mohler told The Washington Post in an interview published Thursday that he first began to believe Trump would deliver on his campaign promises during the 2017 Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Neil M. Gorsuch.
Trump also went on to appoint a number of evangelicals throughout his administration, including Mohler’s son-in-law, Riley Barnes, who currently serves as a senior adviser in the State Department. And because Trump has kept his promises, Mohler argued that he could likely see stronger support in 2020 from evangelicals than the 80 percent he got in 2016.
“In retrospect, I made my vote of minimal importance,” he told The Washington Post. “I don’t intend to do that in 2020. There’s a bit of regret in that.”
Mohler is already being criticized by some in the evangelical community:
Dwight McKissic, senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, who is black, told the publication that he would no longer recommend Mohler’s seminary to black students.
“It shows you’re tone deaf or you don’t care about the sensitivities of the majority of African Americans who find Donald Trump a repulsive personality and politician,” McKissic said.
That’s hogwash from McKissic. Many black Americans see it differently, including a recent black state rep. in Georgia who has come out saying that Trump has been a great president for black people, noting the great economy and low unemployment.
I’m glad to see 2016 Never Trumpers like Mohler can be swayed by Trump’s actions as president, even if he still doesn’t care for Trump’s character. Trump has done a great job as president and I hope many others who refused to vote for him in 2016 will be changing their minds as well.