Many evangelical Christians insist that God anointed Donald Trump to save America.
It’s a little hard to write — let alone believe — those words, but that’s what some evangelicals say.
What, you might ask, is the argument in favor of Trump being God’s messenger?
First, last July, an assassin took aim at Trump and missed. Evangelicals say that you can almost sense God’s hand at work.
Of course assassins also tried, but failed, to kill a bunch of other presidents. Richard Lawrence, for example, tried to shoot Andrew Jackson at close range with two pistols. Both misfired. Jackson fought back with his cane, and bystanders subdued Lawrence.
Now that’s a miracle! Two pistols, and they both misfired? Surely Jackson was anointed by God, no?
Or, in 1864, a bullet passed through Abraham Lincoln’s top hat during a late-night ride in Washington, D.C. That must count as an attempted assassination, even if it was later overshadowed by John Wilkes Booth’s successful effort in 1865. Lincoln pursued a noble cause and actually held the country together. Anointed, or no?
But I’m just getting warmed up here. A would-be assassin shot Teddy Roosevelt in the chest in Milwaukee in 1912. The bullet was slowed by a folded speech and an eyeglass case in his pocket before it entered his chest. Roosevelt finished giving his 84-minute speech before seeking medical attention and surviving the attempt.
He finished giving his speech after having been shot? I can feel God’s hand at work.
Attempted assassins also went after FDR, and Truman, and Ford, and Reagan. Were all those presidents anointed? Some? Just one? If just one, which one, and how do we distinguish between the one who survived by the grace of God and the others who merely had good luck?
Can we agree that Trump having survived an assassination attempt is not proof that he was anointed by God?
Evangelicals go on to say that God sometimes uses imperfect messengers as vessels to pursue his divine purposes. King David, for example, had an adulterous affair with Bathsheba and later murdered her husband, but God chose David to lead the nation of Israel and to write scripture. And Moses killed a man and later disobeyed the Lord’s directive, but God chose Moses to lead his people out of Egypt.
I grant you that Donald Trump is an imperfect messenger. Criminal convictions, multiple other criminal indictments, civil liability for business fraud and sexual assault, multiple accusations of sexual misconduct — stop, you’ve convinced me! Trump’s imperfect.
But how much imperfection are we looking for? If we need a lot of imperfection, why weren’t Attila the Hun, or Genghis Khan, or Vlad the Impaler messengers of God? Or, if we need slightly less imperfection, how about Lincoln? He was an imperfect person, as are we all, and he survived that assassination attempt. Was he anointed by God? (Or maybe Lincoln was, and Trump was, too, and there are a few others that evangelicals can identify for us. If so, speak up, evangelicals! We’re all ears.)
Lastly, evangelicals insist that Trump is a strong man who can defend Christian values against threats of secularism or liberal policies. To me, this sounds an awful lot like political beliefs wearing a religious disguise, but what do I know? Moreover, if you’re an evangelical Christian, you might think that Christian values include things like loving your neighbor, humility, and mercy. Evangelicals who hold those silly values might think that it wasn’t God, but rather the guy who inhabits the other place, who anointed Trump.
I guess it’s pretty easy to use the justification that God anointed a person to forgive essentially everything that a person has ever said or done in his life.
How long will it take, do you suppose, for evangelicals to apologize for having spouted this nonsense?
An eternity, perhaps?
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.
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