President Trump on Friday boasted that he’s done more for evangelicals than any other president, in response to a scathing editorial from Christianity Today calling for his removal from office.
The influential evangelical magazine, founded by the late Rev. Billy Graham, issued an editorial Thursday condemning Trump’s attempts to get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden as “profoundly immoral.”
“The facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents,” outgoing editor in chief Mark Galli wrote. “That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.”
Trump blasted the piece on Twitter early Friday.
“A far left magazine, or very ‘progressive,’ as some would call it, which has been doing poorly and hasn’t been involved with the Billy Graham family for many years, Christianity Today, knows nothing about reading a perfect transcript of a routine phone call and would rather have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President,” he wrote. “No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close. You’ll not get anything from those Dems on stage.
“I won’t be reading ET again!” Trump railed, apparently mistaking the magazine’s name.
Trump enjoyed strong support from white evangelical Christians in 2016, winning 81 percent of the vote, a poll by Pew Research Center found.
But support from that group, which made up 26 percent of the electorate in 2016, has slipped throughout his presidency.
In the editorial, Galli said that evangelicals have justified their support for Trump, pointing to “his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy.”
But he noted, “The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see.”
Galli also wrote, “The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.”
Christianity Today has more than 4.3 million monthly visitors to its site and hundreds of thousands of print subscriptions, according to Axios.
Galli, who has worked at the magazine for 30 years, including seven as editor in chief, is set to retire Jan. 3.
The publication was founded by Graham, known as “America’s Pastor,” who preached at stadiums across the world and served as a spiritual adviser to many presidents. Trump attended his funeral last year.
Graham’s son Franklin is an ardent supporter of Trump. In November, he urged prayers for the president and blasted the impeachment proceedings as an “unjust inquisition.”