No, You Don't Have To Turn In Your Christian Card If You Support Donald Trump

Depending on what circles you run in, it’s a tough time to be a Donald Trump supporter.

You’d think that wouldn’t be the case, what with the winning and all, but sadly it seems like it’s the constant winning that’s making the anti-Trump hand-wringers more agitated (and annoying) than ever before.

And if you’re a Christian and know some of them personally, it’s even worse.

Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Georgia World Congress Center, Feb. 21, 2016. (Getty Images/Branden Camp) 

It’s one thing to read on TheBlaze about how you’re a “reckless, ignorant dupe,” “a cultish groupie enamored with fame” or “intellectually lazy” for supporting Trump. I don’t know Matt Walsh but I do read his anti-Trump stuff because I respect his opinion. I don’t take any of it personally. However, when you’re getting even lighthearted criticism from acquaintances or family, whether in real life or on Facebook, it can make for a tough, if not interesting, political season.

Put it this way, I’m not the president of a prominent Christian university nor do I play one on TV, but in the current political climate I truly feel bad for Jerry Falwell Jr. and other prominent evangelicals who have thrown their support to Trump. Judging from some of the looks I get in my neck of the woods, I can only imagine the flak they’ve had to deal with.

Yes, I know there have been instances of obnoxious Trump supporters denigrating non-Trump supporters - and yes, those dipsticks should be tarred and feathered - but I think I safely speak for the vast majority when I say the absolute last thing I would do is denigrate you or question your character, your intellect, or your faith for supporting any of the other Republican candidates.

Let’s reserve that stuff for the Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders supporters, right? At least that’s the way it should be.

This election should be little more than a polite disagreement between friends, good people who ultimately want the exact same things for America but disagree on exactly how to get there. And if your guy wins, you better believe I’m going to support him against any Democrat they trot out!

But that’s not what it’s become. Not in the circles I run in and, sadly, not in most of right-wing America.

I definitely appreciate that TheBlaze is willing to carry a variety of opinions in their commentary section despite the feelings of founder Glenn Beck (a man whom I greatly respect and agree with on most things), but all you have to do is wait for the comments on this article to see that mocking, and questioning someone’s faith doesn’t just belong to the realm of wayward Trump supporters.

From what I have observed, here and in the circles generally to the right of Trump on social issues, the hatred of Trump is visceral and very much palpable, and his supporters are generally looked down upon like they are somehow "less Christian." It’s worse than the Church Lady after a bad experience at the DMV. “Now, who could it be? Could it be … Trump?”

Yep, for some people Donald Trump is just a shade less evil than Satan himself, and those who support him aren’t just misguided or even wrong, they need to turn in their Christian card. That’s right, the Trump candidacy has long ago left the realm of civil discussion on the best strategy to get what we ALL want for this country. It’s become personal, bitter, and frankly very sad.

That said, I’d like to remind all you closet or not-so-closet Trump supporters that you're far from alone. When that Facebook “friend” posts how he or she just can’t believe how any self-respecting Christian could vote for a charlatan like Trump, hold your head high and be reminded that there are millions of others who think like you do. And some are solid Christians and respected thinkers like Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan, Phyllis Schlafly, Matt Drudge (maybe), Mychal Massie, and others who support Trump not because he’s a paragon of virtue, but because they genuinely believe his stated policies are what America needs right now.

If you need someone to fix your toilet, do you ask how many wives your plumber has had or how many people he has insulted? No, at that point you just want a good plumber, right? Our country is broken, almost to the point of no return, and it’s going to take a lot more than an empty suit or empty rhetoric from a guy who missed his calling as a televangelist to fix it. We aren’t electing a preacher, we are electing a leader.

Enter Donald Trump, a flawed, indeed VERY flawed man (aren’t we all) who happens to, at this point in his life, take the positions of those who’ve been itching to unapologetically put Americans first for a long long time. Even if he says it crudely, he still says what we think. We are the no-longer-silent majority, and we happen to believe, crazy as it sounds, that our government should stop treating our border like a trade-route hub and stop creating bad trade deals that enrich Mexico and China at the expense of American workers. I mean, how dare us, right?

Sure, I know it’s maybe a bit of a hail Mary, but what do we have to lose? After years, nay decades of betrayals by “typical” politicians, maybe it’s not such a revolutionary position to try someone completely outside the box. If you’re a Christian and support Donald Trump, please know that neither your friends nor the Pope himself have the right to ask you to turn in your Christian card. And, taking a cue from The Donald, who really cares what they think anyway?

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