A Free Pass Masquerading As Objectivity
by tristero
There's something really screwy at the NY Times. Trump and his cronies are desperate to project total unity. But with the publication of the Christianity Today editorial blasting Trump's morals, that wall, at least among evangelicals, has started to show cracks. So how does the Times write up that astonishing (and wonderful) news?
The headline states, "Evangelical Leaders Close Ranks With Trump After Scathing Editorial." But the article itself contradicts the headline by directly quoting an "evangelical leader" — and by no stretch of the imagination, a liberal or a secularist— who did not close ranks with Trump:
Peter Wehner, a Christian columnist and author who worked as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, said that Mr. Trump’s most outspoken defenders had created a misleading impression that evangelical Christians universally embrace the president.
“They speak as if they define the movement,” he said. “And a lot of people who aren’t familiar with evangelical Christianity see this and say, ‘Well, they must be representing all Christians.’”
“That’s the significance of what Christianity Today did,” Mr. Wehner added. “They stood up and they said no. That’s not right. We can’t continue with this charade, this moral freak show anymore.”
Yes, Trump and his christianist goons have bludgeoned most of his evangelical opponents into a surly silence. But the story, the news, is that that silence is starting to fall apart, not that his henchmen are still pledging loyalty.
But also, the article goes easy on Trump. Very easy. Check this out:
For the past three years, conservative American politics, and white evangelical Christianity along with it, has realigned steadily and forcefully around Mr. Trump and his coalition. Much like the “Never Trump” voices within the Republican Party, evangelical detractors have receded into the background during the three years Mr. Trump has been president.
Their absence from the national conversation was partly why the editorial was so jolting. But it was also a reminder that the evangelical movement is not monolithic and includes people who may appreciate some of the president’s actions, like the appointment of conservative judges, but are repelled by his inflammatory rhetoric on issues like race and immigration.
This description, while harsh, is still treating Donald Trump with kid gloves. It's not that the Times needs to eviscerate Trump. They simply need to be objective. For example:
My guess is that if the Times bothered to talk to the many evangelical Christians who have been dissed into silence,* they'd learn they are repelled by far more than his racism and xenophobic rhetoric (although that is more than enough). They also care about what he does.
For starters, they are repelled by his disgusting adulterous behavior, his vindictiveness, his lies, his incarcerating children in cages, his mockery of people with disabilities, his disrespect for military heroes, and his flouting of every single standard of moral decency, including every Christian standard of morality.
*I know at least one very devout Christian who is terrified to speak out against Trump to nearly everyone s/he knows. I don't travel in evangelical circles but s/he has struck me over the years, as more than representative of the others I've met. I'm certain there are many more conservative Christians who are appalled at Trumpism.