Choosing Donald Trump: God, Anger, Hope, and Why Christian Conservatives Supported Him

151 Pages·2017·1.23 MB·English

by  Stephen Mansfield

© 2017 by Stephen Mansfield Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
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written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1225-9
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
www.zondervan.com
Praise for Books by Stephen Mansfield
“I think this is a game-changing book. [A] really, really powerful book.”
Glenn Beck
“This is an important book. . . . I wish everyone could have read this book ten years ago. At least read it
now.”
Eric Metaxas
“You will be thrilled, disturbed, and astounded, but ultimately inspired and uplifted.”
Rabbi Daniel Lapin
“Every voter in the country should read this book!”
Dave Ramsey, New York Times bestselling author; nationally syndicated radio show host
“You must read this perceptive and well-written book.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“Mansfield makes a persuasive case for why it’s both important and appropriate to expect candidates for
president of the United States to be open and detailed about their personal religious journeys and beliefs.”
Jim Wallis, New York Times bestselling author; president of Sojourners; editor-in-chief of
Sojourners magazine “Stephen Mansfield’s latest book takes on one of the most common
points of contention in the news today: religion. He’s demanding that candidates come
clean on their beliefs before they get to the Oval Office. He’s right, and he makes his case
in a unique, fascinating manner that is rich in American history.”
Brian Kilmeade, FOX News
“Mansfield’s approach is neither partisan nor partial to a particular aspect of religion. Stephen Mansfield
challenges both voters and the media to ask the right questions.”
Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church
To the Millennials
who are much maligned and much
conflicted,
yet whose large souls and larger hopes
may yet lead us
to a greater America.
The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the
conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool.
If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without
moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace
and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men
everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will.
But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, and, recovering its
great historic mission, will speak and act fearlessly and insistently in terms of justice and peace, it
will enkindle the imagination of mankind and fire the souls of men, imbuing them with a glowing
and ardent love for truth, justice, and peace.
Martin Luther King Jr., “A Knock at Midnight”1
Contents
Cover 1
Title Page 3
Copyright Page 4
Endorsements 5
Dedication 7
Epigraph 8
Introduction 11
Part 1: An Unlikely Champion 17
1. Convergence 19
2. Mixture 27
Part 2: The Backstory 35
3. King 37
4. Killer 55
5. Peale 71
6. White 87
Part 3: The Appeal 99
7. Johnson 101
8. Obama 109
9. Hillary 117
10. Voice 125
Part 4: Of Prophets and Presidents 131
11. The Art of Prophetic Distance, Part I 133
12. The Art of Prophetic Distance, Part II 143
Epilogue 159
Acknowledgments 163
Appendix: Donald Trump in His Own Words 167
Notes 183
Bibliography 193
About the Author 197
Also by Stephen Mansfield 199
Back Ads 200
Back Cover 202
Introduction
I am the only one who can make America great again.
Donald Trump1
P
olitics is almost always a matter of choosing between holding your nose and
holding your nose tighter, but the 2016 election that placed Donald Trump in the
White House was a particularly pungent affair. Perhaps the offerings were
simply exposed to the elements for too long. Perhaps this explains the spoilage
and the rot that set in.
There had been the blistering primary battle between Hillary Clinton and
Senator Bernie Sanders. It lasted for more than a year, required six bludgeoning
debates, and when it was over had solved very little. Hillary Clinton was the
Democratic Party nominee. No one was surprised.
The Republican primaries took an even greater toll. There were seventeen
candidates, twelve debates, and nine forums to endure. The bloodletting
threatened to never end. Civility abandoned the field. The word gravitas never
came to mind. Candidates insulted each other’s wives, publicly questioned their
opponents’ eternal salvation, accused each other’s families of complicity in the
Kennedy assassination, and disparaged each other in scatological terms. Hand
size was an oft-used metaphor for size of another kind, and more than one
candidate felt the need to assure the nation that he measured up to expectations.
When it was all over and the blood was wiped from television screens
nationwide, Donald Trump was the Republican Party nominee for president of
the United States.
He was the most unusual party nominee in American history. He had never
held public office. He made his wealth and his reputation in cutthroat real estate
deals and as an owner of gambling casinos. He specialized in breaking the rules.
His campaign was one of the least orthodox, least disciplined, and least focused
in US political history—and still he won his party’s nomination handily.
The immorality of his prior life alone set him apart as an American
presidential candidate. He had been married three times and publicly boasted of
his marital infidelities. He had often been a guest of adult talk shows where he