Christianity Today, mouthpiece of the evangelical movement since Billy Graham founded it in 1956, finally turned on Trump last week when its editor in chief, Mark Galli, published “Trump Should Be Removed from Office” laying out the case against him that most normal people have understood for years.  While lying that Trump “…didn’t have a chance to offer his side of the story…,” Galli did say,

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. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.

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.

This is not the first time that the magazine has weighed in on impeachment, but the first time it has come down of the side against a Republican.  In 1973 it offered milk toast support of the process but remaining neutral on Nixon’s impeachment, and in 1998 supported Clinton’s removal.  Galli used the same reasoning this time to call for Trump’s removal.  At least he’s being intellectually honest, which doesn’t hold with other publications like the Christian Post, which stubbornly remains in Trump’s corner.

The piece in the Christian Post published on Monday repeats the willful blindness we’ve come to expect from evangelicals who’ve been happy to look the other way on Trump’s moral bankruptcy and criminality just because they’re getting judges who believe that the Earth is flat and only 4,000 years old as well as in the subjugation of women.  In their piece, the senior editors bashed Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, AND Beto O’Rourke, calling their words on Trump supporters and religions a “…toxic emotional and spiritual stew…”  Their ultimate justification for overlooking Trump’s conduct? He was elected.  Essentially, they repeated Trump’s own argument that, since he was elected, he is immune from all legal scrutiny or even investigation of his criminality and corruption.

The piece is so poisonous that Napp Nazworth, another editor at the Christian Post, threw up his hands and abruptly resigned, tweeting out, “Announcement: Today, rather abruptly, I was forced to make the difficult choice to leave The Christian Post. They decided to publish an editorial that positions them on Team Trump. I can’t be an editor for a publication with that editorial voice.”  He continued that editors had in the past worked through disagreements, but now has “chosen to represent a narrow (and shrinking) slice of Christianity.

What we’re witnessing is actual Christians beginning to find their voice against the falsehood of Falwell’s political lobbying company masquerading as a church.  Although evangelical support of Trump remains over 80%, Trump is starting to lose that edge he’s enjoyed up until he got caught red handed extorting a foreign government to gain domestic political advantage.  Evangelicals (I know many personally) have been hijacked by the Fox Noise version of Republican Jesus filled with the spirit of assault rifles, anti-vaxing, gay bashing, and Bible thumping.  It’s high time that actual Christians find their voices and speak up against this corruption of Christianity, or at least vote against it in the voting booth.

See you all next week.  I hope your holidays are warm and wonderful.

Trump ordered the hold on aid to Ukraine less than two hours after the fateful July 25th call with Zelensky.  The email was revealed over the weekend, part of a Freedom of Information Act  lawsuit judgement issued late last week.  The lawsuit had been filed by the Center for Public Integrity.

The email came from OMB official Michael Duffy and was to the DoD, ordering the halt on the funds.  Chuck Schumer has Duffy on the the witness list that the WH and Mitch McConnell is blocking.  Shumer’s list is short but telling.  He wants to hear from Duffy, Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton, and Mulvaney aide Robert Blair.

Witnesses for innocent people are always allowed to testify.  These aren’t.  Draw your own conclusions.

“I never understood wind.  I know windmills very much, I have studied it better than anybody. I know it is very expensive. They are made in China and Germany mostly, very few made here, almost none, but they are manufactured, tremendous — if you are into this — tremendous fumes and gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right?”

“So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything. You talk about the carbon footprint, fumes are spewing into the air, right spewing, whether it is China or Germany, is going into the air.”

“A windmill will kill many bald eagles.”  After a certain number, they make you turn the windmill off, that is true. By the way, they make you turn it off. And yet, if you killed one, they put you in jail. That is OK. But why is it OK for windmills to destroy the bird population?”

Donald J. Trump, December 21, 2019, Speaking to Turning Point USA conference in West Palm Beach, Florida

Remember when Trump and Kim Jong-un “fell in love” with “beautiful letters”?  Remember when Trump ignored everyone who knew what they were talking about and boasted that he was going to do a great deal, get Kim to shut down his nuclear program and start building beachfront hotels?  Remember when Trumpists told the rest of us that Trump was a genius, “unconventional”, and getting more done than any president in US history?

I do.  And the result of Trump’s go it alone strategy and unilateral disarmament of US forces in South Korea is complete disaster.  Kim’s nuclear program is stronger than ever, and John Bolton is now saying that the WH may have to actually admit that Trump miscalculated his ability to charm murderous dictators.  In an interview with Axios last week, Bolton was critical of Trump’s decision to go it alone and unconditionally meet with Kim.  He and other officials are saying that the US will likely have to return to it’s normal policy of strict sanctions and even intercepting ships illegally shipping fuels to North Korea.

At some point you’d think that Republicans would begin getting the message that Trump is nothing but a boastful buffoon who doesn’t have the slightest clue what he’s doing.  And they need to do that sooner rather than later.