Many
evangelical
Christians
insist
that God
anointed Donald
Trump
to
save
America.
It’s
a
little
hard
to
write
—
let
alone
believe
—
those
words,
but
that’s
what
some
evangelicals
say.
What,
you
might
ask,
is
the
argument
in
favor
of
Trump
being
God’s
messenger?
First,
last
July,
an
assassin
took
aim
at
Trump
and
missed. Evangelicals
say
that
you
can
almost
sense
God’s
hand
at
work.
Of
course
assassins
also
tried,
but
failed,
to
kill
a
bunch
of
other
presidents. Richard
Lawrence,
for
example,
tried
to
shoot Andrew
Jackson at
close
range
with
two
pistols. Both
misfired. Jackson
fought
back
with
his
cane,
and
bystanders
subdued
Lawrence.
Now
that’s
a
miracle! Two
pistols,
and
they both misfired?
Surely
Jackson
was
anointed
by
God,
no?
Or,
in
1864,
a bullet
passed
through Abraham
Lincoln’s
top
hat
during
a
late-night
ride
in
Washington,
D.C. That
must
count
as
an
attempted
assassination,
even
if
it
was
later
overshadowed
by
John
Wilkes
Booth’s
successful
effort
in
1865. Lincoln
pursued
a
noble
cause
and
actually
held
the
country
together. Anointed,
or
no?
But
I’m
just
getting
warmed
up
here. A
would-be
assassin
shot Teddy
Roosevelt in
the
chest
in
Milwaukee
in
1912. The
bullet
was
slowed
by
a
folded
speech
and
an
eyeglass
case
in
his
pocket
before
it
entered
his
chest. Roosevelt
finished
giving
his
84-minute
speech
before
seeking
medical
attention
and
surviving
the
attempt.
He
finished
giving
his
speech
after
having
been
shot? I
can
feel
God’s
hand
at
work.
Attempted
assassins
also
went
after
FDR,
and
Truman,
and
Ford,
and
Reagan. Were
all
those
presidents
anointed? Some? Just
one? If
just
one,
which
one,
and
how
do
we
distinguish
between
the
one
who
survived
by
the
grace
of
God
and
the
others
who
merely
had
good
luck?
Can
we
agree
that
Trump
having
survived
an
assassination
attempt
is
not
proof
that
he
was
anointed
by
God?
Evangelicals
go
on
to
say
that
God
sometimes
uses
imperfect
messengers
as
vessels
to
pursue
his
divine
purposes. King
David,
for
example,
had
an
adulterous
affair
with
Bathsheba
and
later
murdered
her
husband,
but
God
chose
David
to
lead
the
nation
of
Israel
and
to
write
scripture. And Moses killed
a
man
and
later
disobeyed
the
Lord’s
directive,
but
God
chose
Moses
to
lead
his
people
out
of
Egypt.
I
grant
you
that
Donald
Trump
is
an
imperfect
messenger. Criminal
convictions,
multiple
other
criminal
indictments,
civil
liability
for
business
fraud
and
sexual
assault,
multiple
accusations
of
sexual
misconduct
—
stop,
you’ve
convinced
me! Trump’s
imperfect.
But
how
much
imperfection
are
we
looking
for? If
we
need
a
lot
of
imperfection,
why
weren’t
Attila
the
Hun,
or
Genghis
Khan,
or
Vlad
the
Impaler
messengers
of
God? Or,
if
we
need
slightly
less
imperfection,
how
about
Lincoln? He
was
an
imperfect
person,
as
are
we
all,
and
he
survived
that
assassination
attempt. Was
he
anointed
by
God? (Or
maybe
Lincoln
was,
and
Trump
was,
too,
and
there
are
a
few
others
that
evangelicals
can
identify
for
us. If
so,
speak
up,
evangelicals! We’re
all
ears.)
Lastly,
evangelicals
insist
that
Trump
is
a
strong
man
who
can
defend
Christian
values
against
threats
of
secularism
or
liberal
policies. To
me,
this
sounds
an
awful
lot
like
political
beliefs
wearing
a
religious
disguise,
but
what
do
I
know? Moreover,
if
you’re
an
evangelical
Christian,
you
might
think
that
Christian
values
include
things
like
loving
your
neighbor,
humility,
and
mercy. Evangelicals
who
hold
those
silly
values
might
think
that
it
wasn’t
God,
but
rather
the
guy
who
inhabits
the
other
place,
who
anointed
Trump.
I
guess
it’s
pretty
easy
to
use
the
justification
that
God
anointed
a
person
to
forgive
essentially
everything
that
a
person
has
ever
said
or
done
in
his
life.
How
long
will
it
take,
do
you
suppose,
for
evangelicals
to
apologize
for
having
spouted
this
nonsense?
An
eternity,
perhaps?
Mark Herrmann spent
17
years
as
a
partner
at
a
leading
international
law
firm
and
later
oversaw
litigation,
compliance
and
employment
matters
at
a
large
international
company.
He
is
the
author
of The
Curmudgeon’s
Guide
to
Practicing
Law and Drug
and
Device
Product
Liability
Litigation
Strategy (affiliate
links).
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected].