By Denny Gulino
THE WHITE HOUSE (MaceNews) – Often underestimated is how sturdy is President Trump’s pillar of support from those who believe God put him on the planet for a reason and that flawed as he is, you don’t second-guess the Creator.
Far from being composed mainly of rednecks and yahoos, the “faith-based” supporters include a lot of serious people who would not want to invite President Trump to dinner or consider him a role model for their children, but who nevertheless are more than ready to trade his presence on the world stage for support for their highest priorities, like pro-life legislation and regulation – and support of Israel.
Some estimates of what his support polling would be without that pillar are dire enough so that events involving evangelical, right-to-life and Jewish groups are always top of the Trump agenda.
Friday was their day. Trump became the first president to speak at the annual Right to Life march and Vice President Mike Pence, a Catholic in his youth who became an evangelical, was honored with an exceptionally long audience with the pope.
Trump did not stray far from his teleprompter script on the National Mall, a script that included an only oblique reference to impeachment.
“Sadly, the far-left is actively working to erase our God-given rights, shut down faith-based charities, ban religious believers from the public square and silence Americans who believe in the sanctity of life,” Trump said, in remarks not necessarily intended to heal divisions and unite disparate groups.
“They are coming after me because I am fighting for you and we are fighting for those who have no voice,” he continued. “And we will win because we know how to win. (Applause.) We all know how to win. We all know how to win. You’ve been winning for a long time.”
Of course, the right-to-life movement was newly energized a year ago when all but three Democrats in the Senate voted against a procedural motion on the “Born Alive Abortion Survivors Act” that denied it the necessary 60 votes, a vote that some Republicans immediately branded pro-infanticide.
Earlier Friday, in Rome, the vice president spent an hour with Pope Francis, telling him, “You made me a hero,” in presenting the vice president with a medal, as well as a set of his writings. Afterward, Pence, who gave the pope a cross of wood recovered from a tree at the VP’s mansion, recorded a video for the right-to-life groups in Washington.
The vice president had come to Rome from Israel where he spoke at the World Holocaust Forum, calling on the world to fight what he said is “the rising tide of vile anti-Semitism.” He set the stage for what is expected to be an unveiling by President Trump next week of a long-awaited Middle East peace plan – already reviled by the Palestinians – by formally inviting Benjamin Netanyahu and his political opponent Benny Gantz to the White House.
Trump’s message of the day, as House Democrats wrapped up their prosecution statements before the Senate, was again, a godless “far left” is “coming after me.” It’s likely not every one who applauded on the Mall was in complete agreement, yet the TV coverage was as perfect a counterpoint to the Capitol Hill drama as any White House image specialist could dream of.
The Pence visit with the pope was more divine intervention or luck than planned impeachment suppression, since it had been set up long before the timing of the Senate trial was known.
Or maybe the perfect timing for Trump and Pence was something ordained by the secretary of state, since it was he who first publicly articulated the vision of a presidency with a divine purpose.
Back in March of last year, before Trump anointed himself as “the chosen one,” at least with respect to tariffs on China goods, it was Mike Pompeo who told an audience of Christian evangelicals that it is all likely foreordained.
Asked if President Trump has been “sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from an Iranian menace,” Pompeo, who describes himself as an evangelical, enthusiastically agreed.
“As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible,” Pompeo said. “I am confident that the Lord is at work here.”
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Contact this reporter: denny@macenews.com