President Trump delivered more red meat to Evangelicals (and all people of faith) than I’ve ever heard him deliver during his speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference in Washington, D.C.
“We want our children to experience the blessings of God,” he said and continued, “Schools should not drive out faith and religion, but should embrace faith and religion with wide open arms.”
Did you ever think you’d hear a president of the United States ever say THAT again?
“It is time to put a stop to the attacks on religion,” he said, restating a promise that his administration will ensure all Americans are free to practice their faith and live their conscience free of interference from the government.
He also took a victory lap on his executive order that stops enforcement of the Johnson Amendment, a move that frees up pastors and leaders of faith based, tax exempt organizations to speak more freely about politics from the pulpit.
“No federal worker should be censuring sermons or targeting pastors – these are the people we want to hear from,” Trump told the crowd.
He even acknowledged nuns from the “Little Sisters of the Poor” who were in the audience. The same executive order ended the legal nightmare the nuns had been fighting over the Obamacare mandate that they provide birth control and abortion inducing drugs to the women in their organization against their conscience.
Trump began his speech by quoting the Isaiah 1:17 of the Bible.
Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
His speech came on #ComeyDay, a very big day in Washington as former FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russia’s interference in the U.S. presidential election.
The testimony is a mixed bag for President Trump. On one hand, Comey confirmed that Trump is not under investigation for colluding with Russians to influence or fix the election. However, Comey’s testimony has some liberals convinced that Trump tried to obstruct justice in the FBI’s investigation of General Michael Flynn, Trump’s former National Security Adviser.
Between the Senate, House and Special Counsel’s investigations this process is going to drag out for a long time, which also doesn’t do the president any favors.
However, Thursday Trump did the only thing he can – leave questions about Comey and the investigations to his lawyer and focus on his agenda. To help push his priorities he needs to take every opportunity to remind Americans of the campaign promises he’s already kept on protecting religious freedom, repealing Obamacare, working to lower taxes and putting America first - appointing a pro-life justice to the Supreme Court, taking the fight to ISIS and pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.
“Everyday I am president we are going to make America first, not somebody else, not some other country, we are going to make America first,” the president said.
Despite the president’s low approval ratings, Evangelicals who supported him at the ballot box have largely stuck by him because they’re seeing results. That’s why, on #ComeyDay, he received such a warm, enthusiastic welcome at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference.
“We will prove worthy of this very, very important moment in history – as long as we have pride in our beliefs, courage in our convictions and faith in our God then we will not fail” the president said.