\u201cChristianity Today\u201d Editor-in-Chief Russell Moore\u2002on Sunday said many congregations in the U.S. are \u201ceither divided or tense\u201d as a result of controversies surrounding former President Trump, who is running again for the White House in 2024.
\u201cI mean, one of the most dismaying aspects of the Trump years is the fact that Donald Trump is at the center of everything. Almost every congregation that I know is either divided or tense about these sorts of political \u2014 political controversies coming out of the Trump years,\u201d Moore told Chuck Todd on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d
\u201cAlmost every family that I know has people who don\u2019t speak to each other anymore about this personality and this figure, and I think there are a lot of people, including conservative evangelicals like me, who are looking at this and saying, \u2018Are we really going to do this again? Haven\u2019t we seen this already? Do we really want to repeat it?\u2019 And I suppose that will be the question for the rest of the year,\u201d Moore said.
Trump, who lost his reelection bid in 2020 to President Biden, is running for another four years in the White House in the upcoming presidential race, and has appeared in polling as the lead of a hypothetical GOP primary pack.
But the former president is surrounded by a number of legal woes and controversies as he campaigns.
He\u2019s the subject of two separate special counsel probes as the DOJ investigates his handling of classified documents and efforts to interfere in the 2020 transfer of power. In New York, he faces criminal charges of falsifying business records \u2014 and was just found liable for sexual battery and defamation against writer E. Jean Carroll.
Some polling indicated support for Trump slipped after the New York arraignment, and some in his party have raised concerns about how the liability finding could impact his 2024 bid.
Asked on Sunday what he\u2019d like to see from other 2024 candidates, Moore said he thinks \u201csomeone needs to step forward and talk about the importance of character and talk about the importance of having someone who can be trusted to have the nuclear codes.\u201d
\u201cI mean, we really need someone to step forward and say, \u2018Let\u2019s remember what\u2019s at stake here.\u2019 We\u2019re not just choosing what kind of entertainment we\u2019re going to have for the next six years. We\u2019re talking about the direction of the country. And we\u2019re talking about what our children are seeing and potentially will replicate,\u201d Moore said.
The evangelical leader suggested that \u201cthere\u2019s fear\u201d among candidates, elected officials and some church officials over the matter. \u201cNo one wants to speak to this because they\u2019re afraid of what will happen to them. The stakes are too high,\u201d he said.
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Evangelicals make up one of Trump\u2019s most supportive voter demographics, and played a key role in his 2016 and 2020 runs \u2014 but tensions between the former president and the religious leaders have come into view.
Todd asked Moore on Sunday whether there\u2019s \u201cany circumstance\u201d he could imagine supporting Trump.
\u201cWell, I can\u2019t speak for all evangelicals. I can only speak for myself. And Jesus said, \u2018Let your yes be yes and your no be no.\u2019 I\u2019ll let my never [be] never,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n