By Mark Garavaglia
Should Americans expect their leaders to display some type of moral virtue that transcends the population in general?
Editorials published way back before the election in Christianity Today (“Trump Should Be Removed From Office”) and the Los Angeles Times (“An Evangelical Resurrection”) argued that Donald Trump, impeached and shamed, should leave office. The first piece was authored by Christianity Today’s retiring editor, Mark Galli. The second piece in the Los Angeles Times was authored by Randall Balmer. Balmer endorsed Galli’s position but pondered why it took so long for Christianity Today to call for the president’s ouster.
Mr. Galli moved for the removal of President Trump from office on essentially moral grounds. In Galli’s calculus the vote by the Democrats in the House of Representatives to adopt two articles of impeachment were the telling moral blows to Trump’s presidency. The magazine implied that it had previously exercised restraint in condemning the president’s actions, although he had purportedly “dumbed-down the idea of morality in his administration.” However, the articles of impeachment were the point of no return—now the moral failures had reached such a level that the call for his impeachment was ripe. In the opinion of Christianity Today, “the impeachment of Donald Trump [was] a significant event in the story of the republic.”
While I tend to disagree with the conclusions of both writers, they combine to raise a point that is arguably one of the most compelling questions facing every American who practices his or her religion conscientiously: when voting for a politician, should Americans expect their leaders to display some type of moral virtue that transcends the population in general?
