It’s no secret that a great number of journalists and commentators are basically illiterate when it comes to matters of faith. Indeed, the press’ general ignorance in this area is nothing new.
But if religious ignorance were an Olympic sport, MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle and co-host Ali Velshi would be taking home gold today.
The White House announced Wednesday that economist Larry Kudlow would replace Gary Cohn as President Trump’s top economic adviser.
Fun fact: Kudlow is a Roman Catholic convert. He was baptized in 1997.
On Wednesday, after it became official that he would indeed make the move to the White House, the long-time cable news pundit gave a tearful goodbye to his colleagues at CNBC, where he has been a staple since the channel’s initial launching more than two decades ago.
“The last 25 years of my life has been tied up with CNBC, which changed my life, changed my profession, and it’s been a family to me, and, however this thing works out, it will be God’s will,” said Kudlow, who worked for the Office of Management and Budget under former President Ronald Reagan.
“If there’s an opportunity when my service is complete, I hope very much to come back and help CNBC. It is my family, and it has changed my life,” he added.
For literally billions of people on this planet, there’s nothing unusual or peculiar about the idea of a believer putting his trust in “God’s will.” It’s pretty standard stuff for a self-professed person of faith or anyone who knows such a person.
Standard, that is, unless your name begins with “Stephanie” and ends with “Ruhle.” For the daytime MSNBC host, faith-based rhetoric is completely mysterious.
“If you noticed when Larry Kudlow spoke on CNBC yesterday, he ended by saying, ‘However things work out, it will be God’s will,’” she said Thursday. Her co-host laughed.
“That’s an interesting way to talk about being the national economic adviser to the president,” Ruhle continued, throwing a comical look to the camera. “God’s will?”
They continued bantering back and forth about the president’s new choice for director of the National Economic Council.
“Kudlow has to stand there and represent real data,” Ruhle said.
Velshi added, “Right, but the fear is that he may stand there and represent the president in the face of real data.”
“Well,” Ruhle concluded, smirking and raising her coffee mug to the camera in a mild mocking gesture, “it’s God’s will.”
You’re not out of touch. The world’s estimated 2.2 billion Christians, and its 1.8 billion Muslims (who use the almost identical expression “in sha Allah“), must be the ones who are out of touch.
