Christians have historically ranked character, moral probity and personal integrity high on the list of qualities they looked for in their political leaders, especially those running for the nation’s highest office.
When many on the Left and Right were arguing that what happens in a politician’s private life should remain private, it was often left to Christian conservatives to make the lonely argument that the personal conduct of politicians still matters.
Christian conservatives were sometimes mocked for their moralizing. But their focus on character served a purpose. If we can’t trust a politician to be virtuous in his private affairs, was their common refrain, then how can we trust him or her to be honorable in his or her public life?
This focus on character was most prominent during Bill Clinton’s presidency. Christian leaders argued that Clinton was unfit for high office not just because of his policies, many of which they found immoral, but also because of his weak character, stemming largely from his serial womanizing.
They assailed Clinton nonstop from the moment he began running for president and throughout his eight years in office. As an Associated Press story put it after Clinton’s 1996 reelection victory: “Conservative evangelicals zeroed in on Clinton’s character four years ago and never relented.”
Sometimes things went too far. Some Christian leaders seemed to be more concerned with exposing the lurid details of what Clinton was doing with certain body parts than with how his escapades might affect the body politic. But overall, they provided a public service of sorts by elevating the issue of a president’s character to one that should be considered by voters.
But with their support for Donald Trump, evangelicals and other conservative Christians seem to be conceding that character no longer matters.
Trump won a majority of evangelical voters in numerous primary contests. And the more they get to know Trump, the more Christian conservatives are turning out to support him. In Indiana, he won evangelical voters by 5 points over the overtly religious Ted Cruz.
Trump has picked up endorsements from numerous Christian leaders, including Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University and son of Moral Majority founder Jerry Fallwell, and Robert Jeffress, who leads the influential First Baptist Dallas Church. Evangelical media mogul Pat Robertson told Trump in an interview, “You inspire us all.”
Tellingly, Trump has floundered in states where character seemed to mattered most. A poll a month before the Utah primary found that by large margins voters there identified honesty and integrity as the most important personal qualities they were looking for in a presidential candidate. The results? Trump came in third place there with just 14 percent of the vote.
When I talk about Trump’s character, I’m not talking about his lack of religious piety (or even familiarity). I’m referring to the virtues that often arise from such piety (though, of course, they don’t have to and don’t always).
Trump proudly flouts those virtues. At least in public, he is the opposite of what a Christian should aspire to be: vain, self-absorbed, petty, superficial, profane and lacking in self-restraint. He responds to reasoned criticism or even just those who point out inconvenient facts with ad hominem attacks.
And of course, unlike Clinton, no one has to wonder at all about his womanizing — he’s bragged about it. This is all without even getting into his sexist and arguably racist behavior. You could say he’s a personification of the seven deadly sins.
There are several explanations for this retreat from character as an issue. For many Christian conservatives, political identity now not only trumps religious identity, it also takes precedence over virtue — at least when it comes to selecting political leaders.
There also seems to be a feeling among many conservatives I talk to that focusing on character issues is a luxury they can’t afford at a time when the country is in such dire straits.
Politics play a role, of course. Voters from one party typically apply a much higher standard when it comes to the conduct of the other party’s candidates. I won’t be surprised when conservative Christians are among those who assail Hillary Clinton — or “crooked Hillary,” as Trump likes to call her — for her character flaws, while downplaying Trump’s.
This retreat from character is a loss for the country. The public should have high expectations for its elected leaders, not only in terms of policy and personnel, but also in terms of character. As stewards of the public trust, they are role models of personal behavior who, whether they like it or not, set standards for others to follow.
That’s a scary prospect to consider with Donald Trump at the helm of the Republican Party for at least the next six months.
Daniel Allott is deputy commentary editor for the Washington Examiner
