President Donald Trump quoted Pastor Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, on Twitter Sunday night. Jeffress was on Fox News and he warned of a “Civil War-like fracture” should Trump be removed from office.
Read below:
President Trump does not quote people he does not agree with, so I think it is safe to say that he believes this.
Some thoughts:
First, Pastor Jeffress does not speak for all evangelicals, no one does. Please stop. His opinions are his alone.
Second, I’m not in favor of impeachment with less than 14 months before the election, but let’s not pretend President Trump didn’t do something seriously inappropriate here. He asked a “personal favor” of the Ukrainian President to launch an investigation of a potential rival. In what world is that appropriate? Also, if there was quid pro quo, then that is bribery with taxpayer-funding for personal gain which would absolutely be an impeachable offense.
If this was meant to be an official request by his administration to advance a Department of Justice investigation then his personal attorney, Rudy Guilianni, should have nothing to do with it.
Third, if the Senate were to convict on impeachment articles which are surely coming now that it appears Democrats will have the votes to impeach, then that means there was some pretty damning evidence that came to light.
Fourth, knowing the seriousness of impeaching a President with less than 14-months before the election, the Republican-led Senate would have to believe it is compelling evidence. Granted, I don’t think there is a snowball’s chance in hell of the Senate convicting the President, but if it did happen then something huge will have dropped.
Fifth, I don’t know how narcissistic one has to be to believe that one person, President or not, would cause a “Civil War-like fracture” in the country. If there is blowback over President Trump being removed from office it will be at the ballot box, not on the battlefield. There wouldn’t have been in 1974 had President Richard Nixon been impeached and removed. There wouldn’t have been one in 1999 had President Bill Clinton been removed from office after his impeachment.
Can we knock it off with the Civil War language? No President is that important.