Eight out of 10 white evangelical Christian voters voted for Trump in 2020. This means two out of 10 did not. Some of the minority, let’s call them Jesus-adjacent Christians, founded the pro-Harris super PAC “Evangelicals for Harris.” The group runs ads advocating for Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.
Their most powerful ad juxtaposes Billy Graham’s words, from a sermon warning against the dangers of evil people, with Trump’s words proving he is an evil person. Following is the ad’s dialogue (video at the bottom):
Graham: “But you must realize that in the last days, the times will be full of danger. Men will become utterly self-centered and greedy for money.
Trump: “My whole life I’ve been greedy, greedy, greedy. I’ve grabbed all the money I could get. I’m so greedy.
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Graham: “They will be proud and abusive.”
Meghan Kelly (question to Trump in 2016 debate): “You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs and dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.
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Graham: … uncontrolled, and violent.”
Trump: “I’d like to punch him in the face. I’ll tell ya.”
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Graham: “They’ll be treacherous, reckless, and arrogant.”
Trump: “I am the chosen one.
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Graham: “ … loving what gives them pleasure, instead of loving God.”
Trump (on the Access Hollywood tape: “You know I’m automatically attracted to the beautiful. I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet.”
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Graham “ … maintain a facade of religion. But their lives deny the truth.”
Interviewer to Trump: “Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?”
Trump: “That’s a tough question. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”
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Graham: “Keep clear of people like that”
Predictably, Billy’s son Franklin Graham — a man who is religiously attached to Trump’s ass, and who treats Christianity as a shiv to enforce his bigotry — thinks the ad is beyond the pale. The cognitive dissonance of hearing your revered father’s words being used to slam the anti-Christ to whom you have sworn fealty must cause psychological trauma. A symptom of which is sanctimonious sadism.
The good news is that not everyone in Franklin’s family has pissed on Jesus. Billy’s granddaughter (Franklin’s niece) Jerushah Duford, in a Zoom call with Evangelicals for Harris, announced her support for Harris.
It is no coincidence that her path to truth, decency and redemption started with some of the very remarks referenced in the ad.
On the call, she recounted the moment in 2016 when Trump’s behavior, particularly his boastful comments about assaulting women, shattered her perception of evangelical leadership. She said,
“In 2016, when a man bragged about assaulting women, various leaders of my faith then propped up this man as a poster boy for godly manhood and leadership.”
Her uncle Franklin, and his fellow cynical opportunists, are still propping up the same aggressive misogynist. Even though he is now a legally adjudged rapist and convicted felon. Jesus weeps.
Below is the video. Readers who prefer not to link to Twitter can click HERE for the ad on the Evangelicals for Harris website.