If/when Trump violates the gag order, just put him in custody every Wednesday during the trial. He’s 'Christian enough'.
The systemic-threat problem. A lot of media coverage obscures the purely systemic threat Trump poses. To take just one example, Trump is trying to delay his trials so he can cancel ongoing prosecutions of himself if he wins. Times pieces sometimes describe this fact in oddly neutral tones, without asking whether it poses a unique threat to the system’s validity by attempting to place Trump above the law entirely.
The casual reader could easily infer that Trump’s gambit is tantamount to just another conventional legal strategy, and not see anything amiss with it. The Times could include more quotes explaining how abnormal this is, isolate Trump’s real aim in headlines far more often, and do more stand-alone pieces explaining why this would dramatically undermine the rule of law itself.
newrepublic.com/...
CNN’s Paula Reid then explained what she feels is the biggest threat that Daniels poses to the former president.
"The greatest legal risks that Stormy Daniels poses to Trump today and over the next few days as she testifies is just making him melt down and violate this gag order," Reid said. "The fact that he hasn't lost it in front of the press pool, that is notable. He has been better about following the gag order, even before he was fined this $9,000. Conservative activists have said this — he shouldn't do this, and that was really what prompted him to stop. He did not violate it today. I think even people close to him are telling me they're a little bit surprised."
All that said, Reid added, "There's still time. She'll be back on the stand Thursday. This is a big task because clearly her appearance is getting under his skin, but she is one of the people protected by the gag order."
www.rawstory.com/...
Mr. Trump, who has spent much of the trial with his eyes closed, remained attentive for part of the day, often with a sour expression on his face. He continually whispered to his lawyers and at one point mouthed an expletive.
But by the afternoon, he had returned to his habit of closing his eyes, even during a combative cross-examination.
www.nytimes.com/...
According to Samuel L. Perry, a sociologist of religion who has written several books on conservative Christianity including Addicted to Lust: Pornography in the Lives of Conservative Protestants, Trump’s sinful behavior may actually reinforce his support among at least some evangelicals.
Trump’s sexual misdeeds may break religious doctrine, Perry says, but they also affirm his masculinity — at least in the evangelical view. They demonstrate that Trump is a virile, red-blooded man, afflicted by God — like all “real men” — with lust. Not just lust for sex, Perry says, but for power. And much like Biblical warriors who themselves struggled with sexual temptation, Trump can wield that power to lead the faithful to glory.
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Does that emphasis on tough-guy politics and the sense among conservative Christians that they are under threat mean that the standard for religious leaders is lower — we don’t need you to be perfect, just on our side??
It used to be, when I was in college, you had people like Robert Jeffress, who would have called Catholics and Mormons a cult, and that our number-one task was to try to convert and oppose this kind of influence. And now you’d have those same kinds of religious leaders saying that these are our allies, they’re on the team with us, we’re fighting for family values and freedom and faith and religious liberty. That makes you Christian enough.
Trump is an example of that. Could you really nail somebody down and say, hey, Trump never goes to church. Look at the way he talks, look at the way he reacts to people. Has he ever confessed sins? Anything? They would probably say no. But he fights for our values. And honestly, that makes him Christian enough.
www.politico.com/...