The argument against Trump’s eligibility for the presidency is strong. Evangelicals should get behind it.
Many Christians have hurt the cause of Christ in America by considering temporary political advantage more important than the Bible’s requirements (and the Constitution’s as well). A growing movement gives us the opportunity to make amends.
The cover of the first issue of World magazine after the January 2021 storming of the Capitol got the story right: It pictured the attackers waving flags glorifying Jesus and Trump, and headlined the debacle as “the Insurrectionist Heresy.” It was an insurrection and it was heretical, advocating allegiance both to Christ and to a man who considers himself sinless.
As editor-in-chief I went with that headline not as Constitutional analysis but because it seemed biblically objective: An insurrection is an insurrection, even if conducted feebly. But thirty-one months later, the issue of what exactly Donald Trump’s goal was in urging on the Capitol invaders is becoming important because of Constitutional analysis by able legal analysts—and not just those on the left.
Conservative legal scholars William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen have studied the question deeply and detailed their findings. In Baude’s summary, “Donald Trump cannot be president—cannot run for president, cannot become president, cannot hold office—unless two-thirds of Congress decides to grant him amnesty for his conduct on Jan. 6.”
Here’s what the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution plainly says: “No person shall . . . hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States . . . to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Clear enough: An insurrection is an insurrection, no matter how small. Evangelicals have a special responsibility to speak up about this because the evangelical vote made Trump president, and many evangelicals made evangelism harder by melding creed and crackpotism. As Emma Green, an accurate reporter, began her story in The Atlantic, “The name of God was everywhere during Wednesday’s insurrection against the American government.” She saw signs declaring “Jesus saves!” and “God, guns & guts made America, let’s keep all three.”
Many evangelicals legitimately disclaim responsibility for the insurrection. But so many were involved, and continue to defend Trump, that it’s hard to argue with Green’s conclusion: “Donald Trump has bent elements of American Christianity to his will . . . many Christians have obligingly remade their faith in his image. Defiant masses literally broke down the walls of government, some believing they were marching under Jesus’s banner to implement God’s will to keep Trump in the White House.”
World founder Joel Belz started his magazine in 1986 as the Charlotte Observer was on its way to a Pulitzer Prize for investigating the Jim Bakker/PTL scandal that began an era of televangelistic disgrace. Joel always regretted not getting there first and exposing the bad apple that others were still polishing. With great political power comes great responsibility: Donald Trump is still bending many evangelicals to his will, but those with even a bit of bravery now have the opportunity to counter some of the damage we’ve done. For the good of the nation and the honor of Christ, evangelicals should support this Constitutional procedure.
Will it work? I hope so: Supreme Court justices who believe in abiding by the words of the Constitution have shown courage before and may display it again. Even if they don’t, evangelicals will have scraped off some of the mud that clings to our boots.
If this process does work, will some Trumpists push back, maybe even with domestic terrorism? Perhaps. But we’ve lingered so long in the fever swamps that a return to health will not be instant. Long-term repercussions are inevitable, and our best alternative is one that doesn’t allow an egomaniacal insurrectionist to become commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces.
Marvin Olasky is former editor-in-chief at World magazine and is now chairman of Zenger House and an Acton Institute affiliate scholar. He writes a weekly column on homelessness for the Fix Homelessness website and a monthly Olasky Books newsletter.