According to The New York Times, this quote has been attributed to Napoleon, but its origins are unclear.
Trump must have been dissatisfied with the amount of news coverage he was getting today. I can’t tell if Trump is serious or if he just messing with us. I think it may be a little of both. But I have no doubt the felon thinks he is above the law. This reminds me of Nixon’s famous line: “Well, when the the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”
What are the pro-Trump evangelicals saying about this? Virtually nothing. But they have tweeted other things since Trump made the announcement this afternoon:
Jenna Ellis: She’s said nothing, although she is touting a possible Sarah Palin role in the Trump administration.
Lance Wallnau: Nothing. But he is pitching “drinking water the way God intended it.”
Charlie Kirk: Nothing. But he is tweeting about a transgender illegal immigrant who has been accused of raping a boy.
Eric Metaxas: Nothing. But he trying to find out where “Anthony Fauci is hiding.”
Gary Bauer: Nothing. But he is calling for the end of the Department of Education.
Tony Perkins: Nothing. But he is promoting a quiz on the Bible’s influence on the civil government.
Greg Laurie: Nothing. But he is talking about the fastest flatpicking guitarist in the world.
Paula White: Nothing. But she is telling her followers that “God will send someone into your life that gives the word love true meaning.”
Sean Feucht: Nothing. But he is complaining that “trolls” are giving his new album 1 star reviews.
Ryan Helfenbein: Nothing. But he is writing about how conservatism has a moral center that embraces “Truth.”
I came to Christianity from the drug culture in the 1970s, and the midwestern pocket of the Jesus movement I providentially found my way into was fairly…ok, very…anti-intellectual. Francis Schaeffer opened my eyes to the possibility of an intellectually substantive Christian faith, and I eventually became a (joyfully Christian) professional philosopher. Yes, in the 1980’s Schaeffer–too long back in the USA–came to be part of the foundation of what has become the evangelical captivity to worldly political agendas (though, in hope, I think he would have recognized the folly of what we have become).
All this to say that I remember being in one of Schaeffer’s lectures someplace, and him talking about the founders or a “Christian world view,” and he said that the key principle was (quoting somebody): “We have a government of laws and not of men.”
John, I admire your careful efforts to draw attention to the magnitude of this slide into captivity, and its historical and scholarly roots. But I remember reading _Bellieve_Me_ and thinking that the people (beloved fellow Christians) who most need to hear and understand this simply won’t read it…won’t listen to these arguments.
And now it has come to this.
I hope–and I pray–that discouragement will not keep your hand from the plow, and that you will continue your fine work with hope, free from bitterness and cynicism. God gives the increase.
I thought of what Goldwater said in 1964 that extremism in pursuit of liberty is no vice. I’m going to miss Current so the much. It has been a wonderful source of information and inspiration going to miss it. God bless you!
Thank you Storm.