For millions of evangelical Christians, President Trump’s announcement Monday night was the vision they held in their heads as they stepped into the polling booth almost two years ago: a Republican president, filling the Supreme Court with more conservative justices who might drastically curtail access to legal abortion and advance other conservative Christian priorities.
As Trump announced Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his second nominee to the court in his 18-month term, these conservative Christians saw much of their dream realized.
“It’s a generational decision,” exulted Jack Graham, a Texas pastor who is on Trump’s informal evangelical advisory board. “It’s a decision that impacts not only today, not only us, but our children — our grandchildren, potentially.”
Many evangelical pastors and activists said they would have been pleased with any of the names reported to be on Trump’s shortlist for the nomination. After all, that was the gambit that won Trump so many evangelical votes in 2016: He made the unusual move of releasing, before he was even president, a list of judges he would consider for the Supreme Court if elected. And evangelicals liked what they saw.
“That gave them the energy to say I can support Trump, if these are the sort of judges he would appoint,” Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, recalled of that list. “It was more critical than any of the other issues that were surrounding the Trump campaign at that time. . . . That’s the main reason Christian conservatives voted for President Trump, was on the question of judges.”
As Trump announced Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his second nominee to the court in his 18-month term, these conservative Christians saw much of their dream realized.
“It’s a generational decision,” exulted Jack Graham, a Texas pastor who is on Trump’s informal evangelical advisory board. “It’s a decision that impacts not only today, not only us, but our children — our grandchildren, potentially.”
Many evangelical pastors and activists said they would have been pleased with any of the names reported to be on Trump’s shortlist for the nomination. After all, that was the gambit that won Trump so many evangelical votes in 2016: He made the unusual move of releasing, before he was even president, a list of judges he would consider for the Supreme Court if elected. And evangelicals liked what they saw.
“That gave them the energy to say I can support Trump, if these are the sort of judges he would appoint,” Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, recalled of that list. “It was more critical than any of the other issues that were surrounding the Trump campaign at that time. . . . That’s the main reason Christian conservatives voted for President Trump, was on the question of judges.”
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