Wayne Grudem, the conservative evangelical theologian who controversially endorsed Donald Trump saying he was a "morally good choice" and then backtracked when a video emerged in which he discussed women in shocking terms, has performed another U-turn and said he will vote for the Republican candidate.
Grudem posted a long article on the Townhall website entitled 'If You Don't Like Either Candidate, Then Vote for Trump's Policies'.
In it he notes he had urged Trump to withdraw from the race after the disclosures. Since Trump had not done so, however, he says: "Voting for Clinton and her ultraliberal policies is not an option for me as an evangelical Christian. Therefore I am left with two options: (1) vote for Trump, or (2) vote for a third-party candidate whose hopes of winning belong to fantasy, not reality.
"And if these are my only two options, then voting for a third-party candidate has the clear effect of helping to elect Clinton, because it is taking my vote away from Trump. That is why the liberal media loved it when I said I was finding it hard to decide."
He argues that his two options are either to vote for Trump or help elect Clinton, and concludes: "It isn't even close. I overwhelmingly support Trump's policies and believe that Clinton's policies will seriously damage the nation, perhaps forever."
Grudem outlines "moral objections to voting for Trump", including "Voting for Trump means you approve of his immoral treatment of women" and "Are there no limits to what you will tolerate in a candidate?"
However, he concludes: "Trump has a morally tainted past. I will be voting for him, not with joy but reluctantly because of his deplorable past mistreatment of women. I wish the Republican candidate were someone with a spotless moral reputation (such as Mike Pence). But because anything I do will help elect either Trump or Clinton, these moral objections raised against voting for Trump are not finally persuasive to me. Most of them become even stronger arguments for voting to stop Clinton."
The Townhall article repeats detailed critiques Grudem has made of Clinton's policies and positions.
