When Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. went public with his endorsement of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in January this year, a lot of people did not agree with him.
One of them is Peter Wehner, senior fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center. In a recent article for the National Review, Wehner even suggested that Falwell might have been swept away by Trump's "deceitful tricks" and that this has cost him his morality.
"Falwell has fallen under the dark spell of Donald Trump. That is not a crime, but it is having a corrosive effect on his intellectual and moral judgment. He is saying witless and defamatory things," he wrote. "In his private life, Falwell may be a devout man, but in his role as Donald Trump's flatterer, defender, and attack dog, he has pushed Christ to the rear. His politics are damaging his public Christian witness."
Wehner was particularly upset after reading a column written by Falwell earlier this month for The Washington Post. There, the Christian leader promoted Trump as the president America needs to reclaim religious freedom and moral high ground.
"I chose to personally support Donald Trump for president early on and referred to him as America's blue-collar billionaire at the Republican National Convention because of his love for ordinary Americans and his kindness, generosity and bold leadership qualities," Falwell wrote.
"We are at a crossroads where our first priority must be saving our nation. We need a leader with qualities that resemble those of Winston Churchill, and I believe that leader is Donald Trump. As Churchill did, Trump possesses the resolve to put his country first and to never give up in a world that is increasingly hostile to our values," he added.
