Despite all the criticism he is facing for endorsing Republican candidate Donald Trump for the U.S. presidency, Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell, Jr. is not backing down from his decision. He even likened the presidential hopeful to King David from the Bible.
Falwell told the student-run publication The Liberty Champion that Christians should not be critical of other people's beliefs just "because they don't support the same candidate or the candidate who they believe is the most righteous."
He argued that Trump might not seem like the ideal candidate, but King David from the Bible also wasn't. "God called King David a man after God's own heart even though he was an adulterer and a murderer. You have to choose the leader that would make the best king or president and not necessarily someone who would be a good pastor," he said. "We're not voting for pastor-in-chief. It means sometimes we have to choose a person who has the qualities to lead and who can protect our country and bring us back to economic vitality, and it might not be the person we call when we need somebody to give us spiritual counsel."
Falwell then recalled that he became friends with Trump back in 2012, when the business magnate went to the university to speak to the students. Falwell said he was already impressed by Trump's simplicity back then.
"He offered us food, so he brought out Wendy's cheeseburgers. He ate cheeseburgers, and we ate cheeseburgers. Then he put on a concert. He found out that when I grew up in the 70s, I was an Elton John fan. So, he put the concert on the big screen. He was doing it all himself. He was the one serving the food. He was the one waiting on us. I thought it would be like caviar and something fancy, but it was cheeseburgers — Wendy's cheeseburgers," he said.
Falwell said those who are criticising Trump are simply "career politicians" who are afraid of change. "I really believe that what you are seeing happening this week is the establishment having a seizure. They're going ballistic because they are scared to death that they're going to lose power," he said. "They're scared to death of Trump because he's the kind of guy that will walk into Washington, kick over the tables, kick over the chairs, throw the bums out, start over, and do things that a career politician would never do."
He added that Trump does not need America's money because he's already paying for his own campaign. "He's not beholden to anybody like the rest of them are. He's made a payroll with tens of thousands of employees, and nobody else on that debate stage has ever made a payroll and never will. They don't understand it," he said.
