Erick Erickson is quickly approaching Michael Gerson-like levels of sanctimony and smugness all wrapped up in a layer of pseudo-Christianity.
Here’s his latest thought-provoking commentary:
https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/987160583073132544
Let’s count his slanders:
- Contra Erickson and guys like Russell Moore, no serious Christian I’ve talked to or read who voted for Trump argued that they traded in their salvation. God wasn’t on the ballot. They voted for a president—not a pastor. This is not difficult.
- Voting for Trump did not take away anyone’s salvation. God is not a Never Trumper. Sin is sin, and we all equally fall short in His eyes. To say or suggest otherwise is heresy.
- God never made any promise to protect us from our enemies. What if after Pearl Harbor was bombed, FDR simply thew up his hands and said God would defend us? Remember how the lives of every disciple other than John ended here on earth? They were either tortured, run through with spears, or crucified. And they died boldly proclaiming the Good News with conviction—not by getting rolled over without a fight. Christianity does not demand weakness of its followers. It does not demand we turn a blind eye to evil and bunker in, waiting for Christ’s return.
- I don’t know specifically what he means by “Balaam’s ass” but it doesn’t fit with the common usage of the term (someone taciturn who suddenly has a bout of logorrhea) or the biblical account. In Numbers 22, God speaks through the sorcerer Balaam’s donkey to stop his cursing of the people of Israel. So his citation completely undercuts his point that God and Balaam’s donkey are somehow opposites.
Our country got to the point where it had to elect Donald Trump partly because people like Erickson totally and completely failed. We shouldn’t be surprised that more failure is all he can offer.