De verdediging van president Trump en zijn losvaste medestanders neemt bizarre vormen aan. Doelmatig en slim oogt het niet. De conclusie kan geen andere zijn dan dat ze in paniek zijn en niet voorbereid op een impeachment procedure. Republikeinen en medewerkers in het Witte Huis moeten gissen waar Trump mee bezig is. Dominee Robert Jeffress is een radicaal-rechtse pastor van een megachurch en een supporter van Trump. In bovenstaand fragment van Fox & Friends, dat zoals bekend nauwgezet bekeken wordt door Trump en waar hij ook nu weer zijn informatie vandaan haalt, dreigt Jeffress met geweld als Trump uit zijn functie wordt verwijderd. Het is goed om te bedenken dat dat alleen kan als de door de Republikeinen gedomineerde Senaat daarmee instemt. Dit fragment laat zien hoe gepolitiseerd de evangelische kerk is, met witte, rechtse mannen die hun geloof ondergeschikt maken aan hun steun voor Trump. Mijn commentaar bij deze video:
Is this pastor Jeffress really as idiotic as he sounds? Of course the Democrats wanted to impeach Trump from Day 1. Trump should have been more cautious because he knew that every mistake would be singnaled. But instead, with his conversation with President Zelensky, he gave exactly what the Democrats wanted. Namely a sufficient reason that is easy to understand for the general public to impeach him. That is entirely Trump’s fault. He has called fate over himself.
Pastor Jeffress does not behave the way a man of God should behave. With wisdom, compassion, tolerance and focused on the connection with others. He acts unworthily and makes himself ridiculous by referring to a civil war. Is that what a pastor must do? He turns his version of Christianity into a religion of war.
In addition, he is wrong on the constitutional side. In the constitution, a president can be impeached if he damages the interests of his country. The proceedings in the House must investigate this. That fits completely within the procedures of the constitution. Ultimately, it is the Senate that is dominated by the Republicans who give a verdict on it.
If Pastor Jeffress believes that the US is a mature democracy, then he must have faith in how it works. He should not do what he does in this interview with Fox News, namely try to undermine democracy. This is unworthy of every US citizen, including a pastor. Let Trump defend himself well and present his arguments. Nothing is wrong with the procedure of an impeachment.
Threatening with a civil war damages Jeffress’s credibility and in his threat he also damages the evangelicals he positions as short-sighted citizens who would not understand what democracy, democratic institutions and procedures, and the rule of law are.
Foto: Tweet van Donald J. Trump, 30 september 2019.