Darryl PaulsonRecently, a prominent individual chastised another prominent individual for his behavior and accused him of not being a Christian. No, I am not talking about Pope Francis. I am talking about Little Donnie Trump.
Little Donnie attacked Ted Cruz’s religious credentials on Feb 12. “How can Ted Cruz be an evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonesty?” This came from the person just seated by PolitiFact as the Lie of the Year after they examined 77 of Little Donnie’s statements and found 76 percent to be False, Mostly False or “Pants on Fire.”
Little Donnie responded quite differently when Pope Francis, in responding to a question about Trump, observed, “A man who thinks only about building walls – wherever they may be – and not building bridges, is not a Christian.”
Little Donnie was quick to criticize the pope for the vicious attack on his character. Trump accused the pope of being a pawn of the Mexican government. “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.” Only Little Donnie is allowed to attack a person’s religious character.
Little Donnie went on to say the pope would rue the day when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows, is ISIS’s ultimate trophy: “I can promise you the pope would only have wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president.”
Surprisingly, his fellow Republican opponents generally came to his defense. Marco Rubio, a fellow Catholic, said the United States has the right “to control who comes in, when they come in, and how they come in.”
Jeb Bush, another Catholic, said it was improper for the pope to question Trump’s faith. “I think his Christianity is between him and his Creator.”
Ted Cruz refused to be drawn into the kerfuffle and said, “That’s between Donald and the pope.”
Jerry Falwell Jr., a Trump supporter, came to Little Donnie’s defense saying, “I think it will hurt the pope more than it will hurt Donald Trump. I don’t think people in this country take statements like that seriously.”
A number of observers were surprised the pope would interject himself into an American political campaign. Another noted that building walls was not always frowned upon in the Bible. The Old Testament prophet Nehemiah, a godly person, was called to Jerusalem to build a wall around the city.
Pope Francis is the latest in a long line of international leaders to criticize Little Donnie. After Trump suggested banning all Muslims from the United States, British Prime Minister David Cameron called Trump “divisive, stupid and wrong.”
Members of the British Parliament considered banning Trump from entering the country and called him an “idiot,” “buffoon,” “demagogue,” and “wazzock.” Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, said Trump “was out of his mind” and “unfit” to be president.
Little Donnie may be winning a sizable share of the Republican vote, but he is clearly not feeling any love from international political and religious leaders.
Little Donnie must learn to play better with his friends and neighbors if he wants to accomplish anything should he be elected president. Does anyone remember the last successful American president who insulted his way to election and went on to great success? I didn’t think so!
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Darryl Paulson is Emeritus Professor of Government at USF St. Petersburg. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
