Two of President Donald Trump’s most reliable evangelical supporters aren’t concerned about his profanity-laced Easter Sunday post that threatened war crimes against Iran — a post that caused other elected officials to call for the president to be removed from office via the 25th Amendment.
Both Robert Jeffress and Franklin Graham have made public statements explaining away Trump’s Easter Sunday threats while continuing to declare him the most pro-Christian president in history.
At 8:03 a.m. Eastern time Easter Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
As BNG previously reported, that prompted calls for Trump’s immediate removal from office on grounds that he is mentally unfit.
Despite the harshness of Trump’s language and his mocking of Islam on Easter Sunday, Graham and Jeffress joined other Trump supporters — including White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt — in insisting Trump was not out of line and is not mentally incapacitated.
Robert Jeffress being interviewed at First Baptist Dallas (Screencap)
“If President Trump were a third-grade Sunday school teacher in our church, that might be a problem, but he’s not a third-grade Sunday school teacher,” Jeffress told CBS Texas . “He’s the president of the United States, and presidents sometimes have salty language. Every president we’ve had, Republican or Democrat, has had salty language.”
And in response to those who claim Trump is mentally unfit, Jeffress says that’s not true. Trump, he countered, “is sly as a fox.”
Trump is “a very good friend,” Jeffress said. And he was honored to be with Trump and White House Faith Adviser Paula White earlier last week for a White House Easter event, he said. At that event, White compared Trump to Jesus for being persecuted and arrested and resurrecting his political career. White told Trump he has God’s blessing and will be victorious in all he does.
While many Christian leaders found White’s comparison blasphemous, Jeffress is seen on camera nodding in agreement with her and applauding her.
As for the Iran war, which most other world leaders have condemned as unprovoked and unwise, Jeffress also sees things differently.
“A couple of days after the war began in Iran, I was in the Oval Office with him, and I thanked him for his courage in confronting an evil that posed an existential threat to the survival of America, Israel, and the entire world,” Jeffress told CBS News.
And about the Easter Sunday vitriol on Truth Social, Jeffress says those who are worried about that overlook a separate video posted on the White House website of Trump telling the Easter story.
“It was the strongest and clearest expression of what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means that I’ve seen any president, Republican or Democrat, give,” Jeffress said.
Franklin Graham responded similarly when asked by the Charlotte Observer to comment on Trump’s Easter morning post.
“Our president, Donald J. Trump, sometimes chooses words to express himself that I do not agree with, but I support stopping evil to save lives,” Graham told the newspaper. “President Trump is trying to protect the world from a very serious nuclear threat and give the people of Iran a chance at freedom. I pray for him and our military as he leads this nation during a very turbulent time in our history.”
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Yes, Franklin Graham, President Trump is profane | Opinion by Rodney Kennedy