The son of the late theologian and author Francis Schaeffer challenged evangelical supporters of Donald Trump to try to defend the president’s reported foul-mouthed description of Haiti and African nations which he made during a White House meeting with a bipartisan group of senators Jan. 11.
“Yes this is a fact: Trump is a racist crude scum as he demands to know why the U.S. should welcome immigrants from ‘shithole countries’ like Haiti and not from countries like Norway,” author, speaker and filmmaker Frank Schaeffer reacted to the news on Twitter, “and he remains president because evangelicals just like Sarah Huckabee, voted for him.”
Schaeffer, who as an adult repented from conservative evangelical views to become a self-described progressive Christian and a Democrat, routinely criticizes evangelical supporters of the president who draw inspiration from his late father’s writings. A 2014 story in Baptist Press described Francis Schaeffer, along with theologian Carl F.H. Henry, as “the key intellectual influence on leaders of the conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention.
“What’s with the white evangelicals who now own Trump’s language and dark ethos of hate in rejecting the immigrants from ‘shithole countries’ like Haiti?” Frank Schaeffer continued in his tweet. “Just what Jesus would do??? C’mon guys!”
Schaeffer addressed his next tweets to White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders, daughter of former presidential candidate and past president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention Mike Huckabee.
“Dear Sarah Huckabee, You are a big fan of my late evangelical leader dad Francis Schaeffer,” Schaeffer wrote. “He’d be shocked you lie for a man who delights in rejecting the immigrants from ‘shithole countries’ like Haiti. How will you spin this?”
“How will Sarah Huckabee pretty up Trump’s racial prejudice?” the barrage continued. “No slip of the tongue, no ‘he was thinking about something else’ excuse. He said what he meant about poor countries, nations filled with people of a darkened hue. Trump shames America, and people who support him are shameful.”
Schaeffer translated Trump’s message as: “If you’re white you’re all right. If you’re brown/Hispanic turn around. If you’re black, git back.”
“His paid toadies from Sarah Huckabee and other ‘Christians’ like Mike Pence, to the GOP will smile and revert their gaze, embracing the racial hatred is Trump’s soul,” the pundit predicted.
“Dear American Evangelical Trump-Supporters,” he concluded. “Your man spits in someone’s face every day…. He is demeaning us and our institutions. When will you all say ENOUGH!?”