The chief editor of a prominent evangelical magazine, Christianity Today has criticized Donald Trump for his verbal assault on a writer who accused him of rape, as well as for his disparagement of the CNN audience who responded with laughter and applause.
“Think about the teenage girl in a church somewhere who’s being abused by her youth pastor, wondering whether to come forward,” Christianity Today’s Russell Moore said on “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
“[W]hen the victim is ridiculed by a presidential candidate in front of a crowd, the response is laughter. That has devastating implications.”
Last week, a civil jury found the former president liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.
Then, Trump attacked Carroll as a “whack job” during a CNN town hall event as the audience laughed.
Moore opposed Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections, and Trump attacked Moore as “a nasty guy with no heart.”
NBC host Chuck Todd on Sunday asked Moore if he could ever see himself supporting the former president in 2024.
“I can’t speak for all evangelicals, I can only speak for myself,” he said. “And Jesus said ‘Let your yes be yes and your no be no.’ I’ll let my never, never.”
Throughout Trump’s presidential campaign, the press was there every step of the way to give him the publicity he desired for every outrageous comment he made.
Research from Harvard’s Shorenstein Center showed the media’s initial coverage of Trump largely focused on his campaign’s momentum, and the amount of coverage he received was abnormal for a candidate who had such a low standing in the polls.
The press coverage, the center concluded, was a factor in Trump’s improvement in the polls.
Donald Trump’s relationship with mainstream media has been tense throughout his presidential campaign and his presidency.
Having a strained relationship with some of the media is not uncommon for Presidents, but commentators have noticed that Trump uses almost any occasion to call out the media, making his relationship with it very particular, and a topic of increased debate.
Trump’s attacks on the media are usually about how the media supposedly discriminates against him, his staff, his supporters, as well as against Republicans and conservatives. His most frequent targets are CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.
Trump does tend to approve of Fox News, however, since they tend to be more positive towards him and his policies.