Mike Pence, Christian right made 'Faustian bargain' with Donald Trump, Joe Biden says

[highplainsdem]

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/07/25/joe-biden-national-urban-league-democratic-primary-2020-indianapolis-trump-pence-buttigieg/1829184001/

Q: Your successor, Mike Pence, is from Indiana. What do you think about the job he's been doing?

A: l think he's doing the same job the president's doing. And I think the president's doing a horrible job. I'm not commenting on his family or his personality or anything like that. But I am commenting on his positions. I think the positions are the exact same (as Trump's). I've not seen a single, solitary divergence, not even a little bit, between he and the president. All I've seen is the cheerleader. 'Yes, you're the greatest president we've ever had.' I've been a vice president, and I can't imagine the president putting me in the same position he put Mike in. You know, 'You're coming in and telling them what a great president I am.'

Q: Why do you think Mike Pence and the Christian right have embraced Donald Trump and how do you overcome that?

A: As my brother Jim would say, 'Go figure.'

Look, I think they made a Faustian bargain. And I think the bargain is, as long as you say you're going to take on the LGBTQ community, as long as you say you're going to end abortion in any circumstances, as long as you say those things we will overlook your personal conduct, we will overlook the things you say. And I think it's a bargain that more and more Christians, quote unquote, are beginning to walk away from. He's testing the limits of that. Look, everybody knows who Donald Trump is. Even the supporters know who he is as a person. The question that is left for me is to let them know who I am. Let them know who we are. That we really do choose hope over fear. That we really choose truth over lies. That we really do choose unity over division and science over fiction.

There's never been a campaign I can remember when there's been such a stark difference in the basic fundamental decency. Every president that I've known, and I've worked with a lot of them, it's understood that the only way you get something done is try to bring people together. This president has decided to work just for his base. By controlling his base of 30 percent, he intimidates Republicans who know better, other than ones like (late U.S. Sen.) Dick Lugar, God rest his soul.

[trev]

1. Gee, I wonder how many MAGAs

know what a "Faustian bargain" is?

For that matter, I doubt Pence does, either.

[Cha]

4. Nor would they care.

[Kahuna7]

5. I know what it is and have been saying it for a long time. nt

[Cirque du So-What]

2. So-called evangelical Christians are not burdened by lessons contained in secular works

They would benefit from taking the fate of Faust as a cautionary tale, but they're too haughty for that.

[Blue_true]

3. I am not a Christian, but have family who are regular Christians, not the rightwing, very

political type.

Rightwing evangelicals are evil people. They will starve the hungry, let the sick suffer, deny that they witnessed a lie being told, support a man who has repeatedly violated every single one of the Ten Commandments that they hold dear. All that because they get a handful of their desires pushed onto the rest of society. They would sell Jesus to crucifixion for 30 pieces of silver if given that choice today.

[oasis]

6. Joe tellin' it like it is. n/t

[Otto Lidenbrock]

7. Mike Pence's legacy is going to extremely damaging

As Vice President of the United States he is responsible for the regressive agenda of the administration. He's the one who deals with Congressional and State Republicans. He's the one who parrots it out to foreign leaders. He's the one who enables Trump. And he's the one who authentically believes in this stuff in the name of the Bible allowing the Religious Right to have a figurehead to crow behind when Trump does something even the frauds like Franklin Graham try to distance from.

When Pence leaves office in 2021 he as a former Vice President will probably have a faculty at Liberty University named after him.

[onetexan]

8. Faustian Pence - has a nice ring to it :)

Great job branding him Joe! Kick his faustian butt out of office

[andym]

9. The abortion issue is really the Republicans' ace in the hole with evangelicals.

Basically, with a core set of their believers, opposition to abortion "trumps" everything else, is non-negotiable and provides them with key support in many GOP controlled areas that they otherwise would be in danger of losing.

[highplainsdem]

10. True. I know some evangelicals who are very good people -- kind, generous, charitable.

They really dislike Trump, would have preferred any other Republican candidate to him, but they voted for him anyway because HRC is pro-choice.

I don't argue with them on this issue. They've suffered miscarriages and grieved after each.

As you said, their anti-abortion views are non-negotiable.

[Scurrilous]

11. K&R