Squirrel-Hair's-meeting-with-evangelical-leaders roundup

Tim Alberta at NRO reports that, on a collective level, S-H failed to seal the deal:

After all the hype, nothing was said or done to fundamentally alter the uneasy relationship between Trump and the Christian Right. In interviews with a dozen attendees, the most common assessment of Trump’s performance was a shrug. He checked boxes on policy issues, they said, and played to the crowd’s greatest insecurity by repeatedly referencing the Supreme Court as a reminder of what’s at stake in November. Some activists reluctantly acknowledged afterward that they personally plan to vote for him. But many of these individuals were present Tuesday due to their leadership roles in large, grassroots-oriented organizations; strikingly, none of them are yet willing to extend Trump an endorsement that could mobilize their constituents on his behalf.

Leon Wolf at RedState says the room was full of saps:

I just got forwarded the most embarrassing statement from the AFA regarding the meeting Donald Trump had today with "Evangelical leaders." The AFA has done some good things over the years, but this statement could not possibly be more naive or willfully blind to the fact that Trump has habitually lied about everything he has said over the years.

Dear [Recipient],
I just wanted to report back to you about the meeting in New York today between GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and Christian leaders from across the country.

Franklin Graham prayed to open the event. Dr. Ben Carson spoke and told us about the Donald Trump he had come to appreciate. Gov. Mike Huckabee served as moderator and sat across from Mr. Trump. Trump entertained questions from the likes of Dr. David Jeremiah, Dr. James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Kelly Shackelford and Sammy Rodriguez. The questions were about religious freedom, Israel, potential Supreme Court nominees and abortion. I thought his strongest answers were about the type of judges he would appoint. I believe he fully understands the importance of this issue and said all his judges would be vetted by the Federalist Society -- a stalwart conservative organization. To me, this may be the most important issue of this campaign from the perspective of AFA and our supporters. After all, the next president will likely appoint two or more Supreme Court justices in the next four years. As we have seen over the last few years, it doesn't matter how many good laws are passed if the courts are going to strike them down.

Trump's weakness is that he did not clearly state his views in answer to the questions asked by Perkins and Shackelford about when religious freedom and the LGBT movement come into conflict, other than to say that these matters will be decided by the courts. He repeatedly said he was for religious freedom and his fallback position was that he would appoint judges who would defend religious freedom.

Mr. Trump also said he was tired of the political correctness surrounding matters of our Christian heritage and used Christmas an an example. He said companies want to profit of Christmas but then don't want to use the word "Christmas." He said he says "Merry Christmas" and thinks the PC crowd just wants to change the greeting to something more generic because it's another attempt to diminish the role of Christianity in America. (This made me wonder if he's been reading the AFA Journal. Ha!)

Trump answered Dr. Jeremiah's question about Israel saying he would be a strong supporter of the nation of Israel and never understood Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats who don't support Israel. Trump also understands the threat to our country by Islamic jihadism. He has taken a lot of heat from the liberal media for criticizing the problems within Islam.

On a personal note, I met several people who have known Donald Trump personally for several years and said he is not the brash, arrogant, sometimes rude person he appears to be on television. I will say without the media cameras in his face, he was pleasant, relaxed, funny and more thoughtful.

I think it was admirable and honorable for Trump to meet with Christian leaders. He is not our enemy. I believe he has instincts that are reverent and patriotic. He's 69 years old and remembers an America that was once a great country but has lost her way. But he also comes from a very secular world and that way of thinking is a part of who he is. In some ways, he strikes me as an enigma, a man still searching for spiritual answers in his life. But that's just my opinion. I will say this, he is listening to some great men of God that I have a lot of respect for, and that's a good thing.

To conclude, who but the Lord knows what lies ahead for Donald Trump? He wasn't my first choice for president but the majority of GOP voters chose him. Now either he or Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States of America. So if one of them shows genuine interest in understanding Christians better and says he will be our friend, I believe we should tell him what we think and where we stand. To use a sports word, I think he's coachable.

I'm glad I came to New York. It was worth it. I would ask you to pray for Mr. Trump and our country.

Tim
Tim Wildmon, President
American Family Association

What a bunch of ridiculous blather. I'm not going to go into the number of times that Trump has lied to people's face during the course of the campaign because I don't have several years to compile the list. Plus, there's no point in beating a dead horse: Trump lies. He does it as naturally as breathing.

When it comes to the issue of judges, Trump has already lied and made a number of different pledges, which he has already broken. In fact, this bit about him "vetting" his judges with the American Federalist Society is in fact news because that no longer means that he is even pretending to hew to the much-ballyhooed list that he released last month in an effort to dupe the rubes in the social conservative movement. The fact that Wildmon would put any credence at all in his new promise to vet judges with the FedSoc is evidence that he has willfully defenestrated his critical thinking skills.

And why? To quote Wildmon, "He wasn't my first choice for president but the majority of GOP voters chose him." Question for the AFA, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (and thus, by law, nonpartisan) organization: why is it relevant or binding on you what "the majority (sic) of GOP voters chose"?

Nothing, by the way, is more ludicrous than the assertion that the 70-year-old Trump is "coachable." Ask Reince Priebus or Paul Ryan or anyone in the GOP how that is going these days. Last time they tried, Trump spent a solid week making racist comments about a judge presiding over the case in which he is credibly accused of defrauding people out of their life savings. Oh by the way, you're associated with those comments now.

Wolf also makes note of the photo op of S-H with Jerry Falwell, Jr. and his wife in S-H's office, in front of a wall festooned with magazine covers featuring S-H, including the issue of Playboy in which S-H was interviewed.

Michael Ferris at the Christian Post says the meeting signifies that it's all over for the movement known as the Christian Right.