When Ambition Trumps Conviction
One of the most prominent evangelical leaders in the #NeverTrump movement has defected to the Trump loyalist side. After breaking ranks four years ago with fellow evangelical leaders and calling Trump a “sexual predator” who “fails the baseline test of character,” Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler announced via video this week that he had changed his mind.
Mohler said he has decided to vote for Trump in November and plans to vote for Republican presidential candidates for the rest of his life, given the party’s views on issues like abortion and Supreme Court justices. Mohler even offered a mea culpa for his previous opposition, saying, “In retrospect, I made my vote of minimal importance ... There’s a bit of regret in that.”
The leader’s about-face has mystified many, given that none of his current justifications for endorsing the president address his previous criticisms. But others, including some of Mohler’s friends and colleagues (full disclosure: I have known Mohler since childhood), have pointed out that his decision is consistent with a career marked as much by ambition as conviction.