Orange Pantload Pity Party: Trump Struggles with Basic Christian Teaching at National Prayer Breakfast

Mod: That whole "love your enemies" theme put forward at the Annual National Prayer Breakfast yesterday seemed terribly lost on an obviously butt-hurt Donald Trump.

Trump Struggles With Basic Christian Teaching At National Prayer Breakfast (Huffington Post link): In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave his followers a set of counterintuitive teachings, telling them that the meek will inherit the earth, to be glad when people persecute them, to turn the other cheek and, most importantly, to love their enemies.

President Donald Trump, a self-described Presbyterian, is having a tough time following that last command.

During Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast, Trump used his time at the lectern to condemn the impeachment proceedings, rally for his own reelection and disparage the sincerity of his opponents’ faith. The president’s speech at the Washington Hilton hotel was a jarring departure from the tone set by other speakers at an annual event that traditionally seeks to promote bipartisanship and unity.

Trump spoke shortly after a keynote delivered by Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor and president of a conservative think tank, who lamented the country’s increasing polarization.

“Some people say we need more civility and tolerance. I say, nonsense,” Brooks said. “Why? Because civility and tolerance are a low standard. Jesus didn’t say, ‘Tolerate your enemies.’ He said, ‘Love your enemies.’ Answer hatred with love.”

Brooks asked members of the audience to raise their hands if they loved someone whom they disagreed with politically. Hands shot up around the room, but Trump didn’t raise his, according to the Religion News Service.

Moments later, the president got the chance to share his thoughts out loud and he publicly wrestled with a core Christian teaching.

“Arthur, I don’t know if I agree with you,” Trump said as he took the microphone. “As everybody knows, my family, our great country and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people,” Trump said. “They have done everything possible to destroy us and, by so doing, very badly hurt our nation.”

The president lashed out at Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who broke with his Republican colleagues on Wednesday by voting to convict Trump of abuse of power. The president attacked Romney for pointing to his faith as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to explain his vote.

“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump said.

The president also seemed to take a jab at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Catholic who has said she often prays for Trump. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so,” Trump said.

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