Evangelist Jerry Falwell Jr. made a private call to Trump to urge him to get closer to Vladimir Putin
Jerry Falwell Jr. (left) and Donald Trump (right). Image via Falwell's Twitter.
July 31, 2018
Liberty University president and televangelist spawn Jerry Falwell Jr. admitted that he asked President Donald Trump to thaw relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin — and cited the alliance of the former Soviet Union with the Allied powers during World War II as his justification.
As the Christian Post noted, Falwell remarked on Twitter that he asked the president "to keep trying to improve the relationship between US & Russia despite the criticism."
"Glad to see him reaching out to them from a position of strength," the son of the late Southern Baptist televangelist Jerry Falwell added.
This isn't the first time Falwell has spoken publicly about his wish for Trump to create a friendly relationship with Russia in spite of the country's crackdowns on religious liberty, which he called "barbaric" in an interview with The Atlantic in early 2017.
“I look at Trump more as a very, very, very shrewd and calculating businessman, and I think any good businessman would try to open up opportunities for negotiation and for relationship-building,” Falwell said in the 2017 interview. “I think that’s all he’s tried to do with Putin. I think he’s smart enough to know that you can’t even negotiate if you don’t have a relationship.”