Mike Johnson shows evangelicals are willing to 'drag their faith through the mud': op-ed

Donald Trump isn't going on trial in New York for a hush money payment because he's being targeted by Democrats — he's there because he wanted to hide an affair with an adult film star from his loyal base of evangelical supporters, a columnist spelled out Tuesday.

In other words, the case isn't a "witch hunt," as Trump likes to say. It's "repercussions," according to Los Angeles Times columnist LZ Granderson.

Granderson then points to House Speaker Mike Johnson and the joint press conference he held with Trump on Friday, saying that it will likely help Johnson keep his role as speaker but "does nothing to erase the fact he’s aligned with a thrice-married adulterer who mocked Jimmy Carter the day after Rosalynn Carter, his wife of 77 years, entered hospice."

Also read: Alvin Bragg formally asks for Trump to be held in contempt for violating gag order

"The image of Johnson standing at the lectern — as Trump stood behind him like a jack-o’-lantern the day after Halloween — was frightening. Unnerving," Granderson writes. "It was not a show of strength; it was another sign of how far some white evangelicals are willing to drag their faith through the mud just to be next to power."

Christians believe in a thing called grace and forgiveness, but Granderson writes that Trump hasn't even attempted to take advantage of that attribute and has offered no remorse for his alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, or even the sexual abuse he's accused of committing. But, according to Granderson, the fact that Trump could be forgiven doesn't even matter, since he likely hasn't changed.

"What we have in Trump is not a story of redemption but a clear account of who he really is and always has been," writes Granderson, who gives the example of Trump's past comments about Nikki Haley's husband, in which he asked during a February rally, “Where’s your husband? Oh, he’s away. He’s away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone!”

Haley's husband is a member of the military who was actually deployed overseas at the time.

"This is the kind of person Johnson cozied up to last week in a desperate grab at keeping his job," Granderson concluded.