NYT conservative rips evangelicals: ‘Stormy Daniels isn’t a shock to that culture -- it’s a representation of it’

In a back and forth on the New York Times editorial page, conservative columnist Bret Stephens trashed the "institutional Christian right" for remaining in bed with President Donald Trump despite credible revelations that he had an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Taking part in the conversation with liberal Gail Collins, Stephens was asked what to make of the sex scandal that, if it involved a Democrat, would have Christian conservatives up and arms and moving towards impeachment, as was the case with former President Bill Clinton.

"Did you find the Stormy Daniels interview sort of … boring? I did, and it seems like a tribute to Donald Trump that I could be listening to a woman talking about how she swatted his rear end with a magazine that had his picture on the front and think, 'Well, at least he had underwear on,'" Collins wrote before adding, "It’s just that we now have a president whose sleaze rating is so high it’s hard to get shocked by anything."

Stephens agreed before accusing Christians of hypocrisy.

"Exactly. It’s boring because nothing about this president scandalizes us anymore," Stephens wrote. "I can remember when news of Bill Clinton’s alleged affair with Gennifer Flowers broke when he was running for president in 1992. Conservatives erupted: The man was not fit to sit in the Oval Office!"

"Nowadays it’s a different story," Stephen's continued. "Right-wing political culture, including the institutional Christian right, has been pornogrified. The Stormy Daniels affair isn’t a shock to that culture; it’s a representation of it. This is the bed conservatives made, so to speak, when they adopted Trump as one of their own, so they shouldn’t be surprised by anyone who turns up in there with them."

Stephens later called out Trump as an "incompetent executive."

"The departures of Gary Cohn, Rex Tillerson and H. R. McMaster confirm the central truth of the Trump presidency: He’s an incompetent executive," he wrote. "He offers no loyalty to his subordinates but expects flattery from them in return. He provides no direction but refuses to take direction when it is offered to him. People call him the chaos president, which he thinks is a compliment because it hints at the possibility that there’s method to the madness. There isn’t. It’s just a personality disorder with command authority over nuclear weapons."

You can read the whole piece here.