Iowa evangelical Republican grasps for straws while defending 'very flawed' Trump in MSNBC interview
On MSNBC Saturday, former Ted Cruz for President director Bob Van Der Plaats, an Iowa Republican and activist within the evangelical conservative movement, acknowledged that President Donald Trump is a "flawed individual" — but when pressed by anchor Alex Witt, he refused to say whether he would do anything electorally to hold him to account for his flaws.
"At the ballot box, sir — I mean, you talk about the pro-Trump camp and the anti-Trump, I believe you called them 'ditches' — but what would you do at the ballot box?" asked Witt. "Would you hold him accountable there?"
"Well, you have choices at that point," said Van Der Plaats. "Because, yes, we believe character matters, we believe statesmanship matters, but we also believe policy matters. And so, yeah, we want to have a Christian statesman or person that represents well, but we want to advance righteous policy at the same time. We're looking at someone who would move the embassy to Jerusalem, who would preserve religious liberty, put ISIS on the run, have a soaring economy. There's a lot of things there, but it doesn't have to be an either-or, it can be a yes-and. So that's what we do, that's how we address the president."
"Are you suggesting that policy for evangelicals outweighs character?" said Witt.
"Well, I think what you're seeing across America is when you take a look at options, I'm here in Iowa and we have all kinds of candidates crisscrossing our state and they're basically campaigning on infanticide, socialism, things that aren't American foundation ... people are seeing, at the end of the day, you're going to have two very flawed individuals, President Trump and whoever the Democrat happens to be with two completely different visions for America," said Van Der Plaats.
"Is there a Democrat — I'm not asking for you personally, sir, but is there a Democrat that you hear buzz about within the evangelical community that you operate who is getting some traction?" asked Witt
"You know, we just don't see that," said Van Der Plaats.
Watch below:
"All In" with Chris Hayes graphic of a recent poll of South Carolina voters.[/caption]