Wayne Grudem is one of the most impactful figures in Evangelical academia, specifically his Systematic Theology and previous work on major issues like female pastors. During the 2020 election, Wayne Grudem spoke out and critiqued John Piper’s trash article to comfort Biden voters. Now Wayne Grudem is calling on Trump to drop out of the 2024 presidential election. Last week he wrote an article for Newsweek titled “Why Trump Should Drop Out Now: A Conservative Republican Viewpoint.”
Wayne Grudem begins by positing his conservative credentials, including voting for Trump in 2016 and 2020 and supporting Trump’s accomplishments as President. Ultimately, Grudem is skeptical of Trump’s ability to win the general election in 2024, which drives his call for Trump to drop out.
Why then should Trump drop out of the current presidential race? Because he is a weaker candidate than in 2016. In fact, Republican pollster Frank Luntz recently called Trump the “weakest” Republican candidate for the general election. While Trump remains popular among conservative Republicans (and thus he is favored to win the GOP nomination), his support among independent voters is abysmal, and independents will decide the general election.
Aside from the appeal to Frank Luntz’s credibility, Wayne Grudem raises a substantive point about Trump’s waning efficacy with independent voters, but it’s worth noting that Chris Christie and Nikki Haley are weaker candidates who would leave many Republican votes at home.
A New York Times/ Siena College poll of over 3,600 registered voters in six battleground states in October, 2023, found that 57% of respondents had an unfavorable view of President Biden, a highly unpopular president (41% were favorable). But 56%, almost an identical number, had an unfavorable view of Trump (42% were favorable). Voters don’t like either of these candidates. And among voters who are “undecided and persuadable,” only 20% think it would be good for the country if Trump became president again. And 54% believe that Trump has committed serious federal crimes. If those numbers are anywhere near the actual situation, it will be impossible for Trump to win the general election.
Therefore if Trump collects a majority of delegates in the early Republican primaries and thereby secures the GOP nomination, Republicans would be facing a huge risk that Democrats will find some way to dump Biden and then quickly select a fresh, younger candidate (like California governor Gavin Newsom) and win the general election in a landslide.
Wayne Grudem appears to be under the nonsensical impression that the Democrats intend to jettison Joe Biden due to unpopularity. Democrats suffered heavy election losses under Obama and refused to moderate. So why start now? Democrats ran the unpopular Hillary Clinton against Trump and lost because people voted against her. Yet in 2020 unpopularity did not favor Trump, and the Democrats seem poised to ride Biden’s vegetative pliability to the bitter end. Grudem then posits his reasons for Trump’s declining support.
(1) Refusing to admit that he lost the 2020 election. I realize that many Trump supporters will object, “But the Democrats cheated!” Okay, I have read enough reports about people inserting fraudulent ballots into the voting process that I will agree that some Democrats in some precincts somehow produced a dishonestly high vote count for Joe Biden. But there are more than 174,000 voting precincts in the United States, and there is now no way to know how many illegitimate votes Biden accumulated. There is also no way to prove that Democrats in any single state fabricated anywhere near enough votes to swing that state’s electoral votes to Biden instead of Trump.
Most Republicans probably believe the 2020 election was rigged more than Donald Trump does. Yet Trump did a terrible job in late 2020 fighting on their behalf concerning election integrity. Part of this was made clear in his legal team which included Rudy Guiliani and Jenna Ellis as opposed to his impeachment trial team which had the most renowned trial attorneys in the country.
(2) Recklessly refusing to call off the protesters when the demonstration turned violent on January 6: A strong rebuke from Trump in public and on Twitter, warning the protesters against forcefully entering the capitol, would have avoided the horrible spectacle of American citizens joining an unruly mob that was trying to stop Congress from functioning according to the law and certifying the results of the election.
Wayne Grudem goes Blue Anon here, but he’s not entirely wrong in concluding that many Americans believe the propaganda. But still, Trump’s failure to blanket pardon J6ers is a more pressing issue.
(3) Losing Republican control of the U.S. Senate by making rash endorsements of weak Republican candidates in several states: Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania all had incumbent Democrat senators who could have been soundly defeated by a reasonably competent Republican candidate in 2022, but Trump foolishly endorsed Blake Masters in Arizona (who had never held any elective office), Herschel Walker in Georgia (whose credibility was repeatedly challenged), and political newcomer Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania.
On Georgia and Pennsylvania, he is correct. Although the unique Trump voter did not turn out in 2022 in PA. But in Arizona, Martha McSally, an anti-Trump Republican is to blame. She might be the worst Senate candidate in history because she lost the Republicans not one but two Senate seats. She lost in 2018 and then again in 2020 after being appointed to fill a vacancy. So she could neither win a seat nor hold it. So this fault goes to her and not Blake Masters.
(4) Legal problems: The multiple active lawsuits against President Trump (91 felony counts) constitute a huge risk, because they could essentially keep him from actively campaigning during the entire election season of 2024. In addition, the legal discovery process holds the potential of some insiders anonymously leaking a drip-drip-drip of embarrassing and damaging new information about Trump after he wins the Republican nomination and it is too late for Republicans to replace him with a non-scandal plagued candidate. The Democrats could win in a landslide.
Wayne Grudem’s objection is sustained. Trump’s legal problems are our legal problems if he should win the Republican nomination. Trump stands to lose White voters if convicted of a felony, regardless of people like Glenn Beck lying to you about Trump winning the Black vote.
Point 5 is about Trump’s age, and Point 6 is a rehash of the character debate from 2016.
(7)Â Trump fatigue: Here I speak personally as a lifelong Republican, one who will support any Republican candidate because the policies supported by Republicans are more consistent with the overall teachings of the Bible regarding governments and laws than the policies of the Democrats, in my opinion.
Quite honestly, the thought of having to defend Trump again and again for another year produces in me a great feeling of weariness. Judging from numerous personal conversations, I think millions of other Republicans feel the same way. We would vote for Trump, but the needed enthusiasm and willingness to spend volunteer hours and to contribute money are simply not there.
This is a major concern and one that shows itself in Trump’s lackluster fundraising situation. Americans do not seem to be donating to a campaign that is spending money on criminal and civil court cases, even though these are legitimate campaign expenditures.
Grudem concludes that Trump dropping out would protect his legacy and make the election about policy and not personality. In the end, Wayne Grudem is trying to have an adult conversation before its too late. However, Grudem is not as conservative as he thinks he is and showcases his internalized liberal propaganda.
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It would be far wiser for Theologians to not weigh in on political commentary, in which they have no credibility, on far-left partisan sites. This is nothing but an overt effort to court the enemy into being nice to them; making them feel all tingly and accepted. Theologians, indeed all Gospel ministers, would be of better service calling out a nation steeped in heinous sin to repent. I doubt Newsweek would have given him space for calling out the nation to repent, but they are more than happy to give him space to do the work of the enemy of our soul.
First thing this morning I received in my inbox notification of a new article over at the Dissenter, with the title “There is No Longer Any Doubt That Voting for the Democrat Party is a Sinful Act of Rebellion Against God”
That is absolutely true. But what’s also true is that voting for the Republican Party is also a sinful act of rebellion since the Republican party has made support for porneia and tranvestism a part of its platform.
It saddens me that otherwise solid Christians, with otherwise solid discernment, get so caught up in politics that God’s word gets shifted aside and the political goal of helping Republicans win takes front and center.
The same applies to Mr. Grudem. Like him I voted basically straight Republican in 2016 and 2020, including for Trump, as a matter of voting for the platform. But I ask him, now that the Republican platform as since taken a major turn toward the pit of Hell, who is the alternative to Trump? There aren’t any. There are no solid Christian candidates in the running. There are none who stand against abominable sin and the imposition thereof. There are none who stand against the RNC and party platform. None.
He’s certainly correct about this not being the democrat party of the 90s. What he’s ignoring is that the republican party has also changed for the worse, and significantly so just since the past election. They’re both headed straight down the broad highway to Hell, one perhaps at slower speed than the other, but the destination is the same.
Our objective is to honor the Lord. Our objective is to increase Him. Our objective should be to speak the truth of His Word to an unrepentant, dying, and doomed world in this age. Our objective is not to get caught up and carried away with politics to such an extent that we end up endorsing and advocating for one evil vs another.
And this is especially true considering the fact that the Repblican party still tries to claim Jesus’ name. Making themselves hypocrites like the Pharisees who are no better than the satanic democrats. What did Jesus call the pharisees? Servants of satan. In other words, He was telling them they were no better than the heathens who rejected God outright.
“11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” – 2 Tim. 2:11-14
I might possibly vote for a few candidates here and there this coming election, but if I do it will be a very select few.
Saying or implying, “just vote for the (R) regardless”, is to demonstrate a nearly complete and total lack of any discernment whatsoever.
Where in the Republican platform is support for transgenderism and porneia? It’s long but it opposes gay marriage.
Ray they support transvestism beyond a certain age. They go around calling Bruce Jenner a “she”. They’ve officially accepted and endorsed the log cabin crowd. They’ve made support for so-called “gay rights” a part of their agenda. They elevate and platform homosexuals. They may claim to oppose so-called “gay marriage” yet they embrace and celebrate fellow republicans who are in said so-called marriages.
I’m talking about the platform both written and unwritten.
If opposition to so-called “gay marriage” remains a part of the platform at the next convention, you can bet your last nickel the one and only reason would be because they’re trying to salvage the evangelical vote. In practice, it will not be honored. Do you see any candidates speaking out against it? Do you see any candidates calling out homosexuality as the abominable sin that it is? Do you see any candidates calling out transvestism as the abominable sin that it is? I don’t. On the contrary, every current presidential candidate supports the abominable sins.
Democrats just turn around and point the finger at republicans and say “they’re hypocrites”. Well, the fact is they’re right about that. When it comes to being servants of satan, democrats are more honest.
If you can vote for any and every republican across the board in good conscience, that’s between you and the Lord. As for me, I cannot.
I’m not telling anyone how to vote. I’m saying the days of politics being a viable solution are long gone. At this point it is about like arguing between Augustus and Nero, as if our salvation lies in the office of Caesar.
Every election we get played like a pawn-shop fiddle.
What happened during the Trump admin? Porneia was further pushed, imposed, and entrenched. He’s going around waving the porneia flag. The government continued to pressure and extort countries such as Uganda. Republicans had a super majority for nearly two years, what did they do about it? Not a flipping thing.
Many of the big republican donors are homosexuals, and most support it.
You’re being played just like readers of gateway pundit. A publication that pretends, all while its owner is an unrepentant homosexual.
They’re just herding you like cattle. Leading you astray. Little by little. Constantly circling back to herd you a little farther and farther from the fold.
They do not care about us, my friend. They do not love the Lord. They claim His name while dragging it through the mud. They’re just as intent on forcing and extorting us to violate our conscience, to weaken our conscience, and to drive us away from the Lord, as the democrats. You think they would extort Uganda but not us? Think again. There are very, very few candidates that I would consider to be solid Christians.
Who are we going to serve? Are we going to serve the Lord, or are we going to serve a political party?
“Watch yourselves!” – Luke 17:3