Abortion and Gay Marriage Are Absent from Donald Trump’s Appeal to Evangelicals
By JONATHAN MARTIN and ALEXANDER BURNSSEPT. 9, 2016
WASHINGTON — Donald J. Trump pleaded Friday with Christian conservatives to rally to his candidacy, but in a high-profile speech to evangelicals made no mention of issues of central importance to them, like abortion, same-sex marriage and Israel.
“You didn’t vote four years ago,” Mr. Trump said in an address at a conference convened here by the Family Research Council, warning, “this is your last chance, this is it.”
He appealed to the attendees with biting attacks on Hillary Clinton and a vow to promote religious freedom and appoint conservative judges — holding up the late Justice Antonin Scalia as the “ultimate example of what we’re looking for.”
It was a somewhat unusual appearance for a Republican presidential nominee less than two months before the election. Most candidates are by this point seeking to find and persuade undecided voters, not beseeching the most loyal party activists.
But Mr. Trump, a twice-divorced casino operator who has boasted of his sexual exploits, is no typical Republican nominee. And it is an open question whether he can count on the votes of the sort of social conservatives who at this time in the campaign are usually hard at work volunteering for the party’s standard-bearer.
So Mr. Trump, once a regular Howard Stern guest and a Playboy cover boy, momentarily stepped away from the swing states that will decide the presidential race and ventured into the basement ballroom of a Washington hotel to make his pitch. He lamented how difficult it is to raise Christian children today, quoted from Scripture and revealed a bit of news that illustrated how focused he is on turning out core Republican voters. He would, he announced to applause, travel to St. Louis on Saturday to attend the funeral of Phyllis Schlafly, the longtime conservative warrior who died this week at 92.
Mr. Trump was warmly, if not rapturously, received at the annual conference, which is billed as the Values Voter Summit, and displayed a measure of self-awareness. After pledging to undo restrictions on religious liberty,
he joked, “I figure that’s the only way I’m getting to heaven.” And he received an ovation after vowing to defend what he termed America’s Christian heritage.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/10/us/politics/trump-pence-values-voter-summit.html?_r=0Twice he lets us know now that he is working his way to heaven by promising things to the Evangelicals. Just and excerpt of the article but it goes on to question why he didn't mention Israel either. Its the same old emptiness and Evangelicals seem to be thrilled by the LGBTQ candidate.
