Tony Perkins, Pat Robertson, Michele Bachmann, Ralph Reed, Robert Jeffress, Richard Land, and Many Others Have ‘Open Door’ Access in the West Wing
Since first taking office President Donald Trump has often insisted he’s very busy, working hard for the American people.
A May Washington Post analysis disputed Trump’s claims, by examining his public daily schedule. It concluded, “We are left to make one of two assumptions: Trump either is hiding a lot of his presidential business from the public, or he is not doing much at all.”
Here’s what Trump’s public schedule looks like for the past two and a half weeks, via Factbase:
Notice anything odd?
From Sunday through Wednesday this week there’s almost nothing on his calendar.
Trump is leaving for an overseas trip to France later Wednesday to celebrate Bastille Day on July 14. Some have assumed he’s been preparing for that trip, while others, and news reports, say the administration is in crisis mode, the White House in a bunker mentality after months of increasingly bad news surrounding the Russia investigation.
So what exactly is the President doing this week?
Hanging out with the religious right. The far Christian right. The very anti-gay, anti-choice, religious right.
“President Donald Trump, who has remained out of public view since returning from Europe late Saturday, welcomed evangelical leaders into the Oval Office on Monday for a prayer session,” CNN reports Wednesday.
Former Liberty University senior vice president Johnnie Moore posted this photo:
The photo “also showed Vice President Mike Pence, with his eyes shut, participating in the Oval Office prayer session,” CNN notes. “Others pictured in posts from the Oval Office included Jack Graham, the pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, and Michele Bachmann, the former Republican congresswoman from Minnesota.”
But Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) delivers a complete accounting of the Christian far right attendees in the Oval Office prayer meeting. It’s a who’s who of the anti-gay Christian right.
Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council (FRC); Pastor John Hagee, founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio; Paula White, senior pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida; former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann; Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition; Gary Bauer, president of American Values; Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas; Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Church in La Mesa, California; Rodney Howard-Browne, senior pastor at the River at Tampa Bay Church, Mike Evans, the founder of Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem, and Richard Land, president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte and others.
Johnnie Moore told CBN, “We enjoy an open door, not just in the Eisenhower Building, but in the West Wing.”
And Moore notes that the group spent the entire day Monday in the White House:
The Daily Mail adds, “Evangelical pastor Rodney Howard-Browne led a prayer circle alongside his wife Adonica in the White House and then shared the image on Facebook.”
One of those photos is embedded above.
“Yesterday I was asked by Pastor Paula White-Cain to pray over our 45th President – what a humbling moment standing in the Oval Office – laying hands and praying for our President – Supernatural Wisdom, Guidance and Protection – who could ever even imagine – wow – we are going to see another great spiritual awakening,” Pastor Howard-Browne wrote on Facebook.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, President Trump gave an exclusive interview with none other than televangelist Pat Robertson, the founder of the “700 Club.” Robertson’s positions are wildly antithetical to mainstream America, and his comments frequently draw the ire of liberals across the country.
More on that to come.
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