Dr. Wayne Grudem has had a topsy-turvy relationship with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
In July, Grudem received the wrath of many #NeverTrumpers when he publicly declared that in spite of Trump’s character flaws, he would endorse his candidacy for president, calling him a “morally good choice.” Three months later—after the release of now-widely publicized 2005 “hot mic” audio recording—he rescinded his endorsement and had the earlier endorsement article retracted.
But now, he’s taken another position in the 2016 presidential race.
The evangelical theologian, using his weekly column appearance at townhall.com, wrote that since Trump didn’t heed his advice to drop out of the race, he’s left with the inevitable “What now?” question. And since Hillary Clinton is just as morally repugnant to him as Trump, he has to find a way to make his vote matter on Nov. 8.
Grudem said he absolutely will not vote for Clinton, leaving him with one of two options: voting for Trump, or voting for a third-party candidate. He said the latter would, in essence, help Clinton get elected—something he also said he refuses to do.
Once I put the choice in those stark terms, there is a good way to make a decision. Since I find both candidates morally objectionable, I am back to the old-fashioned basis on which I have usually decided how to vote for my entire life: Whose policies are better? Do I agree more with Trump’s policies or with Clinton’s?
It isn’t even close. I overwhelmingly support Trump’s policies and believe that Clinton’s policies will seriously damage the nation, perhaps forever. On the Supreme Court, abortion, religious liberty, sexual orientation regulations, taxes, economic growth, the minimum wage, school choice, Obamacare, protection from terrorists, immigration, the military, energy and safety in our cities, I think Trump is far better than Clinton (see below for details). Again and again, Trump supports the policies I advocated in my 2010 book Politics According to the Bible.
Grudem included a proviso: with three weeks left before the election, there was plenty of time for another “October Surprise” for either—or both—of the candidates. But there’s another possibility—one he said he is much more hopeful for:
[B]ecause Trump claims he is a changed person from who he was in 2005 and he has apologized for how he acted back then. There is a possibility he has really changed, and I hope it is true. I don’t know. Therefore what I write here is my best judgment as of Oct. 18, 2016, given the information we know now.
He then broke down—in deep detail—why he had made his decision to vote for Trump anyway.
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