As the old adage goes, “Be careful what you say—especially to a reporter.”
Max Lucado learned that the hard way this week when comments he made about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump were used without his permission in an anti-Trump campaign ad. The ad has been running in battleground states and is meant to discourage evangelical voters from going to the polls on Nov. 8.
The comments attributed to Lucado, who is speaking them in the ad were:
I would not have said anything about Mr. Trump if he didn’t call himself a Christian … here’s a man who holds up a Bible one day and calls a lady bimbo the next … who … has the audacity to make fun of a lady’s menstrual cycle.
To be fair, the quotes used in the ad are redacted and taken slightly out of context, but only slightly. Here is what he actually said back in March during an interview with National Public Radio:
I would not have said anything about Mr. Trump if he didn’t call himself a Christian. It’d be none of my business whatsoever to make any comments about his language, his vulgarities. But I was deeply troubled—I’ll just to be honest, I was deeply troubled that here’s a man who holds up a Bible one day and calls a lady bimbo the next. Here’s a man who calls himself a Christian and yet just has the audacity to make fun of a lady’s menstrual cycle. It’s just beyond me. And, you know, I guess I’m jealous for the reputation of the church. I’m protective. It deeply concerns me that somebody who knows little or nothing about the Christian faith would hear Mr. Trump call himself a Christian and then make a decision based on the Christian faith based on his behavior. And so I just felt like I should say something.
After Lucado’s comments, the ad runs a black-and-white image of Trump, with the words, “Is this the kind of leadership Christians want?” superimposed over it. The 30-second spot is being run by the group called Faith in Public Life.
That group was outed earlier this month after WikiLeaks exposed the Clinton campaign’s “Catholic Spring” efforts. Faith in Public Life has openly advocated for the movement, which aims to change the Roman Catholic Church’s position on a number of key issues, including abortion and same-sex marriage.
Now they want to discourage you from going to the polls on Nov. 8.
In response to media questions about his involvement in the ad, Lucado said he did not give the group permission to use his words. Fair Use laws likely allow it because they publicly broadcast the comments on NPR.
But he also issued the following statement via his Facebook page:
Certain groups are using my words in political ads without my permission. Please do not take what I’ve said as an endorsement of any candidate. I hope you will pray and vote!
The statement received a number of complaints from Lucado’s social media followers. Most seemed upset that his words of judgment were now being used to advance Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
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