“To be clear,” Waldman writes, “conservative Christians have some real reasons to like Trump — the most important being the appointment of many conservative judges and the promotion of some pro-life policies. But on other issues, Trump has been less helpful than Christians seem to think.”
The first of the four lies, according to Waldman, is that “Trump repealed the Johnson Amendment.” Introduced in 1954 by Texas Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (who was sworn in as president after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963), the Johnson Amendment is a provision of the federal U.S. tax code that forbids nonprofits from endorsing political candidates. Of course, Christian Right nonprofits have violated the Johnson Amendment repeatedly over the years by promoting Republican politicians — usually without having their nonprofit status revoked. Continue reading.