Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed is out with a book that was written in part to rally evangelicals behind President Donald Trump. it was the original title of the book that first caught my notice, “Render to God and Trump.” It is, of course, a reference to the well-known biblical verse, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” The use of the Matthew 22 is curious in that Caesar was ultimately brought to his end as a dictator by the hands of multiple Senators. Not exactly the image that one would relish going into a possible impeachment.
Reed has long defended Trump from the the scandalous “Access Hollywood” tape to the payment of the hush money to a former Playboy bunny and a porn star. Reed insists that evangelicals must support Trump as a moral imperative. The title has been changed to “For God and Country: The Christian case for Trump.”
The book seeks to assure evangelicals that they are not “political prostitutes and hypocrites” for supporting Trump, who have been accused of affairs and morally questionable conduct for many years.
The problem with rendering onto Caesar is that he had an abrupt end to his career with the help of his own former allies. The White House will only have to hope that the President has no reason to utter “Et tu, Romney?” or other defectors.