(TRUNEWS) On Tuesday June 21st Donald Trump spoke at a closed door meeting in New York City with 1000 Christian leaders.
Sitting in the fourth row from the podium during this historic exchange was TRUNEWS host Rick Wiles, who was noticeably moved by the event, commenting following the meeting “frankly, I’m very impressed by him as a person, as a man.”
Speaking exclusively with co-hosts Doc Burkhart and Edward Szall on the June 21st edition of the program, Pastor Wiles gave a detailed recount of the meeting, starting with the fact that Trump did not use the occasion to give a speech, but instead spent the entire session answering questions from evangelical leaders in attendance.
Originally limited to 200 attendees, the meeting grew past the who’s who of the Christian world to a roster of well over 1000 representatives from the American Christian community, including some media officials such as FoxNews host Todd Starnes and TIME magazine correspondent Elizabeth Dias.
Pastor Wiles noted that Trump came off as a humble man, not the bombastic, outspoken, or brazen man you see on television, but instead very presidential. “He talked and acted like a President,” Pastor Wiles said.
Pastor Wiles said that Trump was well received by the audience — receiving a rousing standing ovation from the group— and that there was a silent by evident mutual respect between the group and the presumptive nominee. The meeting did not however quell the skepticism of some leaders, who made their grievances known after Trump left. Pastor Wiles said that even after factoring the comments from these well known preachers — who are openly on the fence about supporting Trump — the overall tone by the end of the meeting indicated that the bulk of the Religious Right would support his candidacy.
As for the actual Q&A portion of the event, Pastor Wiles said Trump made more than a few game changing promises.
First, Trump addressed a question from Dr. James Dobson about what he will do as President to protect religious liberties. In response, Trump spoke at length about the importance of appointing conservative, constitutional minded judges — particularly in the Supreme Court. He pledged that his judicial appointments would please people in the meeting, specifically promising that the candidates would be pro-life. He also repeatedly spoke about how much influence courts have right now, and how the issues of our day are being decided in the courts.
While speaking to the issue of judicial overreach and its effects on Christians in America, Trump said “you know when I started running last year, I noticed that when I talked with pastors, they had fear in their voice.” He followed by posing the question, “What are these guys afraid of?” At this point Pastor Wiles perked up and was very impressed, because Trump then began discussing his plan to abolish the Lynden Johnson amendment — an amendment proposed by then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and made part of the U.S. Tax code in 1954, which prohibited tax-exempt organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates.
“Pastors were asleep at the wheel, when they allowed Lynden Johnson to get away with that law,” Trump said.
Aside from challenging the IRS, Trump also blasted political correctness, saying if he became President everyone would be free to say ‘Merry Christmas’ without repercussion, and pray with their students and sports players without fear of arrest.
Trump said he would also repair America’s relationship with Israel, saying to the crowd that “Israel has been shunned as an ally, in favor of Iran.” He also called Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran the worst deal in history. “America is led stupid people,” Trump said.
In addition to Mr. Dobson’s question, Latino Evangelical leader Reverend Sammy Rodriguez asked about immigration; Tony Perkins, the President of the Family Research Council and a co-organizer for the event, asked what he would do to rescind policies which have weakened the US military; and the former Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd asked what he would do to improve poverty in the inner cities.
To all these questions, Donald Trump stuck to his America centric campaign platform, including regulated borders, a strong military, and a healthy economy for small business creation.
In parting words, Pastor Rick Wiles said that before today he admittedly had doubts about the Rockefeller Republican, but after hearing him speak and seeing him in person there is no doubt in his mind that Donald Trump would make a fantastic President of the United States of America.
Donald Trump at a campaign victory party after rival Senator Ted Cruz dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, at Trump Tower in New York, May 3, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
The post What REALLY happened at Trump’s NYC meeting with evangelicals appeared first on TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles.
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