BORDER/IMMIGRATION/RELIGION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Long one of President Trump’s most ardent defenders, the evangelist Franklin Graham voiced strenuous dissent this week about the practice of separating families at the border, even calling it ‘disgraceful.’ His comments, along with other criticism from the evangelical community, raised the possibility that the president’s support from conservative Christians might erode as outrage mounts over the Trump administration’s ‘zero-tolerance’ immigration policy. But if evangelical leaders are pained by the sight of children being taken from their parents, they are not directly faulting Mr. Trump. Instead, many blame Congress and past administrations, Republican and Democrat, and emphasize that Mr. Trump called family separation ‘horrible’ in a tweet and that he wanted a legislative fix for immigration. And though it is too early to know the electoral consequences of the policy, few conservative Christian political leaders are concerned that Mr. Trump will lose support among their ranks, which represent one of his most important voting blocs.”
-Elizabeth Dias, “Evangelical Leaders Lament Border Separations, but Stand Behind Trump,” The New York Times online, June 20, 2018