In ‘The Teavangelicals,’ CBN’s David Brody yearns for a President Mike Pence

Matt K. Lewis Senior Contributor
Font Size:

David Brody, the Chief Political Correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), is out with a new book, arguing that evangelicals and libertarian-leaning conservatives can forge a long-term bond. And in The Teavangelicals, Brody envisions the culmination of a decades-long effort being the election of Rep. Mike Pence as the first “Teavangelical president.”

“I believe with all of my journalistic heart, ” Brody said during a recent conversation, “that Mike Pence has a real chance to be the first Teavangelical president in the United States.”

Pence, who is running for governor of Indiana, is someone Brody says is “respected by the mainstream media,” and someone who has “the fiscal package, the social package, the national security package.”

“He’s the guy,” Brody averred, “to watch out for in 2020.”

Of course, keeping this disparate coalition of libertarians and Christian conservatives together long enough for President Pence to be sworn in won’t be easy. Clearly there are schisms. “If Ayn Rand were … a leader of the movement, conservative Christians would bolt out the door,” Brody said, adding “she’s anti-God.”

Rand’s Objectivism clearly fails to neatly mesh with conservative Christian values.

Finally, we touched on “The Newt Situation.” Brody told me that “Evangelicals know about forgiveness. They know about grace, God’s grace. Here’s the difference. When [Newt] made those mistakes, according to people that know him well … they believe he’s truly been repentant over what’s happened.”

(Listen to audio of our full conversation here. Or download the podcast on iTunes.)

Matt K. Lewis