Elections

Vander Plaats ‘Confused’ And ‘Flabergasted’ Over Falwell’s Trump Endorsement

Kerry Picket Political Reporter
Font Size:

AMES, Iowa–Iowa conservative evangelical activist Robert Vander Plaats says he’s puzzled over Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr.’s endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

However, Vander Plaats told The Daily Caller on Saturday during a rally for Texas Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] that Falwell’s endorsement will not harm Cruz’s candidacy.

“The next time someone tells me they are going to caucus for Mr. Trump, because Jerry Fallwell told them or has endorsed him will be the first time. I have a lot of respect for Jerry Falwell,” Vander Plaats told TheDC. “I gotta tell ya’. I’m just confused and flabbergasted by the endorsement. I don’t think his endorsement is going to move people,” he said.

Vander Plaats explained, “I think when people see Trump is not a conservative—he’s pro-choice. He’s not going to stand up for marriage. He’s not going to stand up to an activist court. He wants to make deals with the establishment and he’s shown judgment and temperament that people are very concerned [about]. I don’t think anyone’s endorsement is going to help when those are the issues.”

Falwell told The Christian Broadcast Network on Saturday during a Trump rally in Davenport that he endorsed the New York businessman for president because he would want him in the “foxhole” nearby.

“I think they have to look to what issues are critical to the future of our country. It’s security, it’s our economy,” Falwell said. “When I’m in a foxhole, the guy I want beside me shooting, I don’t care if he’s one of us or not. If he’s a Christian, that’s great but if he’s not I want the best shot in the foxhole with me.”

When asked his thoughts on Trump’s description of “Second Corinthians” as “Two Corinthians,” Vander Plaats, responded: “Whether he says, ‘Two Corinthians or Second Corinthians’ that’s really irrelevant. It’s more, ‘You’ll know them by their fruits.’”

“So giving money to Democrats, being very pro-choice, not taking a stand for marriage—the pride and arrogance that comes about when you say, ’I can shoot somebody and I’m not gonna lose support,’ those are not tenets of the Christian faith,” he added. “So I think the more people peel back that onion Monday night, I just don’t see them casting their vote that way.”

Both Trump and Cruz are vying for evangelical voters in Iowa and tensions between the two camps have grown. Trump and Vander Plaats went at it with one another on Twitter last week.