Jerry Falwell Jr.: ‘You don’t choose a president based on how good they are’

Evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. said voters don’t choose a president based on a candidate’s morals, saying that leaders should be elected based on policies.

In an interview with The Washington Post published Tuesday, the Liberty University president was pressed about his support for President Trump and asked whether it was “hypocritical” for evangelical leaders to support “a leader who has advocated violence and who has committed adultery and lies often?” 

{mosads}”When Jesus said we’re all sinners, he really meant all of us, everybody. I don’t think you can choose a president based on their personal behavior,” Falwell said.

“Because even if you choose the one that you think is the most decent — let’s say you decide Mitt Romney. Nobody could be a more decent human being, better family man. But there might be things that he’s done that we just don’t know about,” Falwell continued. “So you don’t choose a president based on how good they are; you choose a president based on what their policies are. That’s why I don’t think it’s hypocritical.”

Falwell has been a vocal supporter of the president since the campaign trail, inviting Trump to speak at Liberty’s 2017 commencement ceremony.

He told the Post that there is nothing Trump could do that would endanger his support.

“Only because I know that he only wants what’s best for this country, and I know anything he does, it may not be ideologically ‘conservative,’ but it’s going to be what’s best for this country, and I can’t imagine him doing anything that’s not good for the country,” Falwell explained.

He said it may be “immoral” for other evangelical leaders to criticize the president because Trump lowered unemployment rates among African-American and Hispanic populations.

“A lot of the people who criticized me, because they had a hard time stomaching supporting someone who owned casinos and strip clubs or whatever, a lot them have come around and said, ‘Yeah, you were right,’ ” Falwell told the Post. “Some of the most prominent evangelicals in the country have said, ‘Jerry, we thought you were crazy, but now we understand.’ ”