Dave Kistler: Well, ladies and gentleman, Donald Trump began his term as president of the United States as one of the most unpopular presidents in the modern era and some would say he remains the same. However, last evening, if you watched the president’s address in El Paso, Texas to a jam-packed crowd, he referenced some material and some information that had just come out that his approval rating is now above 51%. However, prior to that, at the two-year mark, his approval rating, according to most of the surveys and according to Gallup, which is a fairly reputable polling and survey entity, his popularity approval rating has been at 37%. At the same two-year point, Barack Obama’s approval was 50%. George W. Bush’s approval rating was 58% and President Bill Clinton’s approval rating at the two-year mark was 54%. All very high at that point in their presidency in their first term.
But what is beyond interesting are two other intriguing statistics. Now, I want you to listen very carefully. The highest approval point of modern presidents was George H.W. Bush at the two-year mark and his approval rating was 64%. In like fashion, Ronald Reagan at the two-year point of his first term had an approval rating exactly where President Trump’s approval rating has been hovering and that’s 37%. But, of course, we now know that H.W. did not get reelected and Ronald Reagan did.
Well, with all of that I want to welcome you to Stand in the Gap today. I am Dave Kistler. I’m joined today by the entire team and that’s Gary Dull and Sam Rohrer and we’re looking forward to the program day. I want to say this to you. If you have a friend, a coworker, someone that maybe has never listened to the program and you’d like to give them a call or shoot them a text and encourage them to listen today, we’re going to do something that I have wanted to do and feel very much compelled to do right now, but I’ve wanted to do it for several weeks and for several reasons.
There is a growing chorus of support that seems to be just growing is the only word I know to use, all across the United States of America. And I think part of that is due to the leftist lurch that is taking place on the part of the Democratic Party and the legitimate fear I believe that people have with respect to what our nation could become if certain entities within the Democratic Party and those on the far left wing of that party get their way. And that is they would like to turn America into a socialist country.
And so I want to do what we’re going to do today for that reason. There’s also another reason, I just think it’s legitimate. I think it’s the right thing to do. To analyze how someone is doing. I think we ought to do that even for ourselves. And so with all of that in mind, our topic today is going to be this, the Trump presidency, an honest assessment.
And so what we’re going to do is analyze three aspects of the Trump presidency and those three aspects are going to be these: Number one, how has he governed? Number two, what has he done with respect to the economy? And then, Number three, promises made, promises kept.
Now there’s a lot of other things we could discuss. And in the final segment of the program today, we may bring up one other topic, but let’s get into the program today. And let’s talk first of all about an honest assessment of the Trump presidency with respect to how he has governed thus far.
So fellas, let me mention some statistics that are often used to gauge governance. And that’s the turnover rate within an administration. And some have called the Trump White House a revolving door. But here are the actual numbers. And these numbers are according to the Brookings Institute. The turnover rate among senior officials in the White House are as follows: Let me give you Obama’s turnover rate for the first two years: 24% of his senior officials left the administration within the first two years. According to Brookings Institute, Clinton had 38% turnover rate. George W. Bush had a 33% turnover rate. H.W. Bush had a 25% turnover rate and Donald Trump has had a 65% turnover rate. Now here he is a little known but very interesting statistic to add to the mix. Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States of America certainly got reelected for a second term, two years into his first term had a 57% turnover rate. So just a little bit less than what President Trump’s turnover rate has been.
So Sam, I want to go to you. You have been in politics. You’ve dealt with a staff. Does turnover rate of senior staff indicate failure or does it really indicate anything for that matter?
Sam Rohrer: Well, Dave it does indicate something. It says that something is changing and I think that’s where you have to go. The question is how is it changing? What direction is the change going? Is the net change an improvement? Is the net change not an improvement? Of course, that is all linked to the goals of the president because we’re talking about here the executive branch. We’re talking not governing in the perspective of governing the nation. We’re talking about in-house administration of staff, of the team, more or less. And this president, I do believe because he has come in from outside a business entity where he has put into place and has had staffs of people to which he has delegated a great deal. He’s had to in his function as a businessman. He’s brought that same mentality into the White House. That is not the normal mentality of all of the other presidents who have come in because they’ve all come up through the machinery. And generally speaking, the turnover rate is much lower because of the nature of, “Well, you earned this as a political appointee and I don’t want to upset you” and all that kind of stuff.
But I think what we saw with Obama, Obama went in and he did a lot of turnover, but he was cleaning house. And we now know that during his administration he put into place a lot of his cronies, which are the bane of this president to this day. Ronald Reagan came in, probably mostly an outsider, but still a governor, former governor. He came in very clearly ideologically driven, far more than any of the others, Clinton or the Bushes, and so he had to set about making changes ideologically, which is why his numbers probably approximate Donald Trump’s. So, a turnover does not necessarily mean failure and it certainly doesn’t mean failure as the Democrats or the left would try to indicate it. They’re upset because it’s a change that’s focusing ideology. That’s bad for them, but that’s really good for the country.
Dave Kistler: Sam, I think that is an excellent assessment of the turnover rate. It’s where you’re going when there is a change with senior staff, and if it’s going the way that the president’s ideology is going, then that’s a good thing. If it’s change or even lack thereof, then that can be even a bad thing.
And you’re right. Obama kept a lot of his cronies around when he should have turned loose of them and one of the people he probably should have turned loose of was his attorney general, Eric Holder and he kept him around and kept him around even though Eric Holder had all kinds of problems and even was held in contempt of Congress.
Well, ladies and gentleman, welcome back to Stand in the Gap today. Again, this is Dave Kistler, joined by Sam Rohrer and Gary Dull, the entire team and we’re talking about a highly important topic today and that is the Trump presidency, an honest assessment.
Now, if you’ve listened to this program for any amount of time at all, you understand that we, who are the hosts on this program, do not always agree with everything the president has said. We certainly don’t always agree with everything the president tweets and we certainly are quick to point out the president has a less than stellar background. And so this is not a blanket endorsement on this program of President Trump, everything he’s been said, done, tweeted or whatever. But what we’re trying to do today is take a look at three aspects of his first two years in office and do a two-year assessment of how well he’s done.
And in segment one we talked very briefly about how he’s governed and it was an in-house governance of his own staff and senior officials and the turnover rate and so on. And Sam made some outstanding comments about the turnover rate, because this president is very much ideologically driven, much like Ronald Reagan. He doesn’t mind letting people know what his ideology is and the direction he wants to take the country. And if you watched his speech in El Paso last night, that was an ideologically-driven speech.
And so we could talk, I’m sure, a lot more about how he’s governed. But we’re going to have to shift gears in segment two and talk a little bit about one of the president’s signature campaign topics and that was the economy. If you remember, President Trump campaigned on creating 25 million jobs over 10 years through his tax cut proposals, removal of smothering regulations, and renegotiating some trade deals. Well, over the last two years, and this is the most recent information, the president referenced it last night in his speech in El Paso. Over the first two years of his first term, he has created 5 million jobs. Now, if the president continues, if the economy continues to click along at that rate and does not decline or improve, then over 10 years he would have created exactly the 25 million jobs that he campaigned on. So that is, to me, beyond significant.
The unemployment rate, according to the most recent statistics that he referenced last evening as well, the unemployment rate right now is 3.6% and that’s the lowest unemployment rate in more than 18 years and its benefits are certainly being felt broadly across the United States of America. Equally, the unemployment rate for African-Americans has reached another historic low as well as the unemployment rate for Asians. And, of course, these two rates are the lowest since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began publishing these.
In addition, the Wells Fargo-Gallup Small Business Index reported in December that optimism among small business owners has been increasing throughout the year 2018 to a level higher than at any point in the index’s 15-year history.
Now, there’s a lot of other things we could talk about economically. I just want to mention those three and for sake of time, men, I want to go to you both and ask you this. These are, to me, pretty telling statistics, but they suggest some things about how the president is doing with respect to delivering on his promises with respect to the economy.
Gary, I want to get your thoughts.
Gary Dull: Well, first of all, I do think he’s doing a great job as president and I’m saying that from the position of understanding what our nation is and the policies with which he is operating. In fact, I think that we are seeing him doing things that other presidents have not done down through the years, particularly with the economy, with the amount of people who are going back to work. And, of course, with the positive attitude that he is setting for the nation. I think that no matter where you go, when you find people who really love our country, you find that there are those who are really excited with what’s going on in the nation today.
Certainly, he is not a typical president. He is not a politician. He’s a businessman and he went into the White House as a businessman and as a businessman, he does what needs to be done to get the job done. My father-in-law was a businessman and I can remember him saying as far back as probably 25 years that what we really need is a businessman in the White House. Now, unfortunately, Bud Spence did not get to live long enough to see Donald Trump get into office. But you’ve got a man who understands how to build a business and he’s applying those principles to the United States of America, to the administration out of the White House, and that’s why I think he’s doing such a good job. Some people have a hard time getting along with him, but he’s done a good job because he’s doing it as a businessman.
Dave Kistler: Gary, I knew your father-in-law. I met him on several occasions and he was an incredible businessman, a highly successful businessman. I hadn’t really thought about it until you just said that. He didn’t have the benefit of seeing the first really businessman elected president in modern history, if not ever. And I think he would be quite pleased with what he saw had he been able to see this.
Sam, let me go to you. I think what we’re looking at economically would suggests that the president is doing a stellar job delivering on the economic front. What say you?
Sam Rohrer: Well, I’m going to answer a little bit differently, Dave because I think we can go one or two ways here. One, we can say Donald Trump is the one who is doing this. I’m not going to say that. He’s not. It’s the power of right principles, right policies that are doing it. And that is what a person who’s in a position of leadership is to do. The president is not creating jobs. And I know that’s not what we’re saying, but I just want to clarify that for people who are listening because we can think, Obama can stand up and say, “I created jobs.” He didn’t create anything. He sure can destroy them and he did. But nobody can create jobs. But the president and those in office create the climate that then can produce the job. The power is in the people. The power is in the fact that millions of people can now act upon their personal desire for gain, proper and for success and all of those things. And when the climate is appropriate, these things can happen.
That’s what’s happening. And that’s what the president or a businessman generally understands. But a person who has been in office for a long time can still do the same thing. It’s just that most when they get in office get tainted and they get limited by the controlling personal gain mindset of what those in modern office produce and so it seems like it takes somebody from the outside, like Donald Trump, who is not vested in the process to come in and do something. But the principles that he’s putting forth are the same ones that Ronald Reagan put forth. They’re the same principles that any true constitutional Conservative, biblical-understanding person would say are proper policies to guide the economy or whatever.
So I just want to make that little bit of a distinctive here because the power is in the principle, regardless of who puts it into place. Except that we now have a guy who’s not limited and tainted by previous involvement with a bribe the system, which is really what we have now, and we see the power of those principles put in place. So whether he puts it in place or somebody in Europe puts those kinds of principles in place, limit the de-regulations, cut the taxes, those kinds of things, that’s going to work no matter where you put them into place. That’s what we’re seeing happening now.
Dave Kistler: Sam, that’s an excellent point. That’s an outstanding point. It’s not the person. We sometimes talk about the Trump economy and him creating jobs or Obama limiting jobs or creating jobs as he claimed. But it’s actually, as you said, the climate created by the person at the top that allows certain economic principles to function and when they’re functioning, the economy will thrive as a result. So, excellent, excellent point and distinction there.
I don’t know if you, gentlemen saw his speech last night in El Paso, but at one point he made the comment about the economy and it was doing so well and the, I don’t know, 8,000 people, I think, that we’re able to get into the building and maybe 35,000 on the outside. I know 69,000 people had signed up actually to try to attend the event, but the president referenced the size of the building inside and I think it was about 35,000 outside watching on big screen monitors. But they started chanting “Trump, Trump, Trump,” and he did, Sam, basically what you did. Only he did it a little differently. He said, “Look, I did not create this economy.” He said, “You did.” And he gestured to the audience and then he did this, and I have never heard him do this before, he said, “You did this and God.” Gary, that was one of the most stunning moments of the entire speech last night. “You did this, you, the American people and God.” So what Sam is saying is there are certain biblical principles found in the Scriptures with respect to economics, that if those principles are allowed to be implemented, God’s hand of blessing rests on that economy. Talk about that for a minute.
Gary Dull: Well, I agree with that 100% and we’ve talked on this program before, how that Donald Trump seems to be a president who mentions God more than any other president that we can remember in our time. And we’ve also spoken of the fact that when those biblical principles are put into action, God will bless those principles because they are rooted in His Word and he promises to bless His Word.
And so when you have a man who adheres to biblical principles and perhaps is given counsel to adhere to those biblical principles, and then enacts those biblical principles, God is going to bless it. And that’s a promise from the Word of God.
I did not get the opportunity to see the speech last night, David, but the very fact that he said to the people, “You did this in the economy and God did it” that says a lot to me about Donald Trump. He’s beginning to understand the team effort. It starts with God and then the rest of the American people to go together to make the nation as strong as it can be.
Dave Kistler: Sam, I know we have just a few seconds left. What would you say to those that would suggest that Trump is merely reaping the benefit of Obama’s policies and that’s why the economy’s doing so well? I’m sorry. I’m fighting to keep back the laughter, but what would you say to those that would suggest that?
Sam Rohrer: Anybody who suggest that would indicate that they are fools.
Dave Kistler: Tell us how you really feel, Sam.
Sam Rohrer: Not understanding the truth because the objective measures are in place and you can evaluate and determine those things based on looking at the facts.
Dave Kistler: Well, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Stand in the Gap. Today we’re talking about the Trump presidency, an honest assessment, and in this segment we want to talk about promises made and promises kept.
If you will remember during the campaign, President Trump, then Candidate Trump, made a promise to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, something that his three immediate predecessors had also promised and yet failed to do. And this president didn’t just promise it, he did it.
He also promised to crush and destroy ISIS and ladies and gentlemen, after two years, he’s on the verge of eliminating the Islamic State’s physical caliphate. Now, we understand that there are plenty of people out there still, but they have reduced the land area size of where the caliphate now is in operation to about the size of Central Park in New York. That is incredibly significant.
You’ll also remember he promised to impose a travel ban on countries that he saw as posing a threat from a terrorist standpoint to the United States. And of course, after several false starts, the final version of his band was upheld by the United States Supreme Court.
The president also pledged to nominate Supreme Court justices in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia. And now, after nominating Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, both of whom sit on the High Court, he seems to have fulfilled that promise.
He also pledged to fill Federal Appellate Courts with young Conservative judges and thus far, the Senate has confirmed 29 of those, which happens to be more than any recent president at this particular point in his administration.
Trump also promised to cancel President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, approve the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to exploration and he’s fulfilled on all of those pledges.
With respect to trade. He kept his promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and impose tariffs on steel and aluminum. He also committed to renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, also known as NAFTA and the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement. And recently signed new deals with Mexico, Canada, and South Korea. By the way, he talked about all of that last evening in El Paso, Texas.
He committed to imposing tariffs on China to force it to open its markets and stop its theft of American intellectual property and is following through on that pledge as well.
And then finally, I want to mention this, for those of us that love religious liberty, and by the way, that should be every one of us, President Trump promised to overturn the Johnson Amendment, something that had been around since the mid-1950’s. A law tied to the tax law, not statutory law, but the tax law. And it was that Johnson Amendment that had put a bridle in, put a muzzle on many preachers and kept them from speaking the truth. So he is doing exactly what he said with respect to that, because he signed an executive order and overturned the Johnson Amendment. Of course, Congress now needs to act to make that permanent, but he’s made these promises and kept them.
Now, he’s failed to keep some promises such as building the wall, repealing Obamacare, but it’s not been from a lack of trying. And Washington Post contributor, Mark Tiessen said it, I think, best. Let me read you his exact quote. He said, “The fact is in his first two years, Trump has compiled a remarkable record of presidential promise keeping.”
So, fellows, in a word. Do you remember anything like this? And what I mean by that is a president who has worked as methodically to keep that which he promised to do. Sam, I want to start with you.
Sam Rohrer: Probably not, Dave. Meaning the answer to that question, I think that he has followed through far more. The numbers would indicate it. Some of those of which you cited. The number of regulations cut by far and away more than anybody. The tenacity of trying to pursue the big issues upon which he ran, whether that was the healthcare issue, which he tried, but obviously, Congress was not there. The establishment, on both sides, are still dragging their feet. They really are.
To the matter of NAFTA, as you talked about, or all of these other issues. Those were things that he did specify. Those were things that he did run on. I do not remember someone being as dogged, in a good sense of the word, in returning to the promises that made the distinctions in an election two years ago and has been so faithful in coming back to them and trying to stay at it.
Now, for instance, the wall. The wall is a big decision for this week, obviously. It’s coming up. It’s going to be interesting to see whether the president agrees to this very small number of dollars, about one and a half billion. He wants over five. I’m not sure what he’s going to do. My guess is that he may say, “Hey look, you may have agreed on something, but it’s not what I asked for it.” It’d be interesting to see what he does. But I think other candidates clearly in the past on that issue, as an example, they ran from it. They took a compromise and they claimed victory when, in fact, it wasn’t any victory.
So his doggedness at staying at it and keeping coming back to it, I think is a remarkable thing. And if everybody elected to office at various levels were all to be as dogged in doing that, we’d be in a much better place.
Dave Kistler: Gary, let me go to you. Here’s a man, we’re talking about the president, with a less than stellar background to be sure. He’s been, of course, highly successful in business. He was more than successful on TV and now here he is as president of the United States. He took a job that he didn’t really need. He’s taking no salary for what he’s doing. And some would say he’s unbribeable because he’s not taking a salary and he’s worth about $11 billion or somewhere in that neighborhood, depending on what report you read as far as what his net worth is. But he’s cultivated a great relationship with, and I would even go so far as to say a deep love for, Christians, especially preachers. He speaks incessantly about preachers having the ability to speak without fear. In fact, he did it again last night. He talks repeatedly about love for the unborn and has been just unequivocal with respect to that. He’s the first president to speak in person to the National March for Life in Washington DC. His support for Israel has been stellar as well.
So Gary, I want to ask you, how can so many people, even Christians, continue to be opposed to this president in his presidency?
Gary Dull: Well, Dave, that’s a real good question. And I realize that there are many Christians and preachers opposed to him. In fact, by virtue of the fact that I live in a market where this program is played, I’ve had people come to me or write to me and say that as a pastor you should be ashamed in supporting Donald Trump and some have said, “We will never attend your church because of it.” And these folks are folks who claim to be Christian. And so I do know for certain that that thought is out there.
And I think what happens is that, Number one, people look at his character and his character is less than stellar. We know that. But we did not elect a pastor to sit in the White House. We elected a president. Somebody to lead this nation. And I think also we need to recognize that it is God who put him there. Romans Chapter 13, well, there are other passages of Scripture, but Romans 13 reminds us that there is no power but that God himself establishes it. And that’s what we see there.
Now, here’s the point. Everything that you mentioned there a moment ago is absolutely true. Donald Trump is very gospel friendly. He’s friendly to preachers as you said. He has more preachers and spiritual advisors around him than any other president that I can even remember, particularly that I know of. Why would we, as Christians, not want to stand with him? He’s pro-Israel. He’s pro-life. He’s pro-Gospel. He’s pro-preaching. He’s pro-church. I would say to any Christian or any pastor out there, “Why would you not stand with him?” Because the principles, the policies that he is upholding are principles and policies that first of all are grounded in Biblical truth and secondly, are those principles and policies that made our nation great.
And so, we might not be able to understand how a man who has a character that is not certainly righteous, has gotten into the office and is promoting righteous things, other than the fact that God has put him there for that very purpose and therefore we need to pray for him and do what we can to support him when he makes those right decisions.
Dave Kistler: Sam, we have just a couple of minutes before we have to end this segment. The president did it again last night. He drew a line in the sand at his State of the Union Address last Tuesday. But he reiterated it as clearly. in fact, he used the precise same wording as last Tuesday, last night in El Paso. And it had to do with socialism in the United States of America. He said, “I reiterate, America will never become a socialist nation.” Now, I pray that’s true and if something doesn’t change with respect, especially to some new members in the current 116th Congress, America is definitely headed towards socialism. But the president’s commitment, Sam, is for that never to take place. That’s phenomenal. That’s amazing. How can Christian people not support that?
Sam Rohrer: Well, Dave, there’s no reason why they don’t support that. I know we’re out of time right now. We may come back on the other side, but again, when the policies are right and they’re consistent with Biblical and constitutional truth, every freedom-loving Americans should support those policies and the person in fact that is promoting them. But we’re going to be the first ones to stand up and say, “If a policy goes awry, we’re going to be the first one to say, the policy is awry.” But that’s where we need to go. And when you stand on that ground, we’re on firm ground.
Dave Kistler: Sam said something as we were about to wrap up the last segment. If there is a policy that is un-biblical or unconstitutional, we are going to address that no matter who the president is, no matter who is the member of Congress that may be the one wanting to try to get that piece of legislation with something that is biblically or constitutionally wrong enacted. We’re going to point that out. We are by no means omniscient. We don’t know everything, but we do keep our ear to the ground, paying attention to what’s going on in our country so that we can address those issues as biblically and constitutionally as possible.
So take advantage of these media outlets. As far as social media, we’re on that as well, as well as our website and our app as well, and all of those things I think will be a great help to you.
Well, last evening it was brought to my attention by a friend of mine that well over two years ago, President Trump made a prediction. Now, you’re going to say, “Was it a prediction?” Well, he did predict something in one of the debates leading up to the 2016 election with the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. Now, I want you to listen to this very brief clip. It’s the topic of abortion and I want you to listen to it in light of what happened last week in Virginia and New York. Do you remember the conversation between two Virginia State legislators where a bill was being proposed that would allow abortion to take place right up until the delivery of the baby? I want you to listen to what President Trump said was going to happen two and a half years ago. Let’s listen to the clip.
Speaker 4: The term “partial birth abortion.”
President Trump: Well, I think it’s terrible. If you go with what Hillary is saying in the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby. Based on what she’s saying and based on where she’s going and where she’s been, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month on the final day.
Clinton: Well, that is not what happens in these cases. And using that kind of scare rhetoric is just terribly unfortunate.
Dave Kistler: Wow. Gary, I want to go to you first. The president said this “based on where she is” referring to Mrs. Clinton “and where she’s been”, where she wants to go. In essence, he was saying if she gets elected, this is what’s going to be proposed. Now, she did not get elected. And so on the Federal level, that’s not happening. But on the State level in Virginia, this very same thing was proposed by a Democratic State legislator in Virginia. It’s almost like the president was a prophet. Your thoughts?
Gary Dull: Well, certainly it is. And, of course, we’ve talked many times before about how it seems like he has a tremendous insight. I think that really probably what he was referring to was partial birth abortion that was in discussion at that particular period of time. But what is taking place up in New York and what took place down in Virginia last week is absolutely ridiculous. It’s infanticide, really is what it is. And I believe one hundred percent, Dave, that if Hillary Clinton would be the president of the United States of America today, that there would be very little respect for life in the womb of the mother and we would be on our way to more abortions, to partial birth abortions, and even to infanticide. So to that point, I’m glad that Donald Trump is in the White House. He respects life and he’s showing it by not only what he says, but by what he does.
Dave Kistler: Gentlemen, I heard this recently. In fact, I even said it myself probably going into the 2016 election, and that was this, “I may not know what kind of president that Donald Trump will be, but I do know what kind of president Hillary would be.” And for that reason, of course, I voted the way I voted. And gentlemen, all three of us have a mutual friend. He’s on this program on a bi-monthly basis, Dr Jimmy de Young. And I was shooting a DVD with him probably two months ago out in front of the Capitol Building in Washington DC and he made a comment to me, I think he’s actually made it on this program. And the essence of his comment was this, “I’ve been shocked, pleasantly so, by President Trump. Pleasantly surprised at what he’s done” because initially Dr. Jimmy de Young was certainly no fan of President Trump.
So, Sam, I want to go to you. Again, we’re not endorsing everything this man has done in his past, far from it. We’re not endorsing all of his tweets and we’re not endorsing language he uses or has used from time to time. We’re not endorsing any of that. What we’re trying to point out is this is an assessment of what he has done in two years as president of the United States from an economic standpoint, from a governance standpoint, and from a promise made promise, kept standpoint.
Sam, I’m going to ask you to just make a few comments and then give this president a letter grade and then I’m going to go to Brother Gary and ask him to do the same.
Sam Rohrer: Dave, without a doubt, I think, again, we’re trying to look objectively and we’ve already clarified and I think today’s program is on a measure of policy. I can say as someone who has been in office that when someone leaves office, they can be measured in a lot of different ways. But one way that goes down in history, more than any, is going to be their recorded votes, their recorded statements, their recorded choices, their recorded actions as it relates directly to their job performance in that capacity. You’re not measuring them really by their personal life although that does have an impact, but they go down in history relative to that piece of the equation. And that’s what we’re talking about here today. So when you look at the choices, the policy choices, be it towards Israel, the economy, regulation, life, the church, all of those kinds of things. If you look at those things that we’ve cited today, there’s no way at this point in time than anyone could walk away and say that the performance has been weak or it has been an uncertain sound on the trumpet from that perspective. I would have to, on these measurements, give him an “A” just by the fact of these things according to these measures.
Dave Kistler: Gary, same question.
Gary Dull: Yes, I would have to give him an “A” as well, not based his character in the past. And I think that we need to recognize that and not based upon some of the things that he tweets, but I would give him an “A” on what he’s done as the president of the United States of America. And I think that it’s very important that particularly we, as Christians, do everything that we can to continue to pray for him and even correct him if he does make un-biblical and un-constitutional decisions.
Dave Kistler: Well, gentlemen, I could not agree more with both your letter grade selection and choice as well as, Gary, your admonition at the end. If this president steps out of line constitutionally or certainly biblically, I believe we, as preachers of God’s Word, have a divine responsibility, much like John the Baptist of old to call him out on that. But when he does write from a policy perspective and boy, he’s done a lot of that in the first two years, you certainly need to be quick to praise him for that.
So that’s what we’ve done today. Join us again tomorrow. Stand in the Gap today.
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