South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg has proven he isn’t shy about discussing his faith in the public sphere while campaigning for president.

That also includes not hesitating about calling out the Christian Right on their religious hypocrisy. Kirsten Powers, writing for USA Today, is thrilled with that change of pace and specifically notes Buttigieg’s comments regarding Donald Trump‘s inability to follow Jesus in any meaningful way.

Does Buttigieg think Trump is a Christian? “I’m reluctant to comment on another person’s faith, but I would say it is hard to look at this president’s actions and believe that they’re the actions of somebody who believes in God,” he said. “I just don’t understand how you can be as worshipful of your own self as he is and be prepared to humble yourself before God. I’ve never seen him humble himself before anyone. And the exaltation of yourself, especially a self that’s about wealth and power, could not be more at odds with at least my understanding of the teachings of the Christian faith.” While Buttigieg is a gay man, married in the Episcopal Church he attends, he urges those who support LBGTQ rights to “beckon people onto the right side of history (rather) than … drag people there. If someone feels harassed and put upon by us, at the very moment we’re demanding tolerance and acceptance, one consequence is that we can leave them with nowhere to go but the religious right.”

Buttigieg isn’t playing the “No True Scotsman” card so much as noticing a very obvious lack of congruence between what Trump and, by extension, his evangelical supporters claim to believe — and how he lives. Those are all very valid questions to ask.

Furthermore, he is strategically building his fan base by catering to the Christians who have felt ignored by Democrats but who know their theology doesn’t align with the Republican Party. There are more of them than the Right realizes, and they’re poised to make their voices heard in 2020.

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