You might think that at least some of these facts would be relevant to Grudem and that some of what Trump did would unsettle him, but you would be wrong. (Since Grudem wrote his defense, we have learned that Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton says the president told him he wanted to continue freezing the nearly $400 million in security assistance to Ukraine, shattering a key element of Trump’s defense against impeachment.)

Grudem writes that he expects “that every president in the history of the United States has done things that bring him personal political benefit every day of his term. It is preposterous to claim that it is unconstitutional for the president to act in a way that is politically beneficial.” But no one is arguing that a president acting in a way that is politically beneficial is per se wrong; what they are arguing is that if the president acts in an unethical way to benefit himself politically, it is a problem. Surely a Christian-ethics professor should understand that distinction.

Peter Wehner: The deepening crisis in evangelical Christianity

This doesn’t mean, by the way, that convicting Trump in the impeachment trial is the wisest course of action. Reasonable people I know argue that, on prudential grounds, it’s better to let voters decide the matter in the election, that removing Trump from office at this point would cause more harm than good. But to pretend that Trump did nothing wrong and everything right is simply not credible.

In his op-ed, Grudem writes, “Another reason to remove Trump from office, according to Galli, is that he hired and fired people who later became ‘convicted criminals.’”



That’s not quite right. What Galli wrote is that “the reason many are not shocked about [the president acting inappropriately in the Ukraine episode] is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.”



In other words, Galli is not arguing that Trump having surrounded himself with corrupt people is a violation of the Constitution that requires him to be removed from office. He is saying that Trump has a pattern of unethical behavior, which is true, and that when Trump is on the ballot later this year, that is one thing voters should take into account.

But where things really get weird is when Grudem declares, “This is the unjust principle of ‘guilt by association.’ I’m glad that God did not hold Jesus to that same standard (remember Judas, who served as treasurer for the 12 disciples and Jesus; see John 12:6; 13:29).”



This is not “guilt by association”; it’s saying that if a president chooses to surround himself with shady characters, several of whom turn out to be criminals, that may reflect on his own morality and judgment. Those who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes include, but are not limited to, Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort and Manafort’s deputy, Rick Gates; his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen; his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone; and his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. And invoking Jesus in the way Grudem does, as a way to give ethical cover to Trump, is unfortunate, though revealing.