Both President Donald Trump and evangelist Franklin Graham are taking aim at Christianity Today after the editor-in-chief of the publication posted a blistering attack against Trump and his supporters and endorsed the Democrats' vote to impeach him.

In the editorial titled "Trump Should be Removed from Office," the magazine's editor-in-chief, Mark Galli (pictured during a CNN interview earlier today), acknowledges that "Democrats have had it out for" Trump "from day one." But he says that, "the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president's political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral."

He goes on to write that, whether Trump should be removed by the Senate or by popular vote in the 2020 election "is a matter of prudential judgment." But, he says: "That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments."

Galli then attacks evangelicals who support Trump:

"To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump's immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency."

Read a response from columnist Dr. Michael L. Brown

The editorial began by invoking the name of CT's founder, evangelist Billy Graham. Graham's son, Franklin Graham, didn't hold back in his response to the editorial, published today in the Washington Examiner.

"Yes, my father Billy Graham founded Christianity Today – but no, he would not agree with their opinion piece. In fact, he would be very disappointed," he wrote, adding that the last vote his father cast was for Donald Trump. Graham goes on to say:

Graham

"For Christianity Today to side with the Democrat Party in a totally partisan attack on the President of the United States is unfathomable …. This impeachment was politically motivated, 100% partisan. Why would Christianity Today choose to take the side of the Democrat left whose only goal is to discredit and smear the name of a sitting president? [Christianity Today] has moved to the left and is representing the elitist liberal wing of evangelicalism."

President Trump joined in the condemnation of the CT editorial, tweeting Friday morning that the magazine is a "far left" publication, which "has been doing poorly and hasn't been involved with the Billy Graham family for many years."

A knife in the back "I've spent my life fighting the secular, radical left in Washington, DC. It is a battle. There are Christians all over Washington fighting that battle. [Christianity Today] just put a knife in their backs. [And] any credibility that CT had evaporates in the fifth paragraph, long before they reach their conclusion." "Quite frankly we [have] had a bunch of Christians in office, including in the presidency, who never rose to the occasion of trying to stop this radical, secular onslaught, until along came the billionaire from New York that CT now joins the left-wing mob in kicking the you-know-what out of." Gary Bauer, president

American Values

(in an interview with OneNewsNow)

He continued, saying the publication "knows nothing about reading a perfect transcript of a routine phone call" – and that the magazine would rather have "a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President."

Asked Friday in an interview with CNN about the tweets, Galli said Trump's characterization of the magazine as far left was "far from accurate," but also said he's realistic about the impact of his words.

"I don't have any imagination that my editorial is going to shift their views on this matter," Galli said of those who support the president. "The fact of the matter is Christianity Today is not read by … Christians on the far right, by evangelicals on the far right – so they're going to be as dismissive of the magazine as President Trump has shown to be."