This is a bold move and one I admire. In an editorial just out, World magazine’s editor Marvin Olasky called on Donald Trump to withdraw from the campaign.
Calling Trump “unfit for power,” Olasky said, “Our journalistic task is to call powerful people to account, regardless of their party, regardless of the politics of the moment.”
While there was concern before the 2005 tape was disclosed by the Washington Post, clearly the revelation was key. Olasky wrote:
The new video pushed theologian Wayne Grudem to withdraw his endorsement of Trump and urge him to drop out of the presidential race. The videotape, in the words of Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “revealed a sexual predator, not merely a playboy.”
In suggesting that Trump drop out and let someone else carry the campaign for the remaining weeks, we at WORLD are not endorsing any other Republican and certainly not Hillary Clinton. We also realize Trump is unlikely to heed our call. We’re aware of the practical difficulties in making a change at this point.
This kind of principled response is what I have been hoping for from evangelicals. On top of Christianity Today’s column by Andy Crouch, this is a powerful call to Trump, but probably more practically and importantly to evangelicals on the fence.