IF IT'S A CHOICE BETWEEN YOU AND KLEPTOCRACY, TRUMP WON'T PICK YOU, RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVES

Tony Perkins and his Family Research Council are outraged that Donald Trump chose ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be his secretary of state:

To hear that Donald Trump may be appointing a man who not only led the charge to open the Boy Scouts to gay troop leaders but whose company directly gives to Planned Parenthood is upsetting at best.... Unfortunately, the BSA, under Tillerson, ultimately caved to the pressure of the far-Left, irreparably splitting the Scouts and destroying a proud and honorable American tradition. Under his chairmanship, ExxonMobil's score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate "Equality" Index has also skyrocketed to 87 percent. Still, Trump calls Rex a "world class player and dealmaker," but if these are the kinds of deals Tillerson makes ... then who knows what sort of "diplomacy" he would champion at DOS?

... The agency already has an image problem after almost a decade of failing to respect the traditions and beliefs of other countries. The last thing Americans need is a leader who would continue to advocate (however subtly) the leftist social policy of the Obama years.

Poor Perkins. He endorsed Ted Cruz in the Republican primaries, but announced his support for Trump on the last night of the Republican convention, saying, “Donald Trump has committed to upholding and protecting the first freedom and therefore our ability as citizens to unite our nation once again under God. Let us go forth from here and do that work.” When Trump's Access Hollywood tape was broadcast in October, Perkins reaffirmed his support for Trump, explaining to Fox News why he was OK with a genital-grabbing president:

"We don't share the same type of values. We don't see the world the same way, although we do have some shared concerns," Perkins said....

"I can guarantee you what we'll have under Hillary Clinton, it will not be a government that evangelicals and other Americans who love their freedom will enjoy or prosper under."

Trump has claimed to be concerned about keeping the Supreme Court conservative, and about the horrific oppression experienced by Americans who say "Merry Christmas." He and Perkins are in sync that way. But the sharing of concerns goes only so far.

Perkins and his fellow social cons will still get the judges they want -- judges who'll restrict abortion and curtail LGBT rights. But that's only because those judges are the ones likely to rule in favor of wealthy plutocrats and Republicans attempting to restrict voting rights. If Trump's judges are going to deviate from right-wing orthodoxy, it's going to be on social issues, not on comforting the materially comfortable or improving the GOP's electoral chances.

Sorry, Tony. You made a deal with the devil. I don't think there's anyone left in the Senate who'll stand with you on this, despite all the noise Republicans made about Planned Partenthood when there were elections to win. Too bad you got used.