LIKE A GOP OFFICEHOLDER, THE EDITOR OF CHRISTIANITY TODAY CONDEMNED TRUMP ON THE WAY OUT THE DOOR

I guess I should be impressed that Mark Galli, the editor in chief of Christianity Today, has written an editorial for the magazine that calls for President Trump's removal from office. But I can't help noting this fact about Galli:

The editorial is also perhaps a final word from Mr. Galli, who announced his retirement in October. His departure is effective Jan. 3, 2020.

It's what we see among Republican officeholders: Many of them are reportedly very uncomfortable with Trump, but while they're in office they don't dare criticize him. Many won't criticize him even after they leave office, because they hope to return to power someday or want to sustain lobbying careers. Quite a few Republicans who left office many years ago and have established lives after electoral politics are willing take Trump on, but not the ones who think their D.C. careers are still viable. Is Galli in a similar situation? Would he have written this editorial if he were in the middle of his career and were staying with the magazine?

We're told that not everyone at Christianity Today agrees with the editorial.

The magazine is not united about Mr. Galli’s call to remove Mr. Trump. A member of Christianity Today’s board of directors, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, released a 17-paragraph statement opposing impeachment after the House vote on Wednesday.

Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, delivered a prayer at Trump's inaugural and became an adviser to Trump. His statement on impeachment, written with Reverend Johnnie Moore, reads in part:

"On Wednesday evening Dec. 18, 2019, the United States House of Representatives embarked upon the only exclusively partisan impeachment effort in American history, and millions of Americans recognize that the House leadership is not actually impeaching the president of the United States but the policies and people that he represents.

"The Democrats in the House impeached millions of God-fearing, family-loving and patriotic Americans from the Democrat and Republican parties.

"They impeached millions of Americans - Democrat and Republican - who believe in one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all, including the president of the United States.

"They impeached millions of Americans - Democrat and Republican - who believe in due process, the rule of law and in the primacy of our free elections in determining our political leadership....

"They impeached millions of Americans - Democrat and Republican - who believe that every life is sacred in and out of the womb....

"They impeached millions of Americans - Democrat and Republican - who recognize that socialism has been one of history's most anti-freedom and most anti-Christian ideologies.

"They impeached millions of Americans - Democrat and Republican - who believe that we have the God-given right to raise our children according to our own beliefs without government interference....

"On Dec. 18, 2019 the Democrats in Congress chose political expediency over our election integrity, and we shall see in 2020 whether or not the party increasingly led by Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be rewarded or rejected by millions of Americans, Democrat and Republican.

Rodriguez disagrees with Trump on some immigration issues. In an interview with NPR's Michel Martin a while back, he was asked how he expects his disagreements with Trump to be resolved.

MARTIN: Before we let you go, what kind of conversation do you think you and I are going to have a year from now?

RODRIGUEZ: I think the conversation will probably be, first of all, DACA passed. These kids are now legalized. They're legal. They're here. They're going to thrive in America. Second, there's a path to comprehensive immigration reform. Hopefully, that will pass. But I think we're going to be surprised with some sort of commission or entity that will address the issue of racial strife and discord, something on racial reconciliation and healing. If it's not through the executive branch, maybe the legislative branch. But something's going to happen nationally to have a conversation on racial healing and reconciliation. It has to take place.

That was two years ago. None of that happened. And yet Rodriguez is still backing Trump and still a member of the Christianity Today board, while Galli is out the door.