West Virginia state Sen. Paul Hardesty wrote the White House last month to chide President Trump, whom he supports, for his "terrible choice of words" at a rally in North Carolina last month. It didn't have anything to do with his widely and heavily criticized attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), which prompted the crowd to chant his "send her back!" line. Instead, he wrote, he was "appalled by the fact that you used the Lord's name in vain on two separate occasions," urging Trump to "never utter those words again."
Hardesty, a self-proclaimed "very conservative Democrat," tells Politico he didn't even listen to the speech until three "distraught" constituents called him up to complain about Trump's use of "g--damn" at the rally. "I've had people come to me and say, 'You know I voted for [Trump], but if he doesn't tone down the rhetoric, I might just stay home this time,'" Hardesty told Politico, adding that he has yet to hear back from anyone inside the White House.
Some of Trump's most steadfast evangelical allies shrugged off Trump's profanities, even when they violate the Third Commandment. "We all wish he would be a little more careful with his language, but it's not anything that's a deal breaker, and it's not something we're going to get morally indignant about," said Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. But two anonymous pro-Trump pastors told Politico they wince and cringe through Trump's profanities. "Carelessly invoking the Lord's name in a fit of anger is one thing," one of them said. "But repeatedly doing it for shock value ... that does raise questions about the president's respect for people of faith."
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Trump is hardly the first politician to use coarse language, Politico notes, but "the difference is Trump enjoys the support of the religious right — and losing the group's support would be catastrophic for his re-election bid." Read more at Politico.
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