Trump picks up endorsement of evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. presents Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with a sports jersey after Trump delivered the convocation last week.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images There is nothing surprising about Jerry Falwell Jr., right, president of the conservative “Christian” mega-college, Liberty University, endorsing Donald Trump. With the Iowa caucuses taking place on February 1, Falwell’s endorsement of Trump is generating significant attention. “Not only is [Falwell] a high quality person, with a wonderful family, whom I have great respect for, but I also consider him a very good friend and his support means so much to me”.

In the statement, Trump called the endorsement an “honor”.

The brash Trump, a Presbyterian not known for his spirituality, has been trying to burnish his religious credentials lately. Now, that same outsider status appears to be winning Trump evangelical support, which could be crucial in Iowa, where votes are less than a week away.

If Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa were sitting at a table talking USA politics, would Donald Trump fit in? Falwell’s endorsement is expected to carry tremendous weight in Iowa, where Mr. Trump maintains strong support with the evangelical community as we approach the Iowa Caucus on February 1st.

Ancalle, who is now listed as a Liberty adjunct professor but doesn’t now teach any classes there, questioned Falwell’s judgement, considering Donald Trump admitted last July that he wasn’t sure he has ever asked God for forgiveness.

“I see a lot of parallels between my father and Donald Trump”, he said at the time. And Falwell’s endorsement couldn’t come at a better time.

“I really think it is about as tangible as an example that we can witness of in the world of losing your soul”, Dean Inserra, pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, Florida, who graduated from Liberty University in 2003, told The Christian Post following the endorsement. Falwell’s father supported Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.

Cruz was also was scheduled to be joined by Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, who has already endorsed Cruz. “After all, Jimmy Carter was a great Sunday school teacher, but look at what happened to our nation with him in the presidency”. The elder Falwell, who died in 2007, was a blunt-spoken man who led a “Moral Majority” political movement.

Mandi Ancalle, who works for Family Research Council, whose president, Tony Perkins, helped feed Trump with talking points for his speech at Liberty, expressed disappointment as well.