North Carolina GOP Congressman Mark Walker, a former Southern Baptist pastor who made headlines this week by calling for Jerry Falwell Jr.’s resignation, said Friday that the same moral standards don’t apply to President Donald Trump.
Walker, who has close ties to Liberty University, appeared on CNN to explain why he thinks Falwell Jr. should step aside as president of the school after sharing a racy photo on Instagram this week.
“I just think there is a code that leaders have to live by, especially when you’re leading the largest Christian evangelical university in the country,” said Walker, a former Liberty instructor who sits on the school’s Music Faculty Advisory Board. “We cannot look the other way with this kind of behavior.”
Later in the interview, CNN’s Brianna Keilar asked Walker, “Couldn’t you make the same criticism, or raise the same questions, about President Trump and his actions?”
“I don’t think there’s any question that when it comes to someone with a background such as the president’s, you can certainly make the case that this is someone who has not led the most moral life,” Walker admitted.
“But unlike the chancellor or the president of a Christian university, it is the people that get to make that decision, every four years in November, to be able to say, ‘Well, do we want someone who has a sweet or kind or gentle or even a moral personality, if you will, or do we want someone who’s able to get us from Point A to Point B?'” he added.
“And I think there’s much evidence to support the argument that for the first three years [and] two months, the president did exactly that — when it comes to our economy, when it comes to criminal justice reform, there is much to celebrate,” Walker said. “I think that’s where the American people are and were. We’ll see what they say this November, but it’s not necessarily the moral content that makes a good leader. Would you like to have both? Certainly always, but I think the success and getting things done is what most American people are looking for in an election.”
Watch the full interview below.
