When Dwight D. Eisenhower began the tradition of the National Prayer Breakfast, a day for the president of the United States to meet with clergy and be led in prayer for the country and the world, he never quite planned for a president like Donald Trump. No one did.
As evangelicals praise his name, they and every other professed Christian who supports Donald Trump turns a blind eye to the fact that he knows so little about – and follows so little of – the religious dictates under which the Christian Bible says that he should live. Demonizing Dreamers, sex with porn stars, endless lies, and bragging about wealth does not exactly fit with any part of Jesus’ message to his followers, but Trump opposes abortion (a stance he adopted sometime since his first public mistress refused to have one), so the evangelicals are happy to overlook the rest of it.
Outside of the obvious anomalies involved with this particular president representing the nation during a national prayer – he used the platform last year to take swipes at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ratings on The Apprentice – yet another oddity can be found at the breakfast this year. The attendees will include a disproportionate amount of Trump’s Russian friends.
‘This year’s event is also an opportunity for dozens of Russians. As many as 60 representatives from Russia’s religious and political elite are expected to attend, more than three times last year’s number, according to Russian officials.
‘One Russian official who was invited, Aleksandr Zharkov, told the Russian business newspaper RBC, “It’s a very unique situation, because despite all these difficulties we have (in relations with the US), the quota for Russians is very high this year.”‘
  
Featured image via Getty/Bloomberg
