Evangelicals Say "We're electing a leader, not a Sunday school teacher"

A lot of Republicans are cutting Donald Trump loose today after the release of a tape of him bragging about how he molested women using the shield of his stardom. But a lot of evangelicals are, incredibly, standing by Trump.

Corey Lewandowski summed up the attitude of many evangelicals when he said, "We're electing a leader, not a Sunday school teacher." It's curious that Corey mentions Sunday school teachers...

The number of priests and pastors who have sexually abused congregants and children is staggering: American churches have spent hundreds billions of dollars settling lawsuits with victims whom priests and pastors have abused in exactly the same way Donald Trump bragged about.

Yet these evangelicals still support Trump. What is going through their minds?

Apparently they believe that those who have been appointed to their position "by God" can do no wrong. Since God chose them to "lead," and God is all-knowing, God knew this would happen from the get-go and was just fine with it. Who are we to question God's judgment?

But of course, God has nothing to do with who becomes a priest or a pastor, and He certainly had nothing to do with Trump's nomination.

Trump characterized his vile comments as mere "locker room banter," and it started out that way:

“Your girl’s hot as s---, in the purple,” says Bush, who’s now a co-host of NBC’s “Today” show.

“Whoa!” Trump says. “Whoa!”

“I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her,” Trump says. “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”

“And when you’re a star, they let you do it,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”

“Whatever you want,” says another voice, apparently Bush’s.

“Grab them by the p---y,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”

But by the end of the exchange Trump is admitting to criminal sexual conduct. Depending on the jurisdiction this varies from second to fifth degree sexual assault. It's "just" a misdemeanor in most places. But "forcible touching" can still get you on the sex offender list.

Trump bragged about committing a crime. He counted on his celebrity to prevent the women from reporting it. He also has a large stable of lawyers on retainer, and given his propensity to sue anyone who crosses him, a woman who dared accuse him would be inundated by a withering barrage of extremely expensive lawsuits.

One woman was brave enough to challenge Trump: Jill Harth, a woman he was briefly in business with. But that wasn't the last of it: Erin Burnett reported that Trump was still pulling this kind of crap in 2010, five years after bragging about it to Billy Bush.

How many women did Trump victimize who have been intimidated by his celebrity status and his army of lawyers? When these kinds of stories began to leak out about Bill Cosby there was a great deal of disbelief because Cosby was such a nice guy; with Trump there are no such illusions.

Are Republicans and evangelicals really just fine with their president being a sex offender? Or do they condone it because, in their minds, "them bitches is askin' for it," or, "they knew what they were getting into," or "that's all women are good for?"

Or worse: "It's God's will."