Ross Douthat Asked Trump to Choose Between Forgiveness and Justice. Scripture Never Makes You Choose.
FEATUREDNEWS
11/11/20263 min read
Why it matters: A 60 Minutes reporter asked a sitting president if he’s going to heaven. Then he asked if Trump would forgive James Comey and Nancy Pelosi to get in.
The big picture: This was Trump’s first sit-down since Democrats took both the House and Senate. Ross Douthat closed it on death and forgiveness, and he made forgiving Trump’s political enemies the price of paradise. Trump saw the setup and said so. Then he gave the honest answer anyway.
What they’re saying:
Douthat: “All you have to do to enter Paradise is feel love and forgiveness for James Comey, Nancy Pelosi, anyone who you have expressed hate for over the years.”
Trump: “Well, then I wouldn’t be real, would I?”
Trump: “I do hate some of my enemies. They’ve been terrible. Look what they’ve put me through, the weaponization.”
The receipts: Douthat asked about forgiveness and skipped what needed forgiving.
FISA abuse: The Inspector General found 17 errors and omissions in the warrants, and an FBI lawyer pleaded guilty to doctoring evidence.
The soft coup: Declassified documents show Obama-era officials shaped the Russia intelligence to undermine an incoming president.
Impeachments: Two bogus impeachments, two acquittals.
Indictments: 91 felony counts across 4 cases.
The ballot: Colorado, Maine and Illinois tried to remove him, and the Supreme Court ruled 9–0 against them.
Butler, PA: A gunman shot Trump in the ear and killed firefighter Corey Comperatore.
The other side: Critics say the answer proves his faith is for show. Douthat built the question on Erika Kirk forgiving her husband’s accused killer. Her forgiveness didn’t cancel the prosecution, though. That case is still headed to trial.
The bottom line: Ross asked the man charged with justice to treat forgiveness as a pardon. That turns the grudge into the story and leaves the wrongdoing as background.
THE FAITH CHECK: Ross didn’t ask a man in a pew about his heart. He asked the President of the United States, the one person God and the voters charged with bringing wrongdoers to justice. Romans 13:4 says the ruler is God’s servant to “bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” Turning forgiveness against that job doesn’t make it Christian. It twists forgiveness into a shield for Comey and Pelosi. Jesus does command every believer to forgive (Matthew 6:14–15). He never said forgiveness clears the guilty. The answer that beats the trap is “I forgive them, and the law still applies.” Then turn it around: why isn’t anyone asking Comey and Pelosi if they’ll ever repent?
You should probably know: Democrats ran on affordability and accountability. The affordability crisis began when inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022, under a Democratic White House and Congress. Now they hold both chambers again, and they spent election week promising subpoenas. The forgiveness question is about to get a lot less theoretical.
Original reporting by CBS News’ 60 Minutes.
The Full Receipts
Butler, PA: A gunman shot Trump in the ear and killed firefighter Corey Comperatore.
West Palm Beach: A second would-be assassin waited in the brush at his golf course with a rifle.
Iran: The DOJ charged a foreign plot to kill him.
The Steele dossier: Clinton-funded opposition research helped the FBI get warrants to wiretap a Trump campaign adviser.
FISA abuse: The Inspector General found 17 errors and omissions in the warrants, and an FBI lawyer pleaded guilty to doctoring evidence.
Mueller: Two years and about $32 million, and no collusion.
The soft coup: Declassified documents show Obama-era officials shaped the Russia intelligence to undermine an incoming president.
“Anonymous”: A senior official bragged in the New York Times about a resistance inside the administration.
The 51: Former intel officials said the Hunter Biden laptop story had the earmarks of Russian disinformation. The laptop was real.
Arctic Frost: The FBI obtained phone records of Republican senators.
Impeachments: Two bogus impeachments, two acquittals.
Indictments: 91 felony counts across 4 cases.
Mar-a-Lago: The FBI raided a former president’s home.
The ballot: Colorado, Maine and Illinois tried to remove him, and the Supreme Court ruled 9–0 against them.
His family: New York’s attorney general went after his sons in a $454 million case that an appeals court gutted.
His staff: Bannon and Navarro went to prison, Giuliani was disbarred, and Meadows was indicted.
Big Tech: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube banned the sitting President of the United States.
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