Conservative evangelical groups defend Trump's racism, Pence's border facility dodges

White conservative evangelicals continue to debase themselves for Trump.

Eager to defend their golden goose, i.e. the Trump Administration for giving it access and power, several conservative evangelical - religious right groups - are running interference for the administration's excesses with as much vigor as they dehumanize the LGBTQ community.

Last weekend, Pence visited the border facilities in an effort to blunt criticism about their overcrowding, lack of sanitation and overall dehumanizing treatment of immigrants. It didn't work out for him:

Vice President Mike Pence visited an overcrowded, unsanitary migrant detention center on Friday as part of a tour meant to highlight the Trump administration’s handling of an influx of immigrants and asylum seekers crossing the US-Mexico border. At a McAllen, Texas, facility housing nearly 400 Central American men, reporters noted an overwhelming foul odor and extreme heat. Men packed in cages worked to get the reporters’ attention, telling members of the press they did not have access to showers or toothbrushes; some of the detained said they’d been at the center for more than 40 days, and others claimed to be underfed and hungry.

Pence was blasted in the media for the seemingly callous way he acted during the visit, how he dodged questions about his visit, and his attempt to blame the media for allegedly distorting the visit.

But the Family Research Council backed him up:

The crisis at our southern border isn't "manufactured," Vice President Mike Pence insisted. And he ought to know. America's second-in-command just flew back from a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, where he saw first-hand the damage Democrats have done by fighting the funding for ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement). "I knew we'd see a system that's overcrowded," he said. 

 "...[but] that's why Congress has to act." The vice president's time, which included a visit to a packed detention facility, turned out to be more fodder for the fake news machine. 

 In a series of rapid-fire tweets, Mike Pence blasted the network's distortion of his trip. "CNN is so dishonest," Pence argued. "Today, we took reporters to a detention facility on the border for families and children and all told us they were being treated well." But that's not the story reporters told. Instead of showing the "compassionate care the American people are providing to vulnerable families," Pence went on, 

"CNN only played video of men in the temporary facility and didn't play any footage of the family facility at all... ignoring the excellent care being provided to families and children." Part of the stop included some time at an overflowing facility for men, "many of whom have been arrested multiple times," he explained. But if you're looking for people to blame, don't point your finger at the Trump administration or Republicans. "These men were in a temporary holding area because Democrats in Congress have refused to fund additional bed space," Pence pointed out, a nod to the fiery House debate over humanitarian aid the border.

Conveniently Pence - and FRC - omitted the fact that the House of Representatives had passed a $4.6 Senate bill in June which would send emergency funding to the border.

Meanwhile, the American Family Association is working to lessen the blow of recent racist remarks by Trump.  Trump attacked four members of the House of Representatives - all women of color -New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.  He implied that they weren't Americans and that they should "they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."

Trump was brutally called out on Twitter and throughout the media, even as he doubled down on his racist attack.  Via its "news source," One News Now, the American Family Association ran a poll along with an column by right-wing pastor Michael Brown claiming that what Trump said was crude but not racist. Not surprisingly, the poll:

validated Trump's racist comments:

It's rather sad, but not surprising to see how supposed conservative evangelical groups have sunk in their support of Trump. I guess that is one good thing about him being in office - certain groups feel comfortable enough to drop their masks and discard all notions of piety and morality. Who needs those things when they have real power now?  To them, Biblical verses and the teachings of Jesus have nothing to do with kindness, humility, and basic love. It's all about the power to create policy control what people can do under the guise of religion.

What they don't understand is that Trump isn't going to be in office forever.  But every move they have made will be remembered. It's not going to be so easy for groups like the Family Research Council and the American Family Association to put their masks back on, especially when people have seen their true faces.