Dallas’ Robert Jeffress, leading pro-Trump evangelical conservative: ‘Biden is president-elect’
Trump ally concedes that’s a ‘bitter pill’ but says ‘Christians are not hypocrites’ and must accept Biden’s victory
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President Donald Trump and First Baptist Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress participated in the Celebrate Freedom Rally at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington on July 1, 2017.(Olivier Douliery / TNS)
By Todd J. Gillman
10:48 AM on Nov 11, 2020 CST
WASHINGTON – One of President Donald Trump’s top evangelical Christian allies, Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress, has broken ranks with the president’s refusal to concede defeat, calling Democrat Joe Biden the president-elect and offering advice on how fellow Trump supporters should embrace the development.
Biden’s victory is a “bitter pill to swallow,” Jeffress wrote in an online column published by Fox News, where he is a frequent commentator. “It’s always easier to submit and to pray for someone when he was our preferred candidate. But the rubber really meets the road when the person who takes office is not the one we supported. Here is our chance to show that Christians are not hypocrites.”
Jeffress’ stance might itself be a bitter pill for the president, who has insisted that he will win this election once fraud and cheating are exposed.
The senior pastor at First Baptist Dallas, one of Texas’ biggest megachurches, was one of Trump’s earliest and most visible conservative Christian supporters in the 2016 campaign.
He has been a frequent visitor to the White House. He was a VIP guest when the United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem, and a fierce defender of Trump during impeachment, warning that Democrats would spark a “Civil War-like fracture” if t hey took that step.