The nation's leading evangelical magazine called for President Donald Trump to get the boot from office in an editorial published Thursday.
Citing precedent that Christianity Today set when it supported the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton two decades ago, editor Mark Galli wrote that Trump had lost the moral authority to lead the country.
"We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath," Galli wrote in the editorial, offering the judgement on the heels of the House's vote Wednesday night to impeach the chief executive.
White evangelicals were the bedrock of Trump's victory in 2016, turning out in force for the Republican. Trump garnered about 80% of the white evangelical vote, according to exit polls.
"To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve," the editorial urged. "Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump's immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency."
Galli left open whether Trump should be removed by the Senate or at the voting booth next November. But the editor of the Illinois-based magazine, which was founded by the Rev. Billy Graham in 1956, said the publication was tackling Trump because, "it's time to call a spade a spade."
"The impeachment hearings," Galli wrote, "have illuminated the president's moral deficiencies for all to see."
