On Saturday's AM Joy on MSNBC, as the show spent much of its time reacting to President Donald Trump's response to white racists rallying in Charlottesville last weekend, recurring MSNBC guest and self-described Republican Richard Painter repeatedly demonized the Christian right as he lumped them in with white racists as extremists who should be denounced by Trump and other Republican leaders to drive them out of the party.
Painter -- a former legal counsel for the George W. Bush White House -- trashed conservative Christians as "fake Christians" and "phony Christians" who "couldn't read a Bible if they tried."
After claiming that Richard Nixon encouraged racist Democrats to join the GOP, the recurring MSNBC guest took aim at Ronald Reagan as he added:
Many of these people who are racists are former Democrats, and Richard Nixon decided he wanted to bring them in for political reasons. And then, unfortunately, Ronald Reagan furthered that movement -- the so-called religious right which, as I say, has absolutely nothing to do with Christian principles, was brought in for political -- we can get these people out. They have driven respectable people out of the Republican party.
He went on to suggest that he holds liberal views on abortion, same-sex marriage, and environmental issues as he praised the pastor of the Church of Presidents for being what he viewed as the right kind of Christian:
The church stands for the right of gay people to marry just like other people because that's the Christian thing to do, the right of women to make their own medical decisions about reproductive choice, for protection of the environment for social justice.
Below are transcripts or relevant portions of Painter's rants against the Christian right from the Saturday, August 19, AM Joy on MSNBC:
10:06 a.m. ET
He (Donald Trump) needs to have a personal conversion and renounce and repent for racism, for bigotry, and all the hatred he has espoused thus far. That conversion better be faster than St. Paul on the road to Damascus. He's got to do it now. Third, repudiate the so-called religious right, the fake Christians who've been dominating the Republican party. if he makes it clear that he repudiates them, the Democrats will be checkmated because they are not gonna want Mike Pence if Trump repudiates the phony Christians in the religious right.
(...)
11:22 a.m. ET
We are gonna drive these people from the Republican party. It is not just about the neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan -- it is about the Alt-Right. It is about the so-called religious right who couldn't read a Bible if they tried. It is about the extremists who have sought to take over our party for 30 years.
(...)
Many of these people who are racists are former Democrats, and Richard Nixon decided he wanted to bring them in for political reasons. And then, unfortunately, Ronald Reagan furthered that movement -- the so-called religious right which, as I say, has absolutely nothing to do with Christian principles, was brought in for political -- we can get these people out. They have driven respectable people out of the Republican party.
(...)
11:57 a.m. ET
And I heard that last panel of yours on the so-called evangelical council, and, I got to say, if this President wants to find out about traditional Christian values, he can walk right across the street called the Church of the Presidents where the presiding bishop is an African-American who is a hero to many in the Civil Rights Movement. The church stands for the right of gay people to marry just like other people because that's the Christian thing to do, the right of women to make their own medical decisions about reproductive choice, for protection of the environment for social justice.
Millions of American Christians are angry at the perversion of our faith by those who purport to read the Bible, who purport to politicize our faith purely for political gain to win elections. And then I hear preachers -- I just heard on your last panel a preacher who thinks he's an economist who's going to attribute to Donald Trump a million jobs that were created by the private sector or by the policies of the Obama administration. And the entire thing is a joke for the Republican party to continue to kowtow to these people who do not stand for traditional American values, don't stand for Christian values, and certainly don't stand for democracy.
