On Friday, Sandy Rios spoke with Rafael Cruz, the father of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, at the National Religious Broadcasters convention.
The elder Cruz, one of his son’s top campaign surrogates, repeated his claim that his son has divine support for his presidential bid, even going so far as to compare him to Josiah, the King of Judah, who, according to biblical texts, was raised up by God to banish idolatry and restore exclusive worship to the God of Israel.
He told Rios, a prominent Cruz endorser and the director of governmental affairs for the American Family Association, that “with the death of Antonin Scalia, we are in such a precarious balance in the Supreme Court, one more liberal justice and we will lose all of our freedoms.”
Only his son, he added, could be trusted to replace Scalia with a conservative jurist, warning that the appointment of a different kind of justice “could destroy America.”
Rios, mystified as to why many evangelical Christians have backed Donald Trump, a person who “certainly doesn’t share their values,” wondered where God is in this campaign:
I’m curious to know, many of us have felt for some time that God is really judging us as a country for all of the obvious reasons, for the immorality, for the corruption and all of it, and this presidential cycle I think people have become encouraged, I thought, maybe God is going to give us another chance here.
And now we see that many, many Christians -- rather than supporting a man who really loves God and is equipped, not only loves God but he’s equipped to be president and has a record -- they’re gravitating to someone who certainly doesn’t share their values and is uncertain, there’s a lot of reasons why they’re doing that.
So the question is: Where is God in this campaign for you? I mean, I know you think your son is uniquely qualified; many, many people feel that same way, what if God does not grant that? What do you think that means to us?
Cruz agreed with her assessment that America is facing God’s judgment, unless Americans elect his son president:
America has been just declining so much that you could say that, perhaps, there is judgment for America. But you know, look at the example of Josiah, King Josiah, in the Old Testament. The people of Israel, where judgment was imminent, because a godly man, a man that brought the people back to the law – and what just happened is judgment was deferred, and so it restored confidence in the people.
All we need is a leader that will take us back to the Judeo-Christian principles, to the rock-solid principles of the Constitution, that will make America again that exceptional country that will take us back to where there’s freedom, there is opportunity, there is the ability for any American with hard work and perseverance to achieve any of their dreams.
As Cruz explained, his son has the policies to put America on the right track by “removing taxes, removing regulations and cutting down the size, power and scope of the federal government” and to lead the country as “a servant to We the People.”
“So you think that if we should make the right choice in this particular race, that God could defer judgment? I agree with you. That makes perfect sense to me,” Rios said. “But if Christians don’t make the right choice, and you know what, they are tormented, I hear from them all the time, some of them think that Trump has the charisma, the machismo, as it were, to turn this whole thing around and they think that maybe he can win because of his pop culture appeal and so they’re torn about who they should support.”
Cruz urged voters not to be swayed by a candidate who might have charisma but only offers “empty words” and instead “elect a man who is calm, who is not driven by emotion, because that could lead us astray very quickly.” His son, he continued, is the only candidate with the record conservative Christians can trust.
“We don’t need a deal-maker,” he said.
The two then turned to the future of America’s relationship with Cuba and presence in Guantanamo Bay, with Cruz warning that President Obama intends to “release all of the terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, which will go back to fight and kill Americans and kill Jews,” and is setting the stage for another Cuban Missile Crisis.
