New generation of the GOP?

[Virginiá]

I could easily see the Christian conservatives break off and form a new 3rd party in 5-10 years. The new GOP is nothing like the old guard GOP of the 1980s-2000s.

Which would almost surely split the vote for Republicans in general and lead to more Democratic victories, at which point those voters would eventually find themselves back in the GOP, with some possibly sticking around as 3rd party voters. America is not set up for 2+ parties - particularly in presidential elections. As well, at this point I'd say partisan loyalties are too deeply embedded to result in what you're saying.

But the GOP becoming more inclusive? Really? Have you seen what has been going on the past 18 months? If anything, they've gotten worse. As it looks now, they have most definitely not changed for the better in terms of tolerance/inclusiveness. Trump, a poster child for divisiveness, bigotry and bullying is now the leader of the Republican Party, and so long as he is that, the GOP will not be a beacon of tolerance going forward.

[Virginiá]

The Trump-GOP isn't getting more "inclusive", but I think it is getting more secular.  Peter Beinart has a good column on that here:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/04/breaking-faith/517785/

Oh yes, I read this when it was published. Part of the reason it didn't come to mind previously, though, was because of this:

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It's just switching up the focus of the intolerance. Becoming more secular might possibly help them some with LGBT voters but again might end up hurting more so among minorities, the most important group they need to make inroads with, and the reason the Millennial generation is so heavily Democratic.

[Virginiá]

The last election confirmed everything that liberals have been saying about Christian fundamentalists for decades.  They do not care about Jesus or following his commandments or getting "right with God" or whatever.  What they want is power.  Donald Trump is the most antithetical thing to Jesus Christ to run for the presidency in the modern era.  They voted in lockstep for him.  All the leaders of the evangelical community (Tony Perkins, Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, Jr., etc.) came out and rallied around him as 'their guy,' going as far to call him a "baby Christian" because he said the right things about gays and abortion.

It's a shame that the same grace wasn't extended to Barack Obama every time his faith was called into question from the time he ran for president.

Didn't Falwell Jr get behind Trump even before the primaries/caucuses started? I mean that was a point where options still at least appeared to exist.

It's fine if they want to back Trump, but I don't see how one can claim to hold all these religious values and then go enthusiastically back Trump, a man who seems like he was designed in a laboratory to be the most effective (in theory) candidate in repelling religious people. At this point, I think everyone who supported Trump should do some moral inventory and decide which they actually care about, and what means more to them - principles/morals or power?

It's a shame that the same grace wasn't extended to Barack Obama every time his faith was called into question from the time he ran for president.

That's some Grade A American Partisanship for you. If it is good for anything, it's laughs for when the brazen hypocrisy and shallow logic reaches comical levels.

[Virginiá]

Tolerance? Some liberals aren't tolerant at opposing political viewpoints.

You might read it as tolerant of certain lifestyles or characteristics such as race/gender/sexual orientation. It's a scale, and maybe to say that in certain prominent things liberals are more tolerant than conservatives, or maybe even just more broadly.

I'm sure enough has been said at one point or another of the issue with "being intolerant of one's intolerance of [gays/[race]/etc] makes you intolerant" that we don't need to go through that mind loop again.

Why does there have to be a choice between a persons religion or Trump? Either you voted for him or you didn't leaving the religion aspect aside.

How can someone say they value the moral teachings of Jesus and then go vote for someone who repudiates almost all of it, and in some cases lives a life completely against it? Especially during the primaries, when there were other choices? Because then either they made a mistake, or maybe they don't value those teachings as much as they think. I'm sorry, but someone can't go around talking about family values and then go vote for a man such as Trump, who has divorced numerous times, says himself that he loves kissing/grabbing women against their will, lies compulsively on a scale not often seen, treats his kids purely as a financial obligation, probably cheats on his wife as if he has no concept of fidelity.. I mean I could go on all day.

Look, there is some leeway between the values of a person and who they support, but a man like Trump, who is like the personification of everything wrong with America (and much of which conservatives blame as well), that a big, big stretch. I just don't get how you can separate the two. I've yet to hear an appropriate excuse. Usually it boils down to something like "oh, well now we have a pro-life judge and it was worth it" - well, ok then, but this still shows one values power more, no?

And you know, for the immense amount of forgiveness extended to Trump, I rarely recall seeing such amounts of understanding extended to Obama.

[Virginiá]

Cheats on his current wife-We don't know about his relationship with his wife. That's their business in my opinion.

I think you're missing my point about the family values stuff.

Treats his kids as a financial obligation-His kids I think like him.

http://fortune.com/2016/04/24/trump-act-like-wife/

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He just doesn't care. On top of all that, he looks and talks about his daughter like a piece of meat.

My point is that for deeply religious people, or people who say they value what Jesus taught and everything that is in the Bible, to reconcile that with such deep support for Trump is practically impossible. Somewhere in that little arrangement is a weakness/misrepresentation of where one stands, whether or not they want to admit it. Trump is objectively a bad person and morally bankrupt, and personally, preaching of family values and such from a Trump supporter is suspect at best. None of them were forced to support him, and there were many other options in the primaries, yet here we are, with religious "leaders" such as Falwell having gone to bat for such a disgusting man who goes against almost everything they say they believe in, and in Falwell's case, even before he became the nominee. Falwell is a joke. A complete and utter joke.