Duck Dynasty star defends Trump on Rita Cosby’s WABC show
Newswoman extraordinaire Rita Cosby (Fox News, CNN), a three-time Emmy Award-winner, continued her Election 2016 coverage by having one of television’s biggest reality stars on her show to discuss his work, his Christian faith and his highly vocal endorsement of Donald J. Trump for President.
“Duck Dynasty” Star and devout Christian Phil Robertson says Donald Trump admitted to him “he’s a sinner, that’s a start” and calls for people to “not condemn anybody.” Robertson also says of faith leaders and others who are critical of Trump, such as the 100 evangelical leaders who just signed a letter against Trump, “They need to lighten up… and give him some time.” This comes as Trump has just issued a rare apology after a video emerged showing him making lewd comments about women in 2005. In the newly released video he brags about infidelities and groping women.
In the interview conducted late on Friday with WABC Radio Host Rita Cosby, Robertson vehemently defends Trump and talks about his recent private meeting with Trump where he discussed the gospel with Trump and drew a diagram explaining the gospel to him. He says Trump was receptive to what he was saying, that he seemed genuine, and took the religious diagram and put it in his pocket.
Robertson says regarding the 100 evangelical leaders and others now suggesting to vote against Trump because of their religious views, “The litmus test they’re using is not a correct one.” The letter signed by the large group of evangelical leaders was posted just yesterday on Change.org.
He also sharply criticized Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton and the Democrats saying, “That’s about the most ungodly bunch I’ve ever seen.” Robertson initially supported Ted Cruz in the presidential race, but later endorsed Trump.
The interview also focused on Robertson’s new documentary called “Torchbearer,” which opened on Friday in select theaters throughout the country.
The Full Portion of the interview related to Trump is in this LINK: http://bit.ly/2dQV3G2 and runs 3 minutes and 30 seconds. The full verbatim transcript of the key parts is below.
PHIL ROBERTSON ON TRUMP 10/7/16
(KEY HIGHLIGHTS)
0:00 COSBY – I know that you also met with one of the Presidential nominees. You met with Donald Trump.
0:05 ROBERTSON – Yup.
0:06 COSBY – What was that like? You talked with him about faith.
0:09 ROBERTSON – Yeah. I didn’t have long with him, so I thought ‘Well, whatever I do, I better move quickly’, because, you know, I’m walking in – there’s Giuliani over there, the Mayor, and there’s, you know, General Flynn, and I’m looking around… I mean it was… you know, you have to go through… let me tell you something, you’re not getting back in there, because these guys, they were putting that wand in places on my body where Miss Kay has not been in years.
0:34 COSBY – (laughs) A lot of security!
0:35 ROBERTSON – Oh yeah, I’m saying a lot of security. So anyway I got back in there, I don’t have long, so I said ‘Well, I better make this quick’. So before I went in there, I drew the gospel out in symbols – an arrow coming down out of heaven, year one, God becoming flesh, Jesus, dying on a cross, and when I got to that little part, I told Donald, I said ‘Donald, you don’t want to miss this,’ I said ‘Jesus died for you.’ I said, ‘You do have sins’.
1:03 COSBY – And what did he say?
1:04 ROBERTSON – He said, ‘Yeah.’ So he didn’t hesitate, and I thought, ‘Well, the man admits he’s a sinner, that’s a start.’ I just went through the gospel with him quickly – Jesus died for him, was buried and raised from the dead. I said, ‘Look, if there is no resurrection of Jesus Christ’, I said, ‘Donald, none of us are getting off this planet alive. Ever.’
1:23 COSBY – How did he receive that, and did he seem genuine in his interest?
1:28 ROBERTSON – He listened, and he said, he said, ‘Can I have that?’ And I had written the gospel out in symbolic form, so he got it. And he put it in his coat pocket. So what he will do with that, I’m not sure. I just shared the gospel with him, because it has the power to save him. Now whether he will put his faith in that or not, we’ll wait. I would just remind America, we need to give Donald Trump time, or anyone else, when it comes to ‘Well you know, he did this and did that’… like we’re not all sinners? I mean give me a break. I’ve run with the worst of them, Rita.
2:08 COSBY – Did he seem genuine to you?
2:10 ROBERTSON – Very much so. Very much so. He listened attentively. So it was a good sign.
2:16 COSBY – There was recently a letter that was posted to Change.org. It was nearly a hundred Evangelical leaders have signed onto this, urging their fellow Christians to vote against Donald Trump. What’s your reaction to that?
2:31 ROBERTSON – There may be some Christians who (are) saying vote against him, because he’s not as religious as they are. If I use that as a litmus test – I’m not going to vote for you unless you are as conservative as I am – I would never vote for anyone, Rita, but me. Or, I’m not going to vote for you if you’re not as religious as I am. Well I would never vote for many. So I’m just saying, the litmus test they’re using is not a correct one. They may have in their mind that they’d like to see a theocracy of some sort, which is the last thing we want on planet earth. You know they argued that out, the Founding Fathers, and they said, ‘Not good’.
3:14 COSBY – So what would you say to these Evangelical leaders?
3:15 ROBERTSON – I would say they need to lighten up, start going out and preaching the gospel to different people, including Donald Trump, and give him some time to think about spiritual matters, and work with him, and not condemn anybody. I mean, what are we going to do? We’re going… we know what we’re going get from Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. What are we going to do, help them? I mean, I’ve never seen as… that’s about the most ungodly bunch I’ve ever seen. They’re the ones that booed God out of the Democratic platform here, but in the last cycle, when Obama was elected, they booed God out of their platform.
