If I told you that Donald Trump uttered a curse word, it probably wouldn’t surprise you.
We are talking, after all, about the future president caught on videotape uttering the famous “Grab-em-by-the-*****” line.
But how might Trump’s evangelical supporters react if the leader of the free world took God’s name in vain at a nationally televised politically rally?
That’s the intriguing — at first glance — plot in a Charlotte Observer news story.
Let’s start at the top:
The controversial “send her back” crowd chant at President Donald Trump’s North Carolina rally may have gotten all the headlines, but some Christians are grumbling over something most of the media completely ignored.
Trump cursed, and it was not just a few vulgarities. He took the Lord’s name in vain.
Twice.
One state senator in West Virginia was so offended that he sent a letter of rebuke to the White House Thursday, pointing out Trump’s ”terrible choice of words“ during the Greenville rally.
The Observer goes on to quote from the letter.
Later, the paper gives the specifics of what the president said (warning: vulgarity ahead):
Among the two instances Trump used the the term, according to RawStory, was an anecdote the president told of a meeting with a disliked business competitor who Trump says admitted to prospering under the Trump administration.
“If you don’t support me, you are going to be so Goddamn poor, you are not going to believe it’,” Trump quoted himself telling the man.
The president used “goddamn” a second time in a reference to how hard the nation’s armed forces might strike Iran, should it come to a military conflict.
A side note: I’m not sure why the Observer capitalized the word in question the first time and lowercased it the second time. But I digress.
From there, a second source is mentioned:
Other critics of the president’s language have been less polite than Hardesty. A commenter on FreeRepublic.com accused the president of “blaspheming” and “mocking” God and warned of sure retribution.
“It will not matter if you are a street sweeper or the leader of the greatest Republic on earth......GOD will drop you like a stone,” the commenter warned.
And that’s it: The “some Christians” who are grumbling are one state senator from West Virginia and an unnamed commenter on a news website.
Is that really news?
I mean, the subject matter is certainly interesting. I think there could be meaty story here with a little more reporting. But I’m not certain the Observer nails it in this version. The sourcing doesn’t seem rises to the level of a major newspaper report.
I would love to have seen more context in the story. I would love to have seen evangelicals who were at the rally quoted. I would love to have seen a local religious leader asked about the term used. I would love to have seen more background on whether this is a word that the president uses often in public speeches or it any expert has studied how much he cusses.