Pastor Doug Wilson, the Minister of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, described the Senate not moving to confirm former Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) as President Donald Trump’s Religious Freedom ambassador as being “inexplicable,” during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday.
While speaking with host Matthew Boyle, Wilson pointed out that Trump nominated Walker for the position, and the “Senate is controlled by the President’s party,” adding that “clearly there’s something underneath the surface” happening to stall the confirmation. Wilson’s comments come after Trump expressed that he would like to see Walker confirmed, adding that he was “hearing very good things about him.”
“It’s a good example of how politics is often like a water polo game — where a lot of the activity is actually under the surface where you can’t see it,” Wilson said.
“This is inexplicable, looking above the surface, it’s just inexplicable. Why would the President nominate someone and the Senate is controlled by the President’s party, and you don’t even get to a confirmation hearing. What’s going? Well, it’s clearly there’s something underneath the surface.”
“As it happens, our Senator – Senator Risch from Idaho, is the chair of this committee, and so when attention turns to him and everyone says, ‘What gives? Why isn’t this moving forward?’ He basically threw the President under the bus. He said, ‘Well, this is not a White House priority.’ Well, then the President comes out and says, ‘Well, yes it is, I really want this guy.’”
“And then the excuse given is just lame on the surface. Let’s suppose, for example, that Mark Walker doesn’t have the votes on the floor — it still should go to the floor, because then everybody would be on the record.”
Wilson continued to state that he didn’t “buy” the excuse that Walker doesn’t have the votes to be confirmed, adding that he believes if Walker “got a hearing and voted out of the committee, and came to the floor,” Walker would “sail through.”
“I think that’s why he’s being held up — in other words, it would sail through. The excuse is bogus on the face of it. But, even if the excuse were true, even if Walker didn’t have the votes, then Republican Senators who refuse to vote for him — on the floor, defying the President’s nomination, should be on the record.”
Wilson continued to explain that there were “many, many Christians around the world who are persecuted for no other reason than that they are Christians,” and explained that while there were some places, like North Korea, where “This religious liberties ambassador would not have a great deal of sway,” there were other countries where “We can actually do something about it.”
Read the full article here