September 2019 - With off-color stories of Jerry Falwell Jr. again in the news and many people demanding Mr. Falwell resign his position as head of Liberty University, we were reminded of a story that came out earlier this year which made many Americans wonder: Is this why Mr. Falwell endorsed Donald Trump in 2016? Here is a summary of that story:

May 2019 - The Reuters news service recently reported that Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's personal attorney and fixer, told entertainer Tom Arnold in March that Mr. Cohen had performed a strong-arm (our term) favor for Jerry Falwell Jr. in 2015. The favor related to some "candid" photos that Mr. Falwell did not want made public.

Cohen/Falwell Jr. images from washingtonpost.com

If true, could this be the reason that Mr. Falwell surprised everyone and endorsed Mr. Trump in 2016? First, some background for our younger readers and others who may not be familiar with the name Jerry Falwell:

Jerry Falwell Sr. was the fundamentalist Christian pastor who founded the so-called "Moral Majority" in the1980's. He promoted the concept of "family values", which he felt should be reflected in and by America's political leaders.

Which is why it came as a shock to many when his son, Jerry Falwell, Jr., endorsed Donald Trump for President in 2016. After all, everyone knew that Mr. Trump was a foul-mouthed, money-hungry, thrice-married womanizer, who has exhibited little regard for the poor or for the truth. And, while not a pastor, Falwell Jr. has continued his father's legacy as head of Liberty University, another organization founded by Falwell Sr.

So what could have led Falwell Jr. to endorse Mr. Trump and then to campaign for Mr. Trump, vouching for Mr. Trump's Christian virtues in the process?

Falwell Jr. image from slate.com

At the time, the obvious answer to us was that, while the terms family values and morality do reflect the belief system of most Americans, conservative evangelicals have largely defined these two terms to mean that 1) abortion should be illegal and 2) discrimination against homosexuals is acceptable. If you agree with them on those two issues, too many evangelicals will give you a pass in other areas of your personal morality and ethics. And Mr. Trump was willing to flip-flop on his long-held positions in both areas in order to take hard enough lines to court the evangelical community.

And yet, other Republican Presidential candidates in 2016 took equally hard line positions on those two issues. In fact, Ted Cruz chose to kick off his Presidential campaign with a speech at Liberty University. So why choose to endorse Donald Trump and all his baggage?

Which brings us back to Mr. Cohen's story. According to Reuters, who listened to tapes that Mr. Arnold had made of his conversation with Mr. Cohen, Mr. Cohen had said the following:

Someone had come into possession of racy personal photographs of Falwell Jr. - the sort of photos that typically would be kept "between husband and wife."

The Falwells wanted to keep these "personal photographs" from becoming public. Mr. Cohen claims to have seen one of those photographs and "it's terrible."

After Mr. Cohen's intervention with the party possessing the photographs, the photos were destroyed.

(This is not the first possibly sordid story involving Mr. Falwell's personal life. Among those other stories, the one that Mr. Falwell does discuss to some extent pertains to a 22-year old pool boy that Mr. Falwell and his wife met and subsequently bankrolled in his own hostel business.)

Falwell/Trump image from washingtonpost.com

In a statement released by an attorney for the Falwells, that unnamed attorney called Mr. Cohen's account "not accurate" and said in a follow-up text message to the Washington Post that "there are no compromising or embarrassing photos of Falwell, period."

The Reuters story also reports that Mr. Cohen had held meetings with Falwell, Jr. just before the critical Iowa primary in 2016. Mr. Cohen used those meetings to help persuade Mr. Falwell that he should endorse Donald Trump.

Neither Reuters, nor we, are saying that the matter of the photos played a role in the Falwell endorsement. But it would not be out of character for either Mr. Trump or Mr. Cohen to use whatever pressure they can bring to bear on a situation in order to achieve their desired results.

We hope there is more to come on this story and that the truth does come out, regardless of which way the story falls.

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