[Hoot Gibson]

You're not going to offend me I assure you. We both may find ourselves back on the same side of things before we could have guessed. My point about Piper was that the article you cited refers to him as an Evangelical leader of the Wesleyan Church. All I'm saying is that men of such cloth don't take the time to attack individuals. In fact, it is in the failing of the Church in which men have been encouraged to live openly and unashamedly in a fashion contrary to the dictates of our Lord.

Therefore, had Dr. Piper invited Trump to a one on one, and then come away satisfied that he was every bit the scoundrel he painted him in his article. Then it might have born more fruit. But I know what Dr. Piper's calling is, it is to evangelize folks like and maybe particularly Donald Trump. Not single them out as he has done. On the one hand Church leaders fear and complain about being shut out of the political arena by the state, and then they do things like Piper did. It seems like a clear case of a preacher stepping outside his charter to me. BTW, has Dr. Piper published anything critical in scope about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama?

And obviously, the face on which the whole article was presented has two sides. Donald Trump nor any subordinate, as far as I could determine, has ever approached Piper to ask if Donald could speak at Wesleyan University. None the less, that scenario was used as a vehicle to deliver his review of the person of Mr Trump anyway, which was his true intent.

Dr. Piper, as president of a Christian university, has an obligation to look out for the interests of the students with whose welfare he is charged. He did not say that he would not welcome Trump to the campus. What he said was that he would not provide the chapel as a venue for Trump to deliver a political message.

BTW, are you aware that Trump told a reporter, "I am Presbyterian Protestant. I go to Marble Collegiate Church," and Marble then released a statement that Trump was not an "active member?" Trump seems to have much in common with Bill Clinton. I hate to see politicians mischaracterize their religious practice for political gain. Especially when that same politician has questioned the sincerity of both Ted Cruz's and Ben Carson's religious beliefs.

I am concerned that so many Republicans who were troubled by Obama's associations with people like Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dorhn, Louis Farrakhan, Marshall Davis, Rashid Khalidi, and many other shady characters, are showing very little interest in learning about Trump's shady associates.

In September 2015, Trump explained that he wants to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a single payer healthcare plan. In other words, what Trump is proposing is to have the government put the private sector out of the medical insurance business. Trump expressed support for Obamacare in one of his books. Yet, today Trump is touring Iowa calling Cruz a liar for saying that Trump supported Obamacare. Why are Trump supporters ignoring his plan to impose a Canadian style nationalized healthcare system to replace Obamacare?

Hopefully, Cruz will win Iowa Monday night and buy some time for people to tire of Trump's childish behavior and learn more about his record before he locks up the nomination. If not, it is very possible that Trump will lose the general election to a very weak Democrat candidate. Polls indicate as many as 50 percent of the Republicans who are opposed to Trump would and not support him in the general election. I am sure that most of those voters will change eventually support Trump but what if 20 percent of Republicans refuse to vote for Trump in the general election? It could happen and I believe that it is likely to happen if Trump is the nominee.

According to a recent Gallup poll, Trump has the highest unfavorable rating (60%) since polling began in 1992 - higher than Hillary Clinton and much higher than Bernie Sanders. Ben Carson has the lowest unfavorable rating since 1992 and Sanders, Cruz, and Rubio also have unfavorables that rank among the lowest four during the past 24 years. Trump's unfavorable rating is double Carson's and it is Trump's own fault. You cannot run an unscrupulous campaign for the nomination without giving any thought about the campaign's effect on the general election if you are your party's nominee.

Eventually, Trump will pay the price for his sleazy campaign. It is much harder to raise a candidate's favorable ratings than it is to run a reasonably clean campaign to avoid cannibalizing your own popularity ratings. Trump is lucky that he did not run in 2012 because Obama would have destroyed him in the general election.