Remembering Michael Cromartie

During this election tide, Michael Cromartie is a gentleman I greatly miss.  We worked in nearby offices at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in the fall of 2000, during that fractious election season.  We disagreed about the election, but always cordially.  He was one of few people I knew then who kept his cool until inauguration day and afterward, speaking well of various colleagues in Washington with whom he disagreed.  Before I ever met him, I enjoyed his presentations at various events in Washington because he was articulate and clear about his position without being bellicose. 

Many years later, in the spring of 2016, at the National Press Club, he held forth on the Republican primaries and the state of the Republic in general.  I forget which candidate he endorsed; Jeb Bush perhaps.  Perhaps it was further on in the season and the likelihood of Donald Trump winning the Republican Party nomination loomed.  In the Q&A afterward, someone asked if he would vote for him.  “No,” came the immediate response.  “Why?” the obvious follow-up.  

I wish I could remember Michael’s exact words, but he responded immediately, without a downward glance at any of the notes in front of him: “He is not a conservative.  He is not a Christian.  He fails of every test of Christian behavior.  He is a bully.  He is mean.  He displays an obvious careless and reckless disregard for the truth.  He is more a disciple of Nietzsche than of Christ.”  He went on this vein for quite a while, after which I thought, well, that settles it.  Trump may gain the nomination, but throughout the land, thoughtful Christian conservatives like Mike Cromartie will not vote for him.  He will end up like Goldwater, with some 40% of the vote and that will be the end of him.

There were not enough thoughtful conservative Christian gentlemen like Michael Cromartie in 2016, but I suspect they made a difference in 2020.  I pray they will again. 

Michael Cromartie passed away in 2017 after a struggle with cancer.  He was Vice President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he directed both the Evangelicals in Civic Life and Faith Angle Forum programs.