Do Republicans deserve Donald Trump?

Each week, The World and Everything in It features a “Culture Friday” segment, in which Executive Producer Nick Eicher discusses the latest cultural news with John Stonestreet of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Here is a summary of their conversation.

After the first of the GOP presidential debates, with several more to go, the Republican field of candidates was almost of one mind on Planned Parenthood, with an interesting exception. Earlier this week, Donald Trump suggested he was open to keeping government funding for what he called the “good aspects” of Planned Parenthood. He said the government should not fund abortion, but should fund other women’s health services.

John Stonestreet of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview responded to Trump’s argument by drawing a parallel to another evil organization, the Ku Klux Klan.

“If the KKK started providing health care for poor white women, would that change the evil in the organization?” Stonestreet asked, referencing remarks by pro-life advocate Scott Klusendorf. “And the answer is, absolutely not. You can’t atone for bad deeds, as he said, with good deeds.”

Stonestreet said Trump’s success early in his presidential campaign says something about the state of political thought in the United States.

“We get the candidate that we deserve,” Stonestreet said. “Clearly we’re angry people outraged at what we see. But do we actually have the categories, the thoughtfulness, the patience, the character, and the virtue to move forward as a society? … I think it is a huge indicator as to where we are as a voting bloc on the conservative side.”

Listen to “Culture Friday” on The World and Everything in It.