Why did Chris Tomlin share a video of the White House 'worship' session?
The CCM megastar needs to explain why he hit the “share” button after all of Trump’s recent outrages.
This weekend, a number of evangelical luminaries gathered at the White House for a praise and worship session. Normally, this would be a thing of beauty. But in light of recent events, it was anything but.
A so-called worship service at the White House
In case you missed it, Easter Sunday saw something that has become as certain as death and taxes in the decade since Donald Trump came down the escalator. Trump saw fit to post a deranged Easter greeting on Truth Social. If that wasn’t enough, he then used the official White House social cha…
For context, this was a week after Trump posted a deranged Easter “greeting” on social media—and then had it posted on the official White House social channels.
Trump's deranged social media behavior shows why he is unfit for office
One of the few diehard Donald Trump supporters among my friends often says that I shouldn’t let my disgust at Trump’s behavior blind me to what he’s supposedly doing for the country. She frequently says, “You’re not inviting h…
More seriously, it came in the wake of the White House’s appalling treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. It’s inconceivable that nobody there knew that Trump and his advisers had gone from claiming a “clerical error” caused Abrego Garcia to be deported to El Salvador despite what amounted to a permanent parole to falsely claiming he was an MS-13 member who deserved to be run out on a rail. At best—AT BEST—the people at that gathering were tacitly endorsing Trump’s depravity. That’s why, as a charismatic Christian who normally would be overjoyed at praise and worship, I was absolutely sickened at this display.
Well, after I hit “publish” on Sunday, I learned one man who shared video of that meeting particularly has some explaining to do. Namely, CCM megastar Chris Tomlin. Some of my friends noticed this video on Tomlin’s socials. It initially looked like he was definitely there, but he has since clarified the Instagram caption to say his friend Jeff Audas shared the video.
I’ve loved Tomlin’s music for a long time, so seeing this video hit me from somewhere around thread level on the carpet of my home in Muskegon. It’s inconceivable that Tomlin hasn’t been following recent events, so calling his presence there a bad look is being extremely kind.
Imagine if, say, Andy Grammer appeared alongside Trump after everything that has emerged. We would rightly be asking questions. And moving away from the hypothetical, remember how everyone wondered what Carrie Underwood was doing singing at Trump’s second inauguration? This is no different.
To be sure, Tomlin is taking a pounding on the Facebook version of this video. But it’s only a start. At best—AT BEST—Tomlin is disengaged in a way that a singer of his stature cannot be. He owes us an explanation for why he at the very least had few qualms about sharing that video. And he owes one in short order. A secular star would and should get the same treatment. Shouldn’t we hold Christian stars to a higher standard? If our witness means anything in the age of Trump, we better.
“CCM megastar” means millionaire several times over. I’m afraid we would be stunned and heartbroken if we had a list of Christian celebrities who support the authoritarian president and his fascist policies.
This is horrible and you are absolutely right that he shouldn’t have been there, but sadly it’s not surprising. After all, we just haven’t heard anything from mainstream evangelicals pushing back/ speaking out against Trump for his many egregious evils. So why would Tomlin be any different?