Between Rome and a Roué

Recently I ran across an interesting allegation: is it hypocritical to support Donald Trump, on the one hand, if you attack the Catholic church for the abuse scandal, on the other hand? 

i) I didn't vote for Trump and I opposed him during the primaries. Of course, you can only work with the information you have at the time. His record as a Manhattan socialite gave me no reason to think he'd govern as a conservative. 

However, it's rational to revise your assessments based on new evidence. Thus far I've been pleasantly surprised by how things are working out.

ii) Critics always recast the issue in terms of supporting Trump. But from my standpoint, it's always a policy question. Not about endorsing the individual, but the policies of his administration. 

iii) Finally, it's a question of options, both political and ecclesiastical. If Rome is the One True Church®, then that generates a moral dilemma. But if Rome isn't the One True Church®, then that's a false dilemma. You can walk away. There are other options. Better options (by far).  

Politics is also about choosing from the available options. The options keep changing. Sometimes you have better options, sometimes worse options.

If there are just two viable national parties, then that severely limits your options. You can vote for the lesser evil. You can sit out the election, but action and inaction both have consequences. 

It's like the Amish who are too pure to be sullied by violence, so they leave it to other people make the hard decisions while they look the other way. But that's a kind of moral cowardice.