Recently, Jerushah Duford, the granddaughter of the famous Rev. Billy Graham, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris during an “Evangelicals for Harris” virtual meeting. Duford criticized Christian supporters of former President Donald Trump as destructive to the faith, causing people to turn away from Christ.
Durford’s statement contradicts other descendants of Billy Graham, such as Franklin Graham, who has consistently voiced his support for Trump. Notably, Duford reportedly has ties to the anti-Trump organization, The Lincoln Project, and has voiced liberal views on homosexuality.
“I was thinking this morning that if you told me 10 years ago that I would be taking an active role in politics, I’d have laughed. But then I had to stop and realize this is so much more than politics,” Duford stated in a recorded message. She further criticized Trump’s leadership, claiming it was leading people away from Christ.
“In 2016, when a man bragged about assaulting women, various leaders of my faith then propped up this man as a poster boy for godly manhood and leadership,” she added. “This broke my heart as I have watched — quite frankly, for the last eight years — people who were curious about Jesus and His teachings [have] done a 180 and walked in the other direction from my faith.”
“These things happen slowly over time. First, people professing the Lord made excuses for [Trump’s] lack of kindness, then for the name-calling. Soon it was making excuses for assault. Then it became making excuses for January 6, and now making excuses for convicted assault and 34 felonies,” Duford said.
Graham’s granddaughter also quoted Isaiah 1:30, comparing Trump supporters to rebellious Israelites. The verse states, “You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water.” Duford said, “The oak leaves don’t wither overnight. And I’m terrified to think of how far this turning our head the other way and making excuses will take our country — but more importantly, our witness to the world.”
Explaining her motivations to oppose Trump, Duford said, “Voting Kamala, for me, is so much greater than policies. It’s a vote against another four years of faith leaders justifying the actions of a man who destroys the message Jesus came to spread, and that is why I get involved in politics.”
Notably, Franklin Graham denounced the “Evangelical for Harris” movement in a recent X post, blasting the group for using his father’s likeness to spread a political message. Franklin maintained that his father would have decidedly been a conservative Trump supporter in today’s modern political climate.
“The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris,” Graham wrote in the post. “They even developed a political ad trying to use my father [Billy Graham’s] image. They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President [Trump] in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.”
Featured image credit: By Paul M. Walsh – Billy and Franklin Graham, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4934708