Many had high hopes for “Reacher” star Alan Ritchson, particularly after he, a Christian, explained how Christian values can be taught through shows like “Reacher” that tell a secular story and have moral grey areas, but also allow him, as an actor, to show what’s right and wrong. But then he blew all that goodwill up by going on a furious rant about Donald Trump, and now he’s going berserk over backlash he faced as a result of that attack.
As background, he attacked former President Donald Trump in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter in early April 2024, saying that he cannot understand how Christians support Trump despite Trump’s moral shortcomings, going so far as to call the former president both a “rapist” and a “con man.” Trump, despite what was suggested by Ritchson’s comment, was not found guilty of rape in the case brought by Jean Carroll.
In any case, Ritchson told the Hollywood Reporter that he doesn’t understand Christian support for Trump. As he put it in that interview, “Trump is a rapist and a con man, and yet the entire Christian church seems to be treat him like he’s their poster child and it’s unreal. I don’t understand it.” He also said, in the same context, “Christians today have become the most vitriolic tribe.” He added, “It is so antithetical to what Jesus was calling us to be and to do.”
Ritchson was then torched by pro-Trump conservative Christians like Sebastian Gorka, who said that he should stay out of political commentary and instead focus on something he’s reasonably good at, acting. Meanwhile, RINOs like Bill Kristol and leftists supported Ritchson, doing so much more on the basis of his opposing Trump than his being a Christian.
Instead of backing down, he doubled down in a rant on his InstaChurch YouTube channel, saying that Christians are not being Christians when they advocate for border defense policies or those like Trump who advocate for stronger borders.
Beginning that rant, he said, “Jeremiah 22: 3. ‘So if we go to the prophets, what do they say? Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor, the one who has been wronged. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do no wrong to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow!’ I think… When I think about that, I think about politics. And when I think about this, I think about an entire platform by those who mostly claim to be Christians, who are doing the exact opposite of this with their voting power! Who are trying to do violence to the foreigner!”
He continued, “Who are not helping, the fatherless, who are making victims of widows. Do no wrong to the violence of do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow. This is the kind of generosity. We are called to and it’s for everybody. It’s not just for believers. It’s not just for those who have been indoctrinated into the church. It’s not just for those who are American or fit your nation state or fly your flag. It is for everybody!”
He then added, claiming that he was “met with violence” when people criticized him for his remarks about Trump, “If you want to see violence flee the world, be more generous to everybody! That is the Christian ethic! That is what I that is what I don’t see happening. And when I speak up about it in my own ways, I’m met with violence. The antidote to violence is generosity. Generosity is owed to individuals, not to institutions.”
Watch him here:
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