GOP senator doesn't want his kids 'to speak like' Trump
Rising Republican Sen. James Lankford distanced himself from President Trump over the weekend, saying in an interview on Sunday he does not consider the president a "role model" for his children.
The former youth pastor at a Southern Baptist church in Oklahoma told MSNBC he would be disappointed if his own children began speaking or behaving like Trump.
"I don't consider the president a role model for my kids," Lankford said. "I don't want my kids to speak the way that he speaks, or to make some of the choices."
He added, "I don't tweet that way. I don't interact with people that way. I don't treat my staff the same way."
Several GOP lawmakers have criticized Trump's behavior and character in recent months, citing his outbursts on Twitter, incendiary comments about immigrants, and the ongoing scandal surrounding porn star Stormy Daniels' claims that the two had an affair. Just hours before Lankford's interview aired, his Republican colleague Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona refused to rule out a challenge to Trump in 2020.
Lankford said none of the issues that have arisen during Trump's first year-and-a-half in office "shocked me any" because Trump had already displayed his shortcomings during the 2016 election.
"It was pretty clear during the campaign there were different moral issues, and we have different lifestyle choices that we have made personally," he said, adding that Trump is more of a role model business-wise and through his "deal-making."
The Oklahoma senator also side-stepped criticism of evangelical leaders who have overlooked Trump's prior divorces and philandering because of their support for his conservative agenda.
"I said during the Clinton administration the same thing I say now: An individual's personal life does matter," Lankford told MSNBC. "It shows you evidence of what they're going to be like."
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/gop-senator-doesnt-want-his-kids-to-speak-like-trump