OM…G

I think it’s safe to say that not too many people supported Donald Trump because of his bona fides as a religious man. But he is a politician who knows how to pay back supporters and shore up voting blocks. At a DC prayer breakfast, Trump promised to “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment (a provision of the tax code that prohibits religious leaders and institutions endorsing or opposing political candidates).” Trump explained: “Freedom of religion is a sacred right, but also a right under threat all around us. The world is under serious, serious threat in so many different ways, but we’re going to straighten it out. That’s what I do. I fix things.”

+ Reuters: Trump to focus counter-extremism program solely on Islam.

+ ReCode: Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft plan to draft a joint letter opposing Trump’s travel ban.

+ Trump also took the opportunity to talk about The Apprentice ratings since Arnold Schwarzenegger took over. “The ratings went down the tubes. It’s been a total disaster, and Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again. And I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those ratings, OK?” (OK, we’ll add it to the list, but full disclosure, our prayer backlog is getting pretty long.)

+ “If signed, the order would create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity.” It’s only a draft, but a leaked version of an executive order “Establishing a Government-Wide Initiative to Respect Religious Freedom” looks like it would green-light many forms of discrimination.