A day after mocking self-distancing, Trump-supporting ‘evangelical’ leader closes Liberty University

Nothing says Christian hypocrisy like evangelical figurehead Jerry Falwell Jr. His Liberty University has a large online student body but is also home to around 15,000 students on the Lynchburg, Virginia, campus. On Friday, Falwell Jr. was talking to Fox & Friends, where he downplayed the severity of the coronavirus and the need to close Liberty’s campus. His appearance on the show included Falwell’s speculation that all of the “hype” around the coronavirus was some kind of Democratic Party plot against Trump. Well, life comes at you fast, and Falwell is now closing the campus, according to HuffPo:

“We originally believed it was safest to return our students following their spring break instead of having them return following greater exposure opportunities from leaving them in different parts of the country for longer periods. But, the Governor’s recent decision to limit certain gatherings has left us no practical choice because we have so many classes of more than 100 students.” 

Falwell didn’t feel this way over the weekend, when he wasn’t acting very Christ-like toward his online detractors.

Well, not exactly, Jerry. Falwell Jr.’s appearance on Fox & Friends was something to watch, including his explanation of how landowners should have more rights than others, and his allegation that the coronavirus alerts being sent out by everyone except Fox News and Donald Trump were a lot of bunk, saying: “It’s just strange to me how people are over-reacting. The H1N1 virus of 2009 killed 17,000 people. it was the flu, also I think. And there was not the same hype. You just didn’t see it on the news 24/7. It makes you wonder if there’s a political reason for that. It’s a, you know, impeachment didn’t work, and the Mueller report didn’t work, and Article 25 didn’t work, so maybe now this is their next attempt to get Trump.” He then spouted a theory that North Korea got “together with China” and created this as a conspiracy to … destroy their own economy?

Well, conspiracy or not, hoax or not, it seems like even Falwell Jr. serves to lose a little of the very money that has been driving the unforgivable Trump and Republican response to this global emergency.