Christopher Stalford death: DUP MLA was a right-wing Christian who nonetheless couldn’t stand Donald Trump

Much of Trump’s “base” consisted of religious conservatives drawn to him by his anti-abortion rhetoric and opposition to the demands of gender activists.

Despite being a religious conservative himself, Mr Stalford – whose death on Saturday has shocked the Province’s political scene – considered Trump manifestly unfit for office.

Click here: Christopher Stalford: His final speech to Stormont was both a swipe at Sinn Fein’s human rights stance and an appeal to respect differences of opinion

This contrasts with the support shown to him by party stalwarts like Ian Paisley Jr and Paul Givan.

The pair had been pictured with Mr Trump in March 2018 during a visit to Washington DC.

Mr Paisley said at the time that “his presidency is something that excites a lot of people in Northern Ireland” – adding that if Trump ever visited Northern Ireland he would find people “sympathetic ... towards his world-view”.

Then in 2020, Mr Paisley joined fellow DUP MPs Paul Girvan and Sammy Wilson in posing with a giant TRUMP 2020 re-election banner.

However, here is what Mr Stalford had to say about the soon-to-be-president, writing in the News Letter on the eve of the 2016 election: “In normal circumstances I would be a solid supporter of the Republican Party candidate.

“For me it is astounding that the party which produced Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, should presently be in the hands of a man who in normal circumstances would be nowhere near the nomination, but a fringe joke candidate.

“I think Mr Trump possesses neither the experience nor the temperament to be president. I cannot even imagine who will be in his cabinet should he win, but the idea of someone like Sarah Palin on board is troubling.

“His nomination ultimately represents the triumph of base celebrity culture, and he in turn represents the basest element of that culture.

“Politics at this level is too serious to be reduced to a reality TV show.”

He also added that he was deeply unimpressed with Hillary Clinton, too, saying: “I would imagine that most American citizens are tired of this election year and just want the nightmare to end ...

“To my mind it is profoundly depressing that in a country of 320 million people, the choice should have been boiled down to Trump or Clinton.”

More from this reporter:

Click here – The last Last Post: Remembering the final soldier killed by the PIRA a quarter-century on... 23-year-old Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick

Click here – Remembering barracks bloodbath that was among the last violent spasms of the Official IRA – exactly half-a-century later

Click here – Belfast university culture spat: ‘No-one is convinced by efforts to portray the Irish language as cross-community’

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