Huckabee lines up Trump as first guest on new talk show: report

By Olivia Beavers
09/17/17 03:07 PM EDT

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) is kicking off his new television show with a big league first guest: President Trump.

Huckabee points to the strong support Trump received from evangelicals during last year's election in a new interview with The Atlantic published Sunday, comparing his level of support to other past Republican presidential contenders or even former Republican presidents.

"Nobody pretends that he would be an ideal Sunday-school teacher, to be fair. I don’t think he is a person who is deeply acquainted with the Bible and he’s not known to set attendance records at church. But he’s very respectful of people of faith. And that’s really all people in the Christian community want. They don’t care whether or not the guy believes as they do," Huckabee said.

"I think the president has been very respectful of the faith community, and [evangelicals] overwhelmingly voted for him.... He will, in fact, be my first guest on the first television show that I do," Huckabee continued, pointing to the president's efforts to protect individuals' religious liberties.

Huckabee, who regularly serves as surrogate to the Trump administration while making media appearances, regularly comes to Trump's defense when some Christian leaders publicly denounce his presidency or policies.

When asked whether he takes seriously William Barber's accusation that Christians who support Trump are guilty of “theological malpractice that borders on a form of heresy,” Huckabee said he "totally" does not before laying blame on the Obama administration.

"If anything, they should’ve been concerned that more African Americans were unemployed under President Obama than had ever been," he added.

The new show, set to air on Trinity Broadcasting Network next month, will give the president the opportunity to reach out and talk to this core group of supporters.

Huckabee says his show will be the first on the network to talk about politics and music in addition to faith.

Huckabee's daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, serves as Trump's press secretary.

http://thehill.com/homenews/media/35...lk-show-report