'Christianity Today' Editor Retires After Controversial Editorial Calling for Trump's Removal

An evangelical editor who called Trump "profoundly immoral" is stepping down from his role on Friday

After penning a controversial editorial that drew the ire of President Donald Trump and revealed cracks within the evangelical Republican base, Christianity Today editor Mark Galli confirmed he will still retire at the end of the week.

Galli was the author of a Christianity Today op-ed that called on the evangelical publication’s readership to end their support of Trump and called for his removal from office over his impeachment.

“The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents,” Galli wrote in the editorial. “That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.”

Trump fired back on Twitter, calling Christianity Today a “far-left” magazine.

“No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close, You’ll not get anything from those Dems on stage. I won’t be reading ET again!” Trump tweeted, seemingly confusing the name of the publication in his tweet.

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The op-ed also drew the ire of evangelicals still holding on to their support for Trump. A reported 81 percent of evangelicals voted for the Republican in the 2016 election.

Another evangelical publication, the Christian Post, wrote a retaliatory op-ed of their own supporting the president that called Galli’s editorial “elitist.” The response led to one longtime Christian Post editor to quit.

“They’ve chosen to represent a narrow (and shrinking) slice of Christianity,” said editor Napp Nazworth, who walked out over the article.

Galli told MSNBC that Christianity Today gained “three times as many” subscribers as they lost following the editorial.

The publication announced Galli had planned to retire back in early October, months before the editorial and early on in Trump’s impeachment investigation.

“It has been quite a ride for the ministry, economically and journalistically,” he said in a statement then. “Some definite lows, to be sure, and some wonderful highs. Aside from a strong sense of God’s call, what’s given me the most joy is the people I have worked with—men and women who are passionate about their faith and dedicated to their work, and have a sense of humor to boot.”

Galli confirmed on Twitter he was still retiring this week, joking that he’ll be more active on Twitter after his controversial op-ed sparked a widely discussed controversy among evangelicals on social media.

“Well, my retirement is a couple of days away,” he tweeted. “Will be posting here more often now that I have more time on my hands. Well, given my last week, maybe not :-)”

The evangelical magazine, which was founded by famed minister Billy Graham, posted a crying emoji on Twitter Wednesday while mentioning Galli’s retirement and has doubled down on their soon-to-be former editor’s op-ed.

“We are planting a flag and setting a table,” Christianity Today tweeted in late December with a link to the article. “Fellow evangelicals, we invite you to join us.”