Pat Robertson Is Dead At 93 And People Have All Kinds Of Thoughts

Prominent televangelist and Christian media mogul Pat Robertson has died at age 93. Despite losing the 1988 primary race to George W. Bush, the longtime host of The 700 Club was an influential figure in the Republican Party for decades where he stoked the fire of culture war issues that persist to this day. In later years, Robertson became more infamous for his controversial remarks following the 9/11 attacks and the devastating earthquakes in Haiti.

Via NBC News:

In the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Roberson and fellow televangelist Jerry Falwell were harshly condemned for appearing to put blame on abortion doctors, feminists, gay people and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Robertson came under fire in 2010 for falsely claiming that the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti that year was caused by enslaved Black people who made a “pact with the Devil” in the 18th century as they fought for liberation from French colonizers.

However, more recently, Robertson has espoused some surprising thoughts for a conservative thought leader. He notably instructed the Republican Party to “move on” from Donald Trump following the 2020 election and even went so far as to call the former president “erratic.” A few months later, Robertson took a bold stance by calling out the police officer who shot Daunte Wright. The 700 Club host didn’t buy the officer’s excuse that he accidentally mistook his gun for a taser.

Despite those deviations, Robertson fell back in line with the Republican orthodox and would later come out of retirement in February 2022 to claim that Vladimir Putin was “compelled by God” to invade the Ukraine.

Following the news of Robertson’s death, the televangelist began to trend on Twitter where his incendiary remarks on hot button issues were clearly not forgotten. You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via NBC News)