(Photo Source: CNN.com)

Beto is helping Trump?

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who is running for President as a Democrat, is a lightning rod for right-wing attacks, especially after he said: “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15s” at the Democratic debate in July. But even some Democrats think O’Rourke is doing more harm than good and is helping Trump by staying in the race.

Writing for The Daily Beast, Hanna Trudo said O’Rourke further alienated America’s churchgoers by saying he would revoke churches’ tax-exempt status if they preached against gay marriage.

“Beto O’Rourke may be able to add America’s churchgoers to the growing group of people who are mad as hell at his spontaneous political moves,” Trudo wrote. “The former Texas congressman, more famously known for swears than sermons, unleashed a new crusade on Thursday night, telling CNN moderator Don Lemon during a LGBTQ town hall hosted by the network and the Human Rights Campaign that he believes religious institutions should lose their tax exempt status if they oppose gay marriage.”

But O’Rourke is standing by his controversial position, saying churches have a right to preach whatever they want–but do not have a right to tax-exempt status if they deny “the full human rights and full civil rights of every single one of us.”

“The way you practice your faith within your place of worship is your business. But when you are providing services in the public sphere—and you deny equal treatment under the law based on someone’s skin color or sexual orientation—then we have a problem,” O’Rourke tweeted.

O’Rourke is also a vocal supporter of the movement to impeach Trump, a move some Democrats believe will backfire in 2020.