Stripped-down Mansfield pastor bares support for Trump

I know about the Bible Belt.

Now I’ve seen the Bible No-Belt.

Anti-abortion protester Rives Grogan of Mansfield set up his one-man picket Tuesday outside the City Club, then peeled down to Texas flag swim trunks to deliver his message of fire, brimstone and support for Donald J. Trump.

“I’m the guy they put in jail at the Supreme Court,” Grogan, 51, said by way of introduction as passersby nicknamed him “Underwear Guy.”

“I came here because America is at a turning point,” he said.

“If America does not stop Hillary Clinton, destruction is going to come to America — earthquakes, tornadoes, ISIS is going to strike again and again, plagues. … Through Trump, America can be saved again.”

To make his point, Grogan set up on the corner of Third and Commerce streets, across from Democrats protesting Trump’s visit.

He stripped, he said, as a “prophetic warning”: “Most people don’t know this, but the prophet Isaiah went naked in the streets.”

Maybe. But he’d better not try that in Sundance Square.

As it turns out, Grogan has a long and colorful history of protests across America, including several arrests in both public and restricted areas of the U.S. Capitol.

He said he is the pastor of a Los Angeles outreach ministry, New Beginnings Christian Discipleship.

He moved to Mansfield two years ago when his late father was ill, he said. He works part-time delivering for a chain pizzeria.

Grogan’s political loyalty didn’t always lie with Trump, who is not exactly Mr. Traditional Marriage.

“I started out supporting [U.S. Sen.] Ted Cruz,” he said, “but in South Carolina, the Lord gave me the revelation that Cruz couldn’t win.”

In 2012, Grogan interrupted the Cincinnati Reds-San Francisco Giants baseball playoff when he ran onto the field with a sign for Mitt Romney.

He even heckled televangelist Pat Robertson that year, interrupting the America for Jesus gathering in Philadelphia to shout: “Don’t be a hypocrite. Who are you going to vote for?”

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Robertson replied: “Shut your mouth.”

In Fort Worth, even a stripped-down Grogan didn’t provoke much of a response.

A police officer kept an eye on him from several feet away.

The anti-Trump protesters “are pretty mild here,” he said: “Everybody’s been pretty respectful.”

He looked around at Sundance Square.

“This is a really nice place here,” he said.

Come back when you’re dressed.

This story was originally published August 23, 2016 at 1:02 PM with the headline "Stripped-down Mansfield pastor bares support for Trump."