Abraham Lincoln was picked apart like no other previous president.

Among the unkind monikers: Original gorilla. Yahoo. Rotten. Coward. “Weak, wishy-washy, namby-pamby … imbecile in matter, disgusting in manner,” according to the Salem, Illinois Advocate. According to Congressman Henry Winter Davis, Lincoln’s 1864 reelection was “the subordination of disgust to the necessities of a crisis.”

His magnificent address at Gettysburg was labeled “a little speech of ‘glittering generalities’” (New York Herald). “Slip-shod, loose-jointed, puerile” (Chicago Tribune). Dull and commonplace” (Times of London).

In our time, presidential critics left and right echo many of the same themes.

Few critics impugned Barack Obama’s appearance and intelligence. Critics doubted his patriotism, and even his friends admitted his personal coolness. George W. Bush was belittled for his modest verbal skill and awkwardness when speaking freely. Bill Clinton was criticized for talking too much and acting like a peeved child when held to account.

Donald Trump presents a unique case. His supposedly chaotic White House has become a soap opera on the order of “Days of Our Lives.” Many things about him provide fodder for endless discussion among the nation’s public commentators. Things like his physical fitness, inability to concentrate, relationship with his wife, and sometimes astonishing attacks on those he dislikes.

Critics don’t just accuse Mr. Trump of lacking character or leadership, but of being mentally unfit for the presidency.

Speculating

It’s fun to play armchair psychologist, to sit back and pose as profound insiders who are among the few who truly understand the man’s makeup.

It’s okay to observe and make judgments. I remain troubled by Trump as a man and ashamed by his lack of personal maturity and outright childishness. The dignity of the nation’s highest office calls for something higher.

But when we offer comprehensive portraits of a president we see but don’t know, we leave intelligent observation. We cross into a foggy world of speculation and pretense.

There’s no denying Trump’s Twitter outbursts, sometimes offensive off-the-cuff remarks, seeming disinterest in the details of critical public policies, self-preoccupation, and documented moral failings. These make me very leery of him as a man and as the leader of our country.

No President deserves unqualified support or freedom from criticism. But in the case of Donald Trump, must we not admit that whatever we think of him, we should evaluate his actions as Chief Executive independently?

What His Actions Say

The long hoped-for pipeline in the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge has been approved. As has the Keystone Pipeline. The Paris climate change accord penalized us while patting the world’s major developing world polluters on the head. Now, it’s a dead letter.

In foreign affairs, it’s hard to trace a consistent course in American diplomacy. But North Korea’s barbaric post-adolescent leader seems shaken by Mr. Trump. Our NATO partners are paying more for their own defense, at the President’s prodding. We’re in the early stages of a long-overdue military revitalization. We have sold Poland $10.5 billion worth of Patriot anti-missiles and put military personnel in Estonia. Both actions challenge Vladimir Putin’s threats to the defunct Soviet Union’s client states.

The American economy is booming. Men and women who take the meaning of our Constitution seriously are being appointed to the federal bench, from Neil Gorsuch on down. This administration has advanced the cause to protect unborn children and their mothers from abortion and correct Roe v. Wade.

There’s more, but to the point. There is a place at which angry rumination about the psychology and history of Donald Trump becomes useless. If there are real problems, they need to be raised and addressed. For instance, bad policy decisions, personal conduct that debases the presidency (think Clinton-Lewinsky affair) or matters of illegality or ethics.

Mr. Trump’s Twitter patter, poor choices of words (and what that reflects about his inner life), staff turmoil and all such things aggravate and at times embarrass. But his policies have been overwhelmingly conservative.

Us and Trump

No one’s character can be divorced from his actions. Perhaps Mr. Trump is, in fact, a man of opportunism and narcissism. Perhaps his loyalty to conservatism extends only as far as his political calculation. But his actions have been rewarding. Especially to us who wondered if, after eight years of Obama, another Clinton would signal America’s death-knell.

At the same time, Christians should provide a faithful prophetic voice in the public arena. We are to be neither cheerleaders or enemies of public officials. Instead, we are to speak God’s standards into their lives and into the national discourse.

For Mr. Trump, this means we pray for him. We don’t pick-apart his every verbal excess any more than we excuse his serious blunders, verbal or otherwise. We wed grace and truth in speech, conduct, and supplication to our Father with respect to the President and all senior leaders. That’s our calling.

Donald Trump might not be Abraham Lincoln, but he’s not Hillary Clinton, either. That’s a relief in its own right. But the current Administration is proving to be about more than thwarting the progress of the Left. It’s about moving forward with a conservative vision of governance.

This is more admirable than many of the President’s fiercest conservative critics seem willing to acknowledge. It’s time they do.