For my most recent Battle of the Bands please visit here and then vote for your favorite song version. My results post for this Battle will be up on Monday November 21st. In this current post I am continuing my President Trump Acclimation Series.
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| Donald Trump speaking at CPAC 2011 in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
"Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it."I intend to address each of these negatives and more in future posts on this topic of my support for Trump, but I would rather begin with the positive side of my choice as I did not make my decision based on negativity. I voted for Donald J Trump because of positive elements I discerned from the man, his family, and his campaign. Yes, I do think there were positive elements involved. Those who agree with me will easily understand. And for those who disagree I only ask that you hear what I have to say with an open mind. If you are not willing to do that then as far as I am concerned your own opinions have absolutely no validity and no value and therefore cannot be taken seriously.
Agreement as well as disagreement is a two party action, but they both require listening and reasoning if either is to have any worth at all.
My Epiphanial Trump Moment
For decades now I've been looking for that special presidential candidate who embraced the practicality of business rather than the ideology of politicizing our world. Lofty ideas can be nice to dream about, but I'd much rather see actual results that lead to prosperity, security, and a better country in every way. The bottom line is that I've been relatively let down by most U.S. administrations in my lifetime other than the exception of Reagan who to my mind is more mythological in the greatness which has surrounded his years in office. My life was very good during his run so that helps fuel my perception of those years.
As indicated in the first installment of my series, for about four decades I was rather indifferent to the personage of Donald Trump--I knew a little about who he was, but I was not particularly interested in anything about him. In past elections I would hear his name floated as a possible candidate, but we always hear names tossed about as an election approaches. I can state outright that I was never a Trump fan nor did I think about him too much one way or another.
Then, on June 16th of 2015, when Donald Trump made his announcement to run for president, my attention perked as I took a more careful notice of the man. Looking at him and listening to what he had to say and how his words were delivered, I saw a genuine serious intention emanating from this well-known figure. What I saw was a man who knew what he was going to do and, more importantly, who knew that he was going to win.
Certainly I was likely somewhat guided by feelings--something that I for the most part look down on--but more importantly there was a strong internal sense based on my cumulative knowledge of the man and other perceptions that I cannot easily define in just a few words. So to put it succinctly, I knew immediately that Donald Trump was going to be the next president, that according to my deductive reasoning he would do a good job in the office, and that this would be the man whom I would be supporting in his presidential bid. Plain and simple--this was one of those things that came to me almost by divine messaging for lack of some better way of saying it.
The Rough Road to the Presidency
After the day of that initial announcement, I began to watch every rally, press event, or speech that I could. Sure, he had an unorthodox style, but that was one of the things that attracted me (as well as millions of others). Sometimes I would be shocked and cringe at some of the things he said, but thinking on them later I would get it. I was getting everything he had to say as did so many of his other fans. The news reporting was so different to what I was hearing from him, but that did not sway me and I will get to that aspect in a future post.
Nothing in his rallies, sessions with press, the debates, or anything else caused my support to waver from my earliest sense about Donald Trump. In upcoming posts I'll address all of the bad stuff that came out in the press, but as I've indicated earlier, this current post is about the positives.
You see, Trump had the supporters like me from the outset and like a snowball rolling down a really big hill, that support grew in size and strength. I was sold from the outset and though sometimes it seemed like everything was going to fall apart in Trump's campaign, he'd just bounce back stronger than ever and people would continue to flock to his appearances.
Considering my other choices, there were several Republicans in the initial running whom I thought were pretty good, but none moved me like Trump. Bernie Sanders had some interesting things to say and I kind of enjoyed listening to him, but there was not much practicality in what he was running on--not in my opinion at least--and I knew he did not have a chance. I won't even get into the subject of Hillary Clinton other than to point out that she has been followed by decades of scandal and over all I find her to be a very unappealing and untrustworthy candidate. Experience isn't always a good thing when we want a good thing done for our country. A continuation of the Clinton dynasty was cringe worthy to me.
Besides, I cannot support a Democrat Party which extols a platform consisting of many things that go against my Christian values so voting in that direction for me would be out of the question unless they put forth the most amazing candidate and I didn't see that candidate this time around.
The Peripheral Influences on My Support
Some might point out Trump's flaws and ask how I as a Christian could support such a man--well, I guess that is to some degree the gist of the questioning that leads to my blog series and, as I've already indicated I will address these negatives in upcoming posts. However there were many other things aside from Trump himself that solidified my stance on supporting him.
Firstly, I took note of the people who started speaking in favor of Donald Trump. Namely there were Christian leaders who were speaking out on his behalf and to me that added more evidence that I was seeing a positive in Donald Trump's candidacy. After the other Republican candidates dropped out of the race I took note of the ones who got on board the Trump Train. They were my favorites and the ones who railed against Trump were the ones for whom I didn't care as much. That told me something right there.
The more media people I saw talking against Trump and manipulating the words of the man and the stories surrounding him, the better I liked Trump. I have such a great distaste for so many in today's media that when they tried to knock Trump down it just made me like him more. In my opinion, aside from the horrible candidate choice in Hillary Clinton (don't cite her winning the popular vote as I have a response to that as well in a future post), I think the negative media coverage was a huge influence on Trump's popularity (more to come on that too).
Then there were Trump's kids. My wife and I both adore the Trump offspring. They appear to be intelligent, driven, and highly respectable. I think they epitomize the kind of adults most parents would hope their own children to one day become. To me, a man's children say a lot about the man and the Trump family instills a lot of respect in me for that family.
Finally, there were the people, the masses, supporters as well as the anti-Trumpers. I'd look at the rallies and see the exuberance in the faces of those attending. I knew it wasn't just me who liked Trump. We were an army. Looking at the other side it was like seeing a completely different army of foul-mouthed, anarchistic, aimless thugs and protesters. That was a big turn-off that completely discredited their cause as far as I was concerned. Mexican flags flaunted while American flags are stomped and burned. If that is the opposition to Donald Trump then I want no part of what they want.
I could go on about the positives, but this post has been long enough. What I will say in closing is that my biggest reason for voting for Donald Trump is that I feel and have felt from the beginning that there has been a divine force behind him from the beginning. It's not that I'm saying that he has been a man of God, but I am saying that over history I believe that God has used unconventional and even not particularly good individuals to do His work.
Some might poke fun at my final point, but it is my conviction and I will stand by it. I have prayed frequently about this election and have continued to be steered in the direction of Donald J Trump for President of the United States. Many have pushed back on my convictions and now I am certain that there are several people who have a negative opinion of me or my decision.
At this point in time I can say that I was absolutely correct in my expectation that Donald Trump would win the election. I sensed it from the beginning and this is what happened. I think he will continue to get a lot of media trashing which is unfortunate for the country. But in the end, I think Donald Trump will be a great president as long as the country and the world lets him. If I'm wrong, you can chide me about it later, but so far I've been correct about this election of 2016.
Feel free to comment as you will. I will have more points to address in my next many posts.
