A Trump Round-up

For over a decade, Donald Trump has propelled the news cycle. In the early years, I wrote quite frequently about him as I worked through my conflicting emotions and ideas. I have written less lately. Over the course of the last few months, his handling of Iran and the Moslem nations has led many who wholeheartedly supported him for years to feel like betrayed lovers. In this Musing, I’d like to share my thoughts.

My support, like that of most thinking people, was never the adulation that the Leftist press likes to pretend it is. Back in 2016, I saw that despite flaws, candidate Trump had many assets that other candidates were missing. In an attempt to answer whether my attitude has changed today, I searched for words I wrote starting in 2015, a year when I wrote not about Donald Trump, but about his fellow contestants for the Republican nomination.

I can summarize my attitude with the following quote from March:

Mitt Romney lost a winnable election. America cannot afford for this to happen again.

Over the course of 2016, I, quite painfully, worked my way towards supporting Donald Trump. The following excerpt from January 2016 confirms that my endorsement was far from blind enthusiasm:

My guess is that Mr. Trump hires the best people he can—period. Male, female; Black, Hispanic; Olympic athlete or handicapped. Whoever can get the job done best gets the job. Yet his public statements make him sound like a bigoted, racist cad. Or rather, like a ten-year-old schoolboy. That schoolboy will pick on any feature that he can to ridicule someone he dislikes and whom he wants to make lose his cool. His best friend may have braces, but the bully will call the nerd who annoys him ‘metal mouth.’ ‘Four-eyes,’ ‘teacher’s pet,’ ‘fatso,’ and other puerile barbs spring from his lips while those he likes who wear glasses, are good students or overweight receive affection and protection.

Personally, I prefer not to have a ten-year-old schoolboy as President. However, that is preferable to a politically correct hypocrite whose actions belie his or her words. Donald Trump’s gift to the country has been his fearless exposure of those who speak one way and act another.

By March 2016, I was still a reluctant fan, but one reaching the conclusion that Mr. Trump would have my support.

As for Donald Trump, I have a strong, visceral negative reaction to vulgarity and crudeness. He revels in both. I have no confidence that his Supreme Court nominations would be principled Constitutionalists or that his governing would advance America internally or on the international scene. However, I know that Hillary Clinton will do neither, so if he is the nominee, at this point, I see voting for him. I would hope that a Republican Congress would be less wimpy with him as President than they have been for the past eight years…

Would I see a Republican Trump nominee as a proud moment for America? No. But I was not proud of a Romney or McCain candidacy either, although for different reasons. There are things about Trump that I greatly appreciate, including some of the things that drive so many Republicans crazy.

By August, I was coming to a conclusion.

The personal choice that I see myself as having is this: I can vote for Hillary and feel like a traitor to my country and beliefs. I can vote for a third-party candidate or write-in and feel like a coward. I can vote for Trump and feel besmirched. Right now, I am planning to choose #3.

That led directly to the title of a Musing from October 2016, shortly before Election Day: Vulgar, Lewd, and Getting My Vote.

Over the next four years, President Trump won more than my grudging admiration. This stemmed from his own actions and appointments as well as from the unhinged vehemence of his opponents. While I didn’t approve of all he said and did, he exponentially exceeded my expectations. By the time the next election cycle rolled around, I was firmly on board. As I wrote in 2018:

I believe that for the past few decades we have been tending towards losing what has made this country so special and capable of improving so many lives. Donald Trump with all his coarseness and uncouth language stepped on the stage of history trying to reverse that trend. I look to him as a warrior and ignore the equivalent of his muddy boots. I didn’t get to design the president of my choice—none of us has that opportunity. I am immensely grateful for the one we have.

We know how that election ended, saddling the country with a disastrous Biden presidency. There was no question in my mind that I preferred a return of President Trump to a Kamala Harris administration. By then, there weren’t a lot of undecided voters. Pretty much everyone knew where they stood. Shortly before the election, I penned these words:

Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if President Trump would have stopped tweeting, made more domestic alliances, and been guided by responsible others? Yes—and he wouldn’t have been the president he was with so many outstanding accomplishments. Had he followed more experienced advisors, he probably wouldn’t have been president at all. The good and the bad go together and both Donald Trump’s upsides and downsides co-exist. It matters not at all what I or anyone else wishes President Trump would do—the Frank Sinatra hit, “I Did It My Way” could be his theme.

I have written little since this second Trump administration began, though I recorded a few applicable Lapin Lenses. I did write of my disappointment at his posting a meme decking himself out as Pope Donald, I felt that his juvenile teasing of Canada contributed to that country rejecting the best choice for Prime Minister, and I still cringe at much that he says.

This brings me to his behavior over the past few months as the so-called Iran War, the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Iran unfolded, and his insults to, and threats to pull back from Israel and its PM, Benjamin Netanyahu. (Note: just after I wrote this Musing, things are flipping around again.)

I must be clear that I have never judged a president solely on his behavior towards Israel. I am an American and any United States president must prioritize this country. Yet, I am convinced that the relationship between Israel and the United States has been and is heavily symbiotic. The United States benefits in important ways from the State of Israel. Iran is a greater threat to Americans than we realize.

I don’t think that any president since Thomas Jefferson has understood Islam or dealt wisely with Islamic countries. (Most had no need to.) Islamic influence in American universities and media makes me very suspicious of accepting gifts and trusting alliances in the Middle East. It is clear to me that in the current era, anti-Zionism and anti-Americanism go hand in hand. Scapegoating Jews is a millennial-old easy way to whip up hatred, but Christians and all those with a traditional moral compass have a target on their backs.

President Trump has earned my grace. I will not rush to condemn him even as I reserve the right to express misgivings about any specific policy. I think that he truly loves the United States and will not deliberately betray it. Can he overestimate his powers and make mistakes, sometimes egregious ones? Certainly. But he is a man who continually surprises.

I have long stopped paying attention to the President’s words to focus more on his actions. Although the press, including supposedly conservative outlets like the Wall Street Journal don’t report on domestic successes of this administration, there are many. For these, I am deeply grateful and they are a sliver of hope in an often depressing climate. The world is a dangerous place, and I pray that God grants President Trump the wisdom to be the defender of good that I think he has been in numerous ways and that I believe he seeks to be.

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