Would a Trump nomination lead to a spate of divorces? You might think so after reading Michael M. Phillips’ article last week in the Wall Street Journal, where he interviewed Republican couples with opposing views of the candidate. Not surprisingly, the featured men support Trump while their wives are horrified by him.
My own marriage is somewhat represented by the article, though our views don’t come close to the extremes depicted. In a perfect world neither of us would support Donald Trump, but we are in an emergency situation where drastic risks may be necessary to save America. I am more worried than my husband is about what a President Trump might do and he is more convinced than I am that only Trump can handle Hillary Clinton dirty tricks. Still, for the first time since we married (and our choices have often been unorthodox) if our state was voting right now, my husband and I might vote for different primary candidates.
Here’s how I assess the three top Republican candidates. Of Trump, Rubio and Cruz, Ted Cruz is the only one I trust. I feel confident that I can anticipate how he will govern and that most of the time it would be in accord with my thoughts. Even if he could somehow survive the Clinton onslaught, I simply do not trust Marco Rubio to stand firm when necessary. I worry that as president he would be too naive to win battles against seasoned Democrats and that he desires to be liked too much to withstand constant attacks by the New York Times and other media.
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. I do see Trump as electable—a word that I increasingly detest. Many Democrat leaning voters will support him and unlike Hillary, the more you see and hear of him the more you like him. He can be very charming.
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. I actually am glad that he did not grovel about the David Duke endorsement. I don’t think that Trump is racist and I believe that the word, along with words like anti-Semite or homophobe has been rendered meaningless. If Ben Carson was the Republican nominee he would be labeled racist. If Martin Luther King was the Republican nominee he would be labeled racist. It is a tactic of the Democrat Party that has been effective and it’s about time someone refuses to play the “I’m guilty” game.
Starting a few years ago, I believe that the Republican establishment made a disastrous mistake. Instead of recognizing that Ted Cruz represented hundreds of thousands if not millions of conservative Americans who were feeling ignored or attacked, they chose to shoot the messenger. Even today, they desperately won’t consider him as the best alternative to Trump, ludicrously suggesting instead that he step aside and anoint Rubio. Rather than listening carefully to him and working with him, they helped make him the detested outsider. In my opinion, the result is the Trump bandwagon.
We are living in scary and interesting times. A strong marriage and family are vitally necessary to survival. For those couples who have agreed on politics until now, I suggest a deep breath and a recognition that your spouse has not morphed into an unrecognizable creature. We are reaping the seeds of over fifty years of cultural decay, albeit interspersed with some bright moments. Maybe we do need to hit bottom before we can work our way up.
When the debate is over, watch some truly enlightening TV
(last few days of the 3 for the price of 2 sale)
That made me chuckle.
Henceforth, I dub this James,’JINO’.
I think our two James may need to start giving a last name initial so we can keep them straight. Thank you both for chiming in.
Excellent reply, James! My worldview was colored by the teachings of my proud American mother, descended from colonists since 1666, proud of American values. She gave me J. Edgar Hoover’s Masters of Deceit to digest at age eleven. The book stresses the evils of communism. The communist is dyed-in-the-wool, fanatical and dedicated to the seizure of power, without having a ghost of an idea of how to wield it effectively. The communist believes that the glorious Socialist end justifies any and all evil means to achieve it. He will use any means to achieve it, lie, cheat and steal, to smear or even destroy any opponent. My problem with the current Democratic Party is that it is no longer the party of Andrew Jackson and of my fathers, dedicated to agrarian individuals and against the excesses of Big Government. No, the modern Party is virtually indistinguishable from the Party of Marx and Lenin. Remember the teachings of Our Rabbi, who warns us that in Socialism, the end effect is indeed equality, but everybody is equally miserable. The acid test is not intellectual consistency of the Socialist Progressives, but the depraved core values behind them.
On the verge of its happening, I thought to myself, “I wonder which one of these candidates is going to go “Ralphie” on the front runner” and actually considered, maybe even hoped, it would be Kasich. Time revealed that it was Senator Rubio assumed that role opposite the proverbial bully from a Christmas Story. But then again, Kasich is yet to be pushed like the others have been, or perhaps displays a higher threshold of provocation. Even so, he is not threat to the lead that would otherwise invite challenge.
From where I stand, I see an overcompensation for the Obama years on the horizon, if not the more likely continuation of them.
I take solace in that, although the rest of the nation would disagree that he is presidential, I will still have the most presidential governor.
James,
One of the things I always strive to do is look at the world through the eyes of others. I completely understand why some people support a person like Trump. Based on their world views this support is completely rational and legitimate. What makes me uncomfortable are the people who support him while also stating unconditional support for Judeo/Christian values. It’s possible that I might not fully understand what the proper definition of Judeo/Christian values are, but as Justice Stewart once said regarding a different topic, “I know it when I see it”. The Democrats although misguided with their polices are at least consistent with their world view. You might not like some one like President Obama or Bernie Sanders but you can at least credit them for standing by their core beliefs. If we as people of faith elect a candidate like Donald Trump then we should stop blaming Liberals and MTV for losing the social wars, and start blaming ourselves. Because what people hate more than anything is hypocrisy.
Indeed. Our man must have a bottom-of-the-litter-box concept of Mr. Trump. Let us hope it is based upon fact and not upon the targeted snipings of a propagandist media like Pravda. Yet if you vote for an incompetent, corrupt, vicious harridan in his place, God forgive you!
Karen, too many of us keep on forgetting to bring Him in with us.
In the battle of Hillary vs. Trump, I would go with Trump. I still hope that won’t be the choice as I think it’s a terrible one. But, I know that you and others will opt differently. Pray for our country.
My husband and I did leave the ‘president’ slot blank twice. Both times we were voting in states where the Republican candidate had no chance. Our hope was that if enough people did what we did, the Republican Party would see many more ‘R’ votes for governor, senate etc., and see that the presidential choice was one that disappointed many conservatives. Change was needed. Obviously, our strategy didn’t work as the Establishment kept on offering the same types of candidates until the rebellion of this year.
You have so closely articulated what I have been thinking.
I so want to not have to “hold my nose”to vote.
If only God’s people would heed His words…
How is it that We are His on His Day (Saturday or Sunday – depending – Jew or Christian) but come election day, we forget Whose we are supposed to be?
How is it that God doesn’t seem to go into the voting booth with us?
Hi Susan,
It’s great to see your muses again. I just want to say congratulations to your family on the new addition and glad to here your daughter is doing well.
In the past I have always tended to roll my eyes when I’d see pundits or commentators express that any individual event or person was the worst or best in history. That use of hyperbole is useful in getting clicks or selling ads but never held weight when the actual facts of history were applied. However for the first time in my life I am genuinely scared for this country. I don’t know whether to be awed or horrified at the rise of Trump. He has single handedly done what Progressives have wanted to do but could never do and that is destroy the Republican party, kill the evangelical vote, and make Fox News irrelevant. Sure the party name might stand but I’m pretty sure what’s it defines has completely changed. It’s no longer the party of conservatism rather the official party of White Nationalists. Is Donald Trump racist or antisemitic? Absolutely not. Nothing based on his family or past actions indicate anything like that. However he is definitely an opportunist. He could care less whether it was the KKK, Black Panthers, or Muslim Brotherhood voting for him as long he’s getting their votes. I just think having the first Black president coupled with a major recession that changed the economic landscape was the perfect storm for the rise of Donald Trump to be the next Great White Hope for many Americans. What started out as stopping illegal immigration and blocking Syrian refugees is expanding to blocking all immigrants and all Muslims from entering. I had a chuckle when I was reading the comments to an article about Fox News criticizing Donald Trump on Breitbart and saw commentators express the idea that Rupert Murdock should be shipped back to Australia. Suddenly Rupert Murdock, by many considered ultra-conservative, is no longer “American” enough. For me personally unless John Kasich makes a miraculously comeback from the dead then I might just have to vote for Hillary. Outside of her views on abortion I find no credible reason to put Trump ahead of her. I’d rather pay 90% taxes then give credibility to views I find reprehensible. Then again I might just be doing what I always rolled my eyes at others for doing and that is blow things out of proportion haha.
You have exposed a perilous split among conservative voters. Mr. Trump is certainly an in-your-face ‘male’ candidate, seemingly prized by many males for his boldness, bravado, even chutzpah. Mr. Cruz is equally courageous, just more polite (and also formulates more direct and factual replies).
But the real peril is the voter who feels terminally disenfranchised. I seem to recall a reader of your musing (‘Joe?’) who announced that he was so thoroughly nauseated at the insipid choice of candidates that he would stay home on Election Day. I hope Joe did not follow through on that threat, because abstaining conservative voters like Joe brought us Barack Obama.
Voting is not like a first-class cafeteria, where one can waltz through and select one’s ideal candidate. You must go to the polls and CHOOSE, even if between two evils if necessary, in favor of the lesser evil. Abstention = no choice, and that is a default de facto vote in itself. No vote (abstention) is a vote for the greater evil.