In July of 2013, I wrote a Musing where I referenced a book by authors Timothy Daughtry and Gary R. Casselman, called Waking the Sleeping Giant. Less than a year into a second Obama term, I was disheartened and angry. My anger wasn’t directed at President Obama, Speaker Pelosi or those who voted for them. It was at the Keystone Kops who were running the Republican Party. The book expressed so many of my feelings.
Unfortunately, the Republican leadership didn’t relate to the book’s message, which many others articulated as well. This most recent election revealed a natural consequence of their indifference. Millions of Americans rejected the party apparatus. In my mind, President Trump’s election along with that of a Republican Congress was a heaven-sent opportunity—and one that is in danger of being squandered because conservatives and Republicans are reverting to an old, losing style of behavior.
Shortly after reading Mr. Daughtry’s book, my husband and I met him and we have stayed in touch over the years. He is graciously allowing me to share a recent column he wrote. I think that its message is well worth contemplating.
Trump is not the Real Target; You Are by Timothy Daughtry
As we watch the daily barrage of accusations and innuendo directed against President Trump by the far left, the liberal media, and even some in his own party, those of us who voted to put him in the Oval Office need to remember one crucial point: President Trump is not the real target. You are.
Even considering his outsized persona and the stunning phenomenon of an outsider who has never held political office winning the presidency against one of the most powerful political machines in American history, the new movement that elected Donald Trump has never been about Trump. In the 2016 election, the “forgotten men and women of America” were hell-bent to send a message to the powerful elites of both parties.
The message was that the Washington elites are serving themselves and their own agenda and ignoring the rest of the nation. The message was that Washington has become a swamp of corruption and self-serving collusion among powerful interests and that Main Street America is ready to see that swamp drained.
Donald Trump was our messenger.
Because his candidacy was not about Trump the man but Trump the messenger, he was able to withstand the smears and assaults of the Clinton Machine that would have sunk any other candidate. They siphoned all the way to the bottom of their slime barrel, and still the message prevailed.
That message was simple and grounded in common sense. No country can survive unless it has control over its borders. People coming into American should be vetted to make sure that they pose no danger to us. After eight years of stifling taxes and regulations, we should once again make America a healthy place in which to do business, make products, and create jobs. Political correctness may seem silly and laughable, but in reality it poses a serious threat to free expression and open exchange of ideas. If it’s terrorism, call it that. Say what is obvious to our common sense even if it offends the delicate sensibilities of the elite.
Now the denizens of the Washington swamp are sending a message back to the forgotten men and women who voted for Trump and his reforms: “Forget you.”
The leftists who worked to radically transform the nation under Barack Obama are telling us that they hold the reins of power and that we the people don’t run anything. They are telling us that their agenda will prevail regardless of how we vote or what we want. They are telling us that they can subvert, attack, and destroy any messenger that we send into their territory. And feckless leaders in the GOP seem, at best, more afraid of displeasing the Democrats than betraying their own voters, and, at worst, in cozy collusion with the opposition.
What is at stake in the barrage of innuendo, twisted news, and “investigations” is not just the future of the Trump presidency, but the future of the very idea that governmental power rests ultimately on the consent of the governed.
Of course there is much at stake in the actual policy questions facing the country. But underneath the debates about border security, court appointees, tax and regulatory policy, and so on lies a deeper question that is at the very heart of our system of government: Can the American people still change the direction of the country if we believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction? Or will the powerful and self-serving elites impose their agenda even when we don’t consent to it?
When the voters put leftists in power, as they did with the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the country moves left. But when voters try to change course, as we did in the elections of 2010 and 2014, the country still careened towards open borders, government control of healthcare, rule by rogue judges, and lawless license for those in the power elite.
And so we went outside the traditional path and elected Donald Trump in 2016. The liberal news anchors had barely dried their tears after Election Day when the left began to cloud the real meaning of Trump’s election by pushing the bizarre claim that the Russians had somehow hacked the election.
In their gaslighting version of reality, you didn’t really vote to drain the swamp. You didn’t really vote to secure our borders. You didn’t vote to repeal and replace Obamacare and put doctors and patients back in charge instead of Washington bureaucrats. You didn’t vote to restore rule of law and common sense to Washington. The Russians somehow threw the election to Trump. You can go back home now and let the experts run things.
It’s swamp gas. Don’t breathe it.
There is plenty in Washington that merits investigation, from foreign influence through the Clinton Foundation to Obama’s use of intelligence data for political purposes. Congress has the power to do just that, but we need to give them the will.
Let’s remind our representatives that they might forget us, but we won’t forget them.
Tim Daughtry is a conservative speaker and co-author of Waking the Sleeping Giant: How Mainstream Americans Can Beat Liberals at Their Own Game. Follow him on Twitter @TCDwriter.
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There will be no Musing next week as we honor and celebrate
the feast days of Shavuot (Pentecost). Our office and store will close from sunset Tuesday night and reopen Thursday night.
For greater insight into what message God gave on Mt. Sinai 3,329 years ago next week, take a look at The Ten Commandments: How Two Tablets Can Transform Your Life
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I always appreciate your thoughts and the thoughts of the Rabbi. I’m so confused, though, how conservatives have embraced an aggressive adulterer–a man who says he purposefully goes after other men’s wives.
Trump is also a liar–as he admits in The Art of the Deal and seen in practice in numerous recordings where he contradicts himself.
He’s also been blatantly hypocritical–from his golf outings to his taxpayer dollars spent on travel (both of which he condemned Obama for).
I say nothing of the other accusations because, yes, they may be MSM witch hunts with no real basis.
But these are the things we know for sure about him–they’ve come from his own lips and/or his actions.
Hold your nose and vote for him–this, I understand. Defend him, applaud him, no. I cannot embrace an attention-hungry reality TV star with no governing experience. He is not qualified to lead our nation.
There is no way to answer this in a short reply, but I’m pretty sure my husband did discuss it in his podcasts. As for me, I cringe at many aspects of Mr. Trumps manner and life. Yet, I will defend him against a hysterical mob, which is what the MSM is, in my opinion. I’m afraid we may have gotten the leadership we deserve and I am incredibly grateful that it wasn’t Mrs. Clinton. In a choice between a deeply flawed man and a political party that wants to elevate moral flaws to virtues, I still see him as the better choice.
You make so many wonderful points Adriana–
of which one of the most puzzling is why those who are affluent and financially successful beyond having to worry about next month’s budget, are often left-leaning progressive ideologues. I have explained this fully in one of my podcasts https://soundcloud.com/rabbi-daniel-lapin-show
We’re so happy by your letter because you remind us that many many immigrants become patriotic productive Americans, just as did you and I.
Cordially
RDL
Dear Susan,
I really like that you share this article with us, I will look for the book in Amazon. It’s sad to say that PC doesn’t apply to me, and I am very outspoken about everything I see wrong. The reason why, it’s because I’m a foreign, an immigrant! Is it not funny? I’m pretty sure that there are a lot of immigrants that are conservatives or at least more center but the most of the immigrants are capture for the left. It’s pretty sad that nobody bothered to call us and organized us to work for this country we love so much, we are in an unique position because we have experience about left or super right policies that had destroyed our own countries so we know. The immigrants are picture here as all belonging to an only class, that’s a tactic of the left but the republicans didn’t do much, only maybe in Florida where Trump won after Obama going to visit Castro opened the eyes of the Cubans, so -thank you Obama- thank God, the left missed some of us and acted in a very narrow mind vision of the immigrants as victims, that may work in California in an apparent way because they use the last flow of immigrants to fuel the old well established mainly Mexican immigrants, the most already citizens, as myself (I’m not Mexican), and appeal to these voters sense of country loyalty. I know this first hand, I had many arguments during the election to people who are pretty well off because the stable financial and economy of this country but they don’t connect the dots about why this stability is possible. I don’t want to left apart some immigrants from Orange County that I know, they are from Iran, very hard working people, yes they are Muslims, probably washed up Muslims but we must included everybody if they love America and have common goals, they voted for Trump. Now in passed years they would be outspoken in being conservatives but not in this election , the Republicans missed the mark with the Iranian Muslims, that shows how bad policy it’s to put everybody in the same bag. I have friends of all religions just because it’s the way I was raised, look at the people’s hearts, now not all the people are shaped by their religion at less they are blinded fanatics, the most culture play a bigger role, and still any grounded person use their free will to not follow non sense practices of the religion they are borne I to. Americans has to understand that regarding people there’s not black and white, there’s some finesse, some subtlety, if people would be educated in understanding the differences it would be harder for the left to penetrate the fabric of American immigration. The country has to learn how to integrate not divide, if it can be divided as it happened in this election and few people stand up to this division, it’s because we need to start to think for ourselves and stop being followers. That is the change I want to see, Trump winning the election is a start , a sign, but we must change things in a most deeper level. And for to understand the immigrants they should ask us, there are very intelligent people with an unique perspective and experience and we know if some policy is leading to a bad outcome, probably because those same policies make us to immigrate to this country in the first place, believe, we have the best interest in this country to success, we don’t have any other place to go. But all this I talking about wasn’t understood and or capitalize for the leaders, with exception of the Cubans in Florida and still Marco Rubio didn’t win . It’s time to transform America in a more deeper way so nobody in power can manage us like cattle, we have to end ideologies and work for the common good, keep people focus in the issues and separate the wheat from the weed exposing the ideologos and their agendas that are self-serving. God Bless America!
Wow!! Spot on!! Thank you for sharing Susan.
I agree it’s spot on, Chrissey. Be on the lookout for Tim’s writings. He always has something worthwhile to say.
WOW! How eloquently stated. Well done. I loved your verbiage and thought out statements. Keep up the good work.
Thank YOU and YOUR Husband for your work!
I am GR8full to GOD daily for having found u2 many years ago in SF(radio-Worth Getting up for-EVERY Sunday it was worth it)
Wow, Carl. That radio show was on really early. Glad you stuck with us.
You were always a very welcome caller on my KSFO radio show in San Francisco, Carl.
I remember you well. Happy trails on your motorcycle and be nice to your lovely bride.
Cordially
RDL
Susan, do you know what’s interesting, a dear friend of mine who passed away several years ago, was given a vision of a “sleeping giant”, but it wasn’t what was spelled out here. The “sleeping giant” was God’s people. They were asleep and apathetic, but the Lord said He was going to wake them up — maybe this is how God has to do it?
What a lovely dream your friend had, Dana. I don’t think there’s a contradiction in the two ‘sleeping giants’. I would not say that Republicans have God in their camp, but I would say that more Republicans/conservatives than Democrats want Him to be in their camp.
Hello, Susan,
Thank you for your writings and sharing this article.
These are perilous times. We must stay acutely aware of the political and spiritual forces arrayed against us.
Let us take God’s Word in our mouths as a powerful weapon.
“Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O Lord, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you.” (2 Chronicles 14:11)
I am watching closely Trump’s policy positions regarding Israel. I pray that he maintains a strong and uncompromising stance aligned with Israel’s safety and well-being. This would abound towards Trump’s success and bless our nation.
“I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.”
(Genesis12:3)
Theresa, our family in Israel was thrilled with his visit. We were disappointed in his not moving the consulate to Jerusalem but otherwise feel very optimistic about his ambassador and other choices up till now.
The drain is plugged…
Succinct and true.
Susan, thanks for the heads up. We stopped watching the MSM, but I do see such a division in the country that I’m afraid we have reached a point of no return. The word “racist” doesn’t work anymore so now we are “white supremacists” and the attacks just continue 24/7. It’s nice to know we are not alone! God Bless you and your family.
Susan, as long as there is breath, there is hope. But, the election can’t be seen as the end of the battle.
Susan,
I think sometimes we due a disservice by always blaming the “political elites” or “leftist media”. If we are going to blame somebody we should stop being politically correct and just start blaming our fellow Americans. Politicians are simply a reflection of the people that elect them. If Donald Trump proves anything, it’s that most politicians are blank slates and are willing to take any position in order to get elected. Personally I don’t even blame them. It’s the nature of there job in the sense that there duty is to serve there constituents.
The truth of the mater our country is made up of complicated humans. There is no such thing as a pure conservative, pure liberal, pure populist, pure republican, or pure democrat. At the end of the day I would bet we are all hypocrites to our stated ideologies and choose based on our own self interests. For example, I might be a small government person when it comes to taxes, but I’ll readily admit that I’m a big government person when it comes to “controlling” women’s bodies and stoping abortion. As a 29 year old Christian and medical student, I disagree with 90% of the policies that Donald Trump states. I believe the investigations into him are legitimate. The “leftist media” and me might disagree on a lot of things, but I still think they are 100x more believable then the multimillionaire conservative radio hosts who profit by feeding anger to the hungry mob. That being said I’d still vote for Donald Trump, not because I care about border walls, rather because stopping the killing (abortion) of innocent children means more to me then anything else.
Phillip
Phillip, my husband and I have a friend who, when he was a college student, voted against rent control while it passed overwhelmingly in the college town where he lived. He knew he would benefit short-term from rent control while the town would be ruined long term. We always admired his ability to separate his personal interests from principle at such a young age. I agree that all of us are complicated. I actually don’t see this article blaming the left at all – I saw it as a call to everyone to recognize what’s going on. As for “millionaire conservative hosts” that is painting with a broad brush and there are matching “millionaire liberals” who use their platforms to feed anger to a hungry mob as well.
You sound like a nuanced person with one overriding issue. Many of us, on both sides, have that ‘one issue’ that drives our vote, be it abortion, gun control, taxes, etc. And I agree that I don’t think we really know where Donald Trump stands on most issues. His isn’t a decades long commitment to any political issue. As I often wrote, I saw him as a gamble and Hillary Clinton as a sure disaster.
I wish you the best in your medical studies.
Thank you so much for sharing these ‘musings’ with all of us!
And thanks for letting me know you appreciate them, Pamela.
Well written and I absolutely agree. It’s unfortunate that so many Americans only pay attention to the headlines and not the real story. I feel our country is in real danger of losing who we are.
Fran, I think we have lost who we are. The attempt is to recover it.
Dear Susan,
Thank you for this amazing Musing. It is the truth in a nutshell. This great country is in deep trouble if good people do nothing. We have voted to return our country to it’s original foundation, “…one nation under God.” Enter President Donald J. Trump, the people’s champion. Beloved by the slim majority, but still a majority. He is a man who has the power, intelligence, and heart to put a stop to the downward spiral of our society. President Trump threatens the long term plan of the elite to altar America. In spite of the election results, the elite have rejected the people’s choice in favor of an all out resistance to the duly elected President. They will not stop until they successfully create a progressive global society. I could feel defeated with the daily discourse of hatred from the left if not for the fact that I believe in The Almighty, The Creator of the Universe. He says that He alone chooses the kings and rulers of the world. That is my Hope. The world is in His hands and will continue on the path until Messiah returns. We have the freedom to choose what is good and right or, we can act in self interest and be a part of the decline. Either way, we will all stand for judgment before The Throne. Until then, I’ve got a mask for the swamp gas and prayers for all the members of Congress to return to sanity.
Blessings…
Cynthia, can you imagine the jeers and catcalls if conservatives had a movement called “resist” to a leftist president? I think, though, that the thrust of the article is to those who voted for Mr. Trump (aware of all his failings) and now are not letting our representatives know that we want them to stand with him despite those failings.
BRILLIANT and so important that it’s been said/written. The trouble is, the Left has become POLITICALLY CORRECT and the normal American has been reduced to being a Bigot. The Republic that Benjamin Franklin said this country is……if we can keep it….is being destroyed. We’re not keeping even a modicum of it because the media, entertainment and our schools (from k through PhD) are as filthy cesspools as Washington, maybe even deeper and smellier. Obama is George Soros’ Manchurian Candidate. Obama is not incompetent. He accomplished everything his Handlers wanted him to. He created a “New World Order”. EVERYONE in history who created “a New World Order” has created DISORDER! A totally Godless society of licentiousness that is “Progressive” Ha!!!!
The smug, foul-mouthed pundits of this unfortunate “Revolution” are making this once finest example of human governance into a third or even fifth-world country. As David asked God more than a few times in Psalms…”why do you stand so far off in times of trouble?” If God continues to give us free choice, we’ll never recover. Hass v Sholem!
Norm Grey
Norm, I think God does expect us to do more than count on Him to bail us out when we mess up. We’d better work on deserving His help.
WOW…..Awesome article, I agree 100% he expressed a lot of my own thinking…..I would like to see this published in every media outlet, of course that wont happen but its a nice thought…..I think overall that Pres. Trump will do an awesome job if the powers that be will just let him do what we elected him to do…..
Thanks for sharing this article…..
Love your musings, I read them every week…..Thank you
Ginny, I do suggest reading Timothy Daughtry’s book. I wish we could force-read it to Republican office holders.
Great stuff Susan, I’m fully on board with you and Tim Daughtry! There is a groundswell of conservative MAGA (make America great again) folks out in the twittersphere who are bound and determined that the Left and the Never Trump GOP crowd will not prevail. God help us!
Mark Lampe @ranger3079
Mark, I’m not on Twitter, but I do think we need to make our voices heard in all sorts of ways.
Susan, thank you so much for posting Mr. Daughtry’s article. It gets straight to the heart of what is driving so many of us to distraction with both the MSM and political leaders in both parties. I had not heard of his book before but intend to see if it is available on Amazon because I want to be proactive in getting through to the swamp dwellers that their time is short and WE THE PEOPLE have had it with them. As a believer, I see the battle as being on two fronts – spiritual and regular down to earth human. We need to use tactics and strategies appropriate to both realms to take back the ground we have lost. As a bit of a digression, but seriously related to the ultimate outcome, we need to begin with ways to reintroduce the free exercise of religious expression in the public forum.
I agree with you, Joyce. The book is on Amazon (I think I linked to it) and I am planning to re-read my copy as well.
Many states have joined the Convention of States provided by the Fifth Amendment. 34 states are needed to hold the convention and any amendments they propose require 38 states to ratify. There is a Facebook page on this that’s very informative. Topics they can consider are limited. It may be the only remaining method to rein in the government. Please educate yourself on this and if you agree, promote its passage in your state. Thank you.
Judy, where do you suggest looking?
(giving link)
Thanks Judy, I deleted the link as is our custom, but anyone interested can look up ‘convention of states’ on FB and find it.
Susan, I can enthusiastically recommend Mark Levin’s book, “The Liberty Amendments.” (And no, I am not him!)
Thank you for Mr. Daughtry’s article. I am going to share it with others.
Thanks for the recommendation, Mark.
Allow me to second Mark’s recommendation! This book by Mark Levin contains proposals to scrap all the seditious amendments to the Constitution that would have Benjamin Franklin [“A republic? Yes, Madame, if you can keep it.”] and other Founding Fathers spinning in their graves.
Thank you for sharing this article and may your holiday be blessed.
Thanks, Marlene. We are looking forward to sharing the holiday with some of our children.
I so often find these musings a confirmation of my thoughts, and in that confirmation comes a sense of relief that I’m clearly seeing (through the swamp fog and gasses) the truth of what is going on against us in our government. The secularism I was more in line with as a younger person, has now become a creature nearly out of control.
My hope is that clear thinking, God-based living can be achieved again here. To me that means that we need to stay on our toes and not submit to the barrage of lies set before us every single day through the majority of news sources.
I’ve said more than once that even though many old executive orders have been rolled back, our elected officials in the House and Senate need to get behind the agenda of the messenger (i.e. Donald Trump) we placed in office. If this current group continues to disregard our wishes, we cannot sit on the sidelines and surrender,but look for some more conservative folks who have not been corrupted or scared to fulfill our desires.
Could be a pie in the sky attitude, but with a group of dedicated people who won’t give up, leaning on Him, not only praying but doing….I still believe it is possible.
Thank you for sharing with us, And wishing you all His best….Linda Newberry
Linda, we all need to remember that we’re not alone – and that we can’t give up. I appreciated reading Tim’s article because it articulated so much of what I was thinking.
A brilliant Musing featuring a brilliant and astute author! The only thing I would add (in deference to our Rabbi’s parable of the Tower of Babel) is that the voices from The Swamp who would tell us all to forget the Trump Revolution and let the Experts handle government are those who worship the false god of Mega-Government and receive as benefits the sacrifices from its altar. Today it is as of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers with its insidious bean pods has arrived and replaced certain populations of New York, Texas, the West Coast and The People’s Republic of Kalifornia-stan, to transform human beings into alien, humorless automatons who despise and decry real humans and their cherished goals.
You do have a way with words, James. Thanks for writing.
And thank you, as well, for your unfailing courage to say so many utterances of truth and prophecy that many others fear to say.
You just snatched my wig with that post.