I wasn’t sold on Trump initially, but his brash patriotism brought me around. The deciding factor for me was the inexplicable absence of even one single disgruntled employee looking for their fifteen minutes of fame. Having grown up in business, this silence spoke louder than any slick Wallstreet ad campaign.
The couple employees’ self-produced videos portrayed Trump as a sensitive personable employer, who gave regular people repeated opportunities for success. Their visceral defense of Trump in response to the vicious lies spread by the opposition was a model of pathetic rhetoric.
Trump is a man who inspires people to greatness and one who appreciates people regardless of position or status. His interactions with staff personify the work ethic that built America:
“Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.”
Proverbs 22:29
As Trump was running for office the events reminded me growing up pheasant hunting on this farm near Sheridan Oregon. I would be walking along this fence row as a bored fourteen-year-old. Out in the field was this enclosure where the farmer was raising turkeys. As we got adjacent to it and no one was looking, I hurled a rock into the enclosure just to see the birds squawk and run about. To me Trump was the rock and the turkeys were all the other politicians. However, I was convinced that come November I would have to choose among the turkeys.
But then Trump got nominated and I had to decide where my vote should go. Clinton was out of the question, because at Bengasi she and those surrounding her had proved their lethal incompetence, and her criminality had been proved by how she handled her emails. The Republicans were valueless because their moto had become, “Vote for us we are just as good as the Democrats”.
Since the political parties could no longer claim my allegiance, the only principle left to me was the value I placed on the oath I took as a Navy officer to support and defend the Constitution. Trump was at least willing to commit to appointing judges that would adhere to my oath. Now no political commitment should ever be considered sacrosanct, and I had no one to vote for. I chose to vote against the objectively demonstrated evil and that left Trump as the only viable option on the ballet. I could have chosen a minor candidate, but that would have been an abstention and not a vote against.
Now that Trump has been inaugurated, I find nearly everyone who can claim membership in the traditional governing elite is against him. The media, academia, and politicians both Republican and Democrat continually express the same severe animosity and contempt towards him they have always shown towards me and those I revere. As a result, I am beginning to develop an affection for the man.
Thy will be done.
I respect that
I saw Trump fight early on and that move me from Cruz
The first debate sealed it
I had a Cruz for president sticker in 2009
Cruz comments in Chicago on the Soros rioters disturbed me
The GOP are traitors by and large
I was always going to vote for the Republican nominee, but I didn’t know if I wanted it to be Trump or Rubio.
Trump was a little too thin skinned for me AND I detested how he insulted Carly Fiorina’s looks. That’s not what a candidate for President should do. I was also quite sure that Rubio would stop the flood of illegals.
Anyway, on Nov 8th, this Georgia Gal voted straight Republican(as usual). I am very happy with Trump and love how aggressive he is about border control.
No other President would have been this aggressive, that’s for damn sure!
Never opposed Trump, but also never took sides in the GOP primary. Some Trump comments were cringe-worthy. But for me, the choice was simple, and that I was always going to vote for Trump in the general. Perhaps some things that Trump SAID were foot-in-the-mouth type stuff. But one has to balance that against Hillary and the fact that she DID things that were CRIMINAL. Words not always in context vs. ACTIONS that were clearly ILLEGAL and likely treasonous. The woman and her husband are CROOKS and TRAITORS.
So that choice was quite simple. Trump was without question the only choice in 2016. I voted for him with no reservations. Night and day compared even to McCain and Romney.
Plus I liked pretty much all of what Trump promised he would do (Trump is off to a strong start in terms of what he can authorize or negate via administrative decisions or repeals)
Plus, he has put the GOP in position to have a winning coalition for the foreseeable near future, winning states that used to be electoral deserts for Republicans.
That said, it appears that Trump is the leader of a party that is proving it struggles to govern, as we see with the health care legislation.
If the congressional leaders were sincere, they would have simply repealed ObamaCare for a date certain, let’s say at the end of this year, or one year after approval by the President.
The health care system, while clearly under stress, was nevertheless functional prior to 2009. So all a repeal would do is restore the status quo and create a blank slate for the GOP majority. Then for Election 2018, the GOP congress could campaign saying they kept the promise of repeal and will have a replacement bill signed by POTUS DJT by mid-2019.
So perhaps the Freedom Caucus should propose new legislation. The ball seems to be in their court, along with the court of Sen. Paul. Or, I suppose, they could just let ObamaCare “die on the vine.”
But it would be nice to see the Freedom Caucus evolve beyond philosopher kings to legislative kings.
Someone’s feet, or pairs of feet, need to be put to the fire: Send a repeal bill, which I presume needs to be no longer than one paragraph, to the President to sign and put in place. That’s the best way to learn the truth.
Finally, the greatest president of my lifetime (going back to JFK) is Ronald Reagan. He saved the USA, cut taxes, and destroyed European and Soviet Communism. Cut taxes and beat the Russians and Reagan should be on Mt. Rushmore and on the $20 bill)
And yet — didn’t Reagan torch a fundamental principle of conservatives today when he signed an amnesty bill, and didn’t he let Tip O’Neill fool him into a effective tax increase in return for spending cuts that never came.
Those errors don’t bother me, because I look at two accomplishments that have endured 25 to 30 years later: the Berlin Wall remains nothing more than a museum spectacle whose shattered pieces are scattered — and those Reagan tax cuts remain largely in place despite alterations.
Reagan was a great president, one of the 5 greatest in our history. But no one is perfect, no president is perfect.
President Trump is off to a great start. Time — and reelection — will tell if Trump is a great president.
Never opposed Trump, but also never took sides in the GOP primary. Some Trump comments were cringe-worthy. But for me, the choice was simple, and that I was always going to vote for Trump in the general. Perhaps some things that Trump SAID were foot-in-the-mouth type stuff. But one has to balance that against Hillary and the fact that she DID things that were CRIMINAL. Words not always in context vs. ACTIONS that were clearly ILLEGAL and likely treasonous. The woman and her husband are CROOKS and TRAITORS.
So that choice was quite simple. Trump was without question the only choice in 2016. I voted for him with no reservations. Night and day compared even to McCain and Romney.
Plus I liked pretty much all of what Trump promised he would do (Trump is off to a strong start in terms of what he can authorize or negate via administrative decisions or repeals)
Plus, he has put the GOP in position to have a winning coalition for the foreseeable near future, winning states that used to be electoral deserts for Republicans.
That said, it appears that Trump is the leader of a party that is proving it struggles to govern, as we see with the health care legislation.
If the congressional leaders were sincere, they would have simply repealed ObamaCare for a date certain, let’s say at the end of this year, or one year after approval by the President.
The health care system, while clearly under stress, was nevertheless functional prior to 2009. So all a repeal would do is restore the status quo and create a blank slate for the GOP majority. Then for Election 2018, the GOP congress could campaign saying they kept the promise of repeal and will have a replacement bill signed by POTUS DJT by mid-2019.
So perhaps the Freedom Caucus should propose new legislation. The ball seems to be in their court, along with the court of Sen. Paul. Or, I suppose, they could just let ObamaCare “die on the vine.”
But it would be nice to see the Freedom Caucus evolve beyond philosopher kings to legislative kings.
Someone’s feet, or pairs of feet, need to be put to the fire: Send a repeal bill, which I presume needs to be no longer than one paragraph, to the President to sign and put in place. That’s the best way to learn the truth.
Finally, the greatest president of my lifetime (going back to JFK) is Ronald Reagan. He saved the USA, cut taxes, and destroyed European and Soviet Communism. Cut taxes and beat the Russians and Reagan should be on Mt. Rushmore and on the $20 bill)
And yet — didn’t Reagan torch a fundamental principle of conservatives today when he signed an amnesty bill, and didn’t he let Tip O’Neill fool him into a effective tax increase in return for spending cuts that never came.
Those errors don’t bother me, because I look at two accomplishments that have endured 25 to 30 years later: the Berlin Wall remains nothing more than a museum spectacle whose shattered pieces are scattered — and those Reagan tax cuts remain largely in place despite alterations.
Reagan was a great president, one of the 5 greatest in our history. But no one is perfect, no president is perfect.
President Trump is off to a great start. Time — and reelection — will tell if Trump is a great president.
Trump wasn’t my first choice. Nor my second choice. He was #3.
He said all the right things coming out of the gate. But he had no experience, as I reckoned it. I admired Scott Walker and Ted Cruz as fighters. And being ready, willing, and able to fight back against the lunatics of the left was my chief “litmus test” for voting for a Republican candidate in the primary.
Scott Walker left early. I voted for Cruz in the primary, but his weirdness after falling short of the nomination made me glad Trump won it after all.
Trump fights. And not only that, he’s the only candidate I recall that ever campaigned in the general the exact same way he did in the primary. There’s wasn’t any “tacking left” to draw Hillary voters after “tacking right” to scoop up the base. Trump was Trump every step of the way and the people sided with him.
As Republicans, we’ve always dreamed of a candidate that was steady from beginning to end. Well, now we have him, he’s won, he smoked everyone but Sanders (and only because Hillary cheated him of the chance to face Trump), he’s President, so there is no excuse for ever going wobbly in the face of left-wing nuttiness!