I have never really liked or admired Donald Trump. I did, way back when, watch parts of a couple of seasons of his show The Apprentice until one episode where he had the group stay at the mansion of "a good friend of mine - Hugh Hefner". That was enough for me.
Our family does have an interesting connection to him though. My brother Jim owns an upper end furniture business and one day at his showroom during a furniture market they were told that Trump and his then wife Marla would be coming in to pick out some pieces. My brother, having heard that Trump was a pompous so and so, never bothered to leave his office to say hi. Trump. pouty lip and all, followed Marla around. She picked out a sofa and after wards Jim's business changed the product identification of that sofa from something like S2410 to "The Marla", (you have to understand this was a combination of my brother's sense of humor and a great marketing idea) which started a new trend for product identification in the furniture industry.
All along I have believed that Trump was still at heart a big spending, big government New Yorker with liberal social views who recognized an opportunity, adopted a populous message, found an enthusiastic audience and then ran with it. Almost all politicians lie and promise the world to get elected, they always find lots of people who never learn the lessons from the past and believe what is promised and so why would Trump be any different?
Plus I have this particular pet peeve. Most problems in this world are very complicated and there are rarely any simple and easy solutions. We should find solutions based on rock solid principles and go from there. Politicians rarely express principles but they often express simplistic slogans. Build that wall!
On top of that I was horrified at all of his personal attacks against anyone who challenged him, his tone deaf ear toward racial and other minorities, his many other callous remarks, especially toward women, his tendency toward vindictiveness, his long history as a womanizer, his association with casinos and strip clubs and on and on.
On the other hand I could not in good conscience support HRC. There is almost nothing in the Democratic platform that I agree with but here I am only going to high lite one area.
My number one issue for most of my life has been to support and defend the rights of the unborn child. If you are a liberal I want you to hear this. I and many others firmly believe that human life starts at conception and while nature may and often does stop the development of the child on it's own it should not be our decision to do so. For me I see this as a cause equal to the abolition of slavery with a common denominator. Slavery (and we should probably say racism as well) is only possible when you consider someone else as less than or as a non person.
You may not agree and this post is not an essay on the right to life of the unborn but there is another factor involved. Not only do my tax dollars go for the funding of Planned Parenthood (a major abortion provider and I find that aspect of their business abhorrent) but the Obama administration (as would a HRC adm.) has tried to force people of conscience (i.e. Catholic hospitals) to both advise and provide for abortions.
My decision after Trump became the nominee was to withhold my vote. I heard all the logical arguments form the conservative side about the importance of selecting the 1 to possibly 4 Supreme Court justices, the necessity of securing our borders and so on but I did not trust Trump nor respect him nor want someone as crude as him to represent our country.
Every fall my wife and I go on a 40 day period of prayer and partial fasting. One of the things we were praying about this year was of course guidance and direction for us and our family concerning who we should vote for. My heart and stomach had been churning that entire time. I remember clearly being in prayer the day after our fast ended, two days before the election and sensing clearly that it was God's will for me to vote for the Republican candidate. Since then my heart and my stomach have been at peace. When the time comes I can stand with confidence before my Maker.
With the struggles I went through I should not have been surprised at the liberal reaction to the Trump victory. I knew that most of them live in a shatter proof bubble, surrounded by the like minded, reinforced by a liberal main stream media and daily gorged through the Internet with 100 anti-Trump, anti-Republican, anti-Christian memes.
But I was surprised. Not really by the demonstrations because there are people behind the scenes who benefit from chaos and are both advising and funding most of the demonstrations we have seen in the last two years, including many of the post election ones. It was the angst of the true believers who actually felt that the world was coming to an end and it was the fear that Hispanic and Muslim and homosexual populations would be somehow targeted.
Part of that is based on who Trump is, what Trump has actually said and how he has said it and part of that is the realization that certain government policies advanced by Obama may be changed.
However I think another major factor is that politics is a dirty and brutal game, played to the death to win, and that the daily propaganda mills, the constant rants by comedians and the misshaping and misquoting or quoting out of context created an image of Trump designed to create fear and loathing. I can't tell you how many times I've heard that Trump has called ALL Mexicans rapists and murders. That never was true but that's what the average Hispanic (and probably most liberals) have heard and thus they believe. No wonder they are frightened.
I read just today a woman's post that referenced among other things that unlike Trump (supporters) she does not think gays are freaks and that they deserve basic human rights. Does she actually think Trump or more than maybe 1 per cent of his supporters actually feel this way? This is by the way why Pence, by all accounts a decent human being, is even more hated by a large swath of the liberal circle than Trump. Opposing the legalization of homosexual marriage or supporting the rights of a Christian owned business not to have to service a homosexual wedding when there are a thousand others who will (which I would contend is reasonable based on a number of arguments which I will not get into her) is equated with hate or viewing homosexuals as less than human. And yet I have read the most vile and vulgar comments toward Pence. No wonder the gay high school girl is scared.
What I am trying to say is that there is certainly enough blame to go around but that a good portion of the fear is self induced. People only listen to those of like mind or they actually believe their own sides propaganda.
As far as the post election fear of Muslims, this does worry me. The whole thing, from the immigration of refugees, to what is happening in Europe, to the nature of Muslim adherence and law which supersedes common law and makes assimilation into our society much more difficult for certain sections of the Muslim community, to the real and present danger of terrorist attacks, to the past administration which tried to protect the Muslim community by not naming the name which fooled no one, all of that is complicated and needs to be lovingly and intelligently worked out.
Here is my fear. I don't know if a Trump administration will follow through on any of my desires or if he will grow into the office and become someone that we can respect. I will keep praying. But it is evident that there will be no honeymoon period from either the media or the honored opposition.
Honestly I was very happy that my side won even with my distaste and mistrust for our glorious leader. My heart was at peace and I could go on from there. Never in my life have I seen such a reaction. We do need to listen to each other and learn how the other side feels. I have been sick to my stomach for the last 8 years so don't tell me I can't understand. Listening to each other rarely happens and social media tells us far more about our friends than we ever knew before. But hey, Trump won so I guess anything is possible. Maybe the Good Lord will use this in ways we never expected.
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