Sunday, April 2, 2017

Why I Love Donald Trump and Why His Demonization Continues

Why I Love Donald Trump and Why His                     Demonization Continues

                   Published in Marietta Daily Journal April 2, 2017

            Last November I voted for Donald Trump partly because I didn’t have much choice.  Just before the November election, however, I had begun to warm up to him.  The more I listened and learned, the more I came to believe his critics were wrong.
            There are several reasons why I have come to love the man.  I use the word love because that’s what I mean and because I believe that when affection is developed slowly it is probably more real and more reliable.
            The main reason I love the President is his authenticity.  Can anyone argue that there is even an ounce of pretense or “put on” in this man? Does he ever put on airs?
            For a decade of my life I was in the Georgia General Assembly as a state representative and as an aide to the Speaker of the House.  The experience was quite a positive one because the majority of legislators were good, down-to-earth people.  Those who put on airs and allowed position and power to go to their heads were few, but on television and in the minds of voters, the few can become the face of all politicians everywhere.
            It’s interesting that having academic degrees and elective positions can puff us up in ways that having money never does.  President Trump has both degrees and money, but he is not puffed up or egotistical as so many claim.  Neither is he condescending to ordinary citizens.  Good grief; he won their hearts and their votes.  Those who consider Trump’s supporters unwashed and uneducated are the ones who are condescending and egotistical.
I also love the man because his children love him.  What we see in his sons and daughters is not fake.  They love and respect their dad.  He obviously loves and respects them.  The muckraking media has been unsuccessful in getting the mothers of his children to slam the President.  They have actually praised him.
The third reason is I’ve waited all of my adult life for a national political figure who would set the media on their heels.  Donald Trump is doing just that – confusing them and angering them.  Unlike no other candidate we’ve seen, he questions the question and the questioners, driving the questioners to their pre-suppositions.
ABC’s Sam Donaldson made a sport of yelling at and taunting President Reagan.  The cheerful President stood and took it.  He should not have.  Television reporters ceased reporting decades ago, instead asking questions in such a way that an 8th grader could discern their intent.  The press likes to be tough with press secretary Sean Spicer, but when Spicer is equally tough, they become cry babies.
Another reason I love the President is his work ethic.  The man is 70 years old, yet his pace is remarkable.  Individuals who have visited him during working hours testify that in discussing policy he displays sobriety and optimism.  In regard to personality, he is described not as irascible but charming.
So far, none of my reasons have included political experience.  Donald Trump doesn’t have any, and that’s good.  Elective politics is demanding, but it is not a particularly difficult art to learn.  Our country was designed to have citizen leaders, not a political class.  Career politicians are killing us.  Their chief contribution has been a regulatory nanny state. Its only solution is term limits at every level of government.
Because he is confident and is not intimidated by the media, the President will continue to be demonized.   Skittish, waffling Republicans will continue to praise him one day and distance themselves from him the next.  Content to let Lois Lerner and Hillary Clinton off the hook, the media will continue to refer to the “Liar-in-Chief,” probably for the next four years.
And of course the media doesn’t like Trump’s foreign policy.  Fearing their own loss of credibility brought on by Trump’s election, they feed us dark natterings of how Trump and Putin are buddies.  Since the Trump hurricane blew in, it’s liberals who fear change and hate Russia.  Liberals have always loved Russia, pestering Reagan for calling Russia the evil empire.
The demonizers don’t like Trump’s family one bit and probably don’t care for G.K. Chesterton’s take on the role of the family: “The family is the only check on the state that can renew itself as eternally as the state and more naturally than the state.”
Trump’s detractors place the state above the family.  Today they are the ones who speak somberly of the dangers of change.
But Trump is a changer, and that’s another reason I love him.

Roger Hines

3/29/17

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