Donald Trump

ABOUT DONALD

Let me be clear - I don't like him. Though I was not a fan of either Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, as human beings I kind of liked them both. If they were ordinary people, I think that I would have been happy to have had either as my next-door neighbor. They are both smart, eloquent, funny, and they seem to be decent people. However, Donald is an ass. He's loud, obnoxious, a braggart, and a name-caller. He's done some decent and admirable things as a person, but I don't think that he is fundamentally a good person. If he was a normal person and lived next-door, I believe that he would be the scourge of the neighborhood. 

Fundamentally, I see him as a successful real estate guy and businessman. He has made a career of making money and has been very good at doing so. In the process, he has provided excellent incomes to thousands of people and has paid millions in taxes over the years - far more than I, and all of my friends, combined. But like virtually everyone that I know, he's interested in maximizing income and minimizing taxes. As I was doing my taxes last spring, I considered this when TurboTax aggressively assured me that it was doing everything possible to reduce my taxes and/or to calculate my maximum refund. You don't have to check a box on TurboTax to select "maximize refund". By default, it assumes that you, and everyone else, wants to do so and it is meticulously programmed to apply every possible deduction and credit. There is no option to "calculate a fair share".     

DONALD'S CHARACTER

Like all of us, Donald has made mistakes. But his great wealth, power, and popularity have opened some doors to wrongdoing that are not available to the rest of us. When that happened, he failed the test - particularly temptations regarding sex. Also, like virtually every major politician, his quest for votes has led him to lie about, or embellish, his personal beliefs. As a conservative Christian, I cringe at portrayals of him as a devoted believer and have sincere doubts as to his salvation and Christian faith. I don't think that he's any more of a Protestant Christan than Joe Biden is Catholic Christian. They both are happy to play the part as necessary to garnish support. 

Is he a racist? Certainly, there is no evidence that he is a racist outside of the charges of racism of which all other older white men are accused. White supremacist? That's simply ridiculous. A hater of LGBTQ? I suspect that his attitude is about the same as mine. A family man? Hardly. A great patriot? Maybe a little. A hater of abortion? I think that his stance best suits his political needs. A threat to democracy? I don't even understand that allegation, which was made by a President that has accepted millions from foreign governments, sees the Supreme Court as an enemy, and has attempted to jail his political rival.

MAGA REPUBLICANS

President Biden, who at his inaugural address promised to unite his deeply divided country, frequently uses the phrase MAGA Republicans. He almost never refers to simply "Republicans" and I'm not sure that he understands that we even exist. From the leftist perspective, the be a Republican, just now, is to be a MAGA Republican. If I ever had the opportunity to directly question Joe Biden, I would ask him about this.

Speaking on behalf of me and my many conservative friends. I know of none who are particularly fond of Donald Trump. Like me, almost all of them would be thrilled to have a strong conservative Presidential candidate other than him. In the absence of one, my support goes reluctantly to DJT. I do not own a MAGA hat, and you won't find a Trump sign in my yard. I'm not a MAGA Republican; I'm just a regular Republican.

MY VOTE

I'm proud of the fact that I haven't voted for Trump in a primary election. However, between Trump and any candidate of the Left, there is hardly a choice from my perspective. I vote for the conservative candidate with a clear conscience and with the belief that I am doing what is best for our nation. May God continue to bless this great country.