Month: November 2024

Win With Class

“Turn it to MSNBC,” I said.  President Trump had pulled out to an insurmountable lead, and what better way to celebrate than to watch Rachel Maddow and her ilk come even more unhinged than they already were?  After seeing them saying awful things about good people for years, it is natural to want to see them lose it, and they did not disappoint, nor did Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, or the ladies of The View.  They turned on each other, blaming people like Joe Biden and Barack Obama for Kamala Harris’s loss.  They made full frontal, nasty, slanderous attacks on the American people.  We were called bigots and misogynists and accused of wanting an authoritarian dictator in charge.  There were tears.  Lots of tears.  It was a complete meltdown.  Online, there was more insanity.  It was hilarious and enjoyable.

On the other side, the people who had supported President Trump were elated.  There was well-earned jubilation and happiness.  There was also a lot of gloating.  It made me think.  In my email, there was a reminder from a family member about what is truly important in this moment.  Part of it read, “It is imperative that followers of Christ be ever-mindful that we are to be salt and light in this troubled time in our nation.  We have a connection to our Heavenly Father that the world needs.”  While the temptation to gloat is understandable, we as conservatives need to restrain ourselves.  Our ultimate goal is to point people towards Jesus.  If we rub in our victory too much, it will turn off some people who might be open to Christianity and drive them away.  We need to be good winners.  To use a sports analogy, it is like watching the opposing team win the World Series and celebrate on your home field.  It is a terrible feeling, and only makes you want to beat them more the next year.  When it comes to God (or politics), we do not want them to hold a grudge like that.   We want them to join us.

This is also important for other practical reasons.  Our nation is still very divided.  We need to win people over permanently, or we will lose elections in the future.  The best way to change our government is to persuade people.  If people whose candidate lost see us rubbing salt in their wounds, they are unlikely to even entertain our ideas.

This does not mean we should not be joyful and excited.  We definitely should be.  This is a great triumph for our country.  It does not even mean that you cannot gloat to anybody, but you need to know which of your friends have a sense of humor and can take some playful ribbing.  It just means that we should try our best not to permanently close off others to our ideas, and especially to God.

While President Trump’s victory is a win for all law-abiding citizens in this country, almost half of the electorate does not see it that way.  They have bought into the media attacks on President Trump and half of America.  They are scared.  They have been told the lie that President Trump will be a fascist strongman who will rule with an iron fist.  Is this true?  Of course not.  We know it, but many of the people who were getting their news from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, or any other far-left propaganda outlet believe it.  If you believed our country was being taken over by an authoritarian dictator, you would be pretty upset about it, too.

Fortunately, these negative expectations should actually make it easier for us to win people over.  Our side is so far from authoritarianism that it should quickly become obvious.  President Trump would be the first authoritarian dictator ever whose policies were designed to force you to have more freedom, keep us out of wars, and take less of our money.  In just about every area of life, President Trump’s policies are less intrusive than those of Democrats.  The Democrats claim that President Trump would be the dictator, while they are the party that mandates a million things that we cannot afford and do not need or want.  They forced people to close their businesses.  They mandated that we lock ourselves in our homes.  They closed down our churches.  They mandated we cover our faces and get experimental shots.  They are mandating electric cars that most people cannot afford.  They threaten you with fines if your health insurance is not acceptable to them.  They push mandatory gun buyback programs.  They force your daughters to play sports against biological boys.  They want to confiscate more of your hard-earned money.  The side claiming that President Trump will be an authoritarian is the same side that wants to control just about every aspect of your life.

There are, of course, people who have dug in so deep that nothing will convince them.  For those who are less radical and still have common sense, encourage them to turn off the network news and keep an open mind to some of what President Trump is likely to accomplish.  Do not let the mainstream media spin good news into bad.  If they are expecting authoritarianism, their fears will quickly be assuaged.

If we show people positive results without being obnoxious, they will start to see the light.  If they see that those positive results and our kindness are driven by our faith in God, then we can be salt and light to those who are angry, frightened, overwhelmed or disheartened, no matter their views or what side they are on. This should be our ultimate goal.

But, the Lies!

When President Trump was shot in Pennsylvania, the person next to me had a shocking reaction.  She said, “Good.”  When pushed about why she gave that disgusting response, she said, “You can’t change my mind.  I will never support that man.  Everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie.  I can’t stand liars.” 

The irony is, I think that reason is a lie.  If lying disqualified a candidate, there is zero chance that she could vote for Kamala Harris.  I just spent most of October in a swing state, Arizona, where I saw ads on television and billboards, and heard radio advertisements for both candidates.  I can confirm that Kamala Harris is running the most dishonest major presidential campaign of our lifetimes.  It is inconsistent and hypocritical to claim that you support Kamala Harris because President Trump has told lies.

Honesty should matter in a political candidate.  Ideally, a candidate would say what policies they support and follow through once elected.  In that respect, President Trump has actually been the most honest politician in recent memory.  He either followed through, or attempted to and was blocked, on everything from tax cuts and lowering the regulatory burden, to Supreme Court appointments, to moving the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, to working to secure our border.  Sure, he has lied about some silly things, like crowd sizes.  He exaggerates often, but when it comes to substantive policy, he is more open and honest than most politicians.

Likewise, his commercials and other advertisements playing in Arizona did not lie about his opponent, Kamala Harris’s policy positions.  He doesn’t need to!  Her positions are so crazy and radical that the truth is the best weapon to use against her.  He ran ads of her saying that she wants to ban fracking.  There were ads with her saying that she wants taxpayers to pay for prison inmates to get transgender treatments and that she supports men playing in women’s sports.  One ad highlights the massive increase in illegal border crossings under Harris’s watch.  Another ad showed her saying that she cannot think of anything she would do differently than Joe Biden.  Her own record is enough ammunition to beat her without needing to make stuff up.

Then, there are the Harris ads.  She cannot run ads touting her record, because it is embarrassing.  She cannot honestly attack President Trump’s record in office, because it was mostly successful.  Her only chance is to lie, and her handlers realize it. 

The laundry list of lies was very long.  There were lies about her record and her agenda that were not in the ads.  This includes claiming that the border is secure, when her current administration gave us the biggest influx of illegal border crossings ever.  It includes taking both sides on multiple issues like support for the Green New Deal, cutting police funding, eliminating private health insurance, and mandating electric vehicles whether people can afford it or not.  There was also the lie to the American people that Joe Biden was competent and fit for office, when everyone could see clearly that he was not.

Then, there were the attack ads about President Trump.  There was a big billboard that I passed multiple times near Phoenix that claimed President Trump plans to cut social security.  I was fortunate to be able to attend a Trump rally in Tempe, and I heard with my own ears his actual plan.  He plans to eliminate taxes on social security income.  That sounds far from a cut to me. 

There was also a commercial that claimed President Trump wants to pass a national abortion ban.  Unfortunately, that is an outright lie.  President Trump has said consistently that he does not support a federal ban and is happy with abortion policy being decided on a state-by-state basis.  Another ad lied that President Trump is proposing a four thousand dollar a year sales tax on families.  He is not.  Harris also had an ad running with a whole bunch of lies about President Trump’s agenda.  It claimed that President Trump wants to monitor women’s pregnancies and that he wants to defund K-12 schools.  These lies fall under the umbrella of a greater lie that Harris has been pushing throughout the campaign.  You have probably heard her talk about President Trump’s “Project 2025 agenda.”  She knows that Project 2025 is not connected to President Trump at all, but she does not care what is true.  His actual plan is called “Agenda 47,” and can be seen on his campaign website.

These are just the newer untruths.  She still mentions the Charlottesville lie, which has been debunked many times, even by left-wing sources. 

One of my favorite whoppers is not even about President Trump, but about American businesses.  She says that the inflation caused by her current administration’s policies was actually caused by “price-gouging.”  The businesses that she claims are price-gouging are making razor thin profit margins.  Restaurants are especially hurt by the inflationary policies of the left and the over regulation by the government.  They cannot survive without raising their prices to cover the increased cost of doing business.  Her saying that these businesses are price-gouging is slanderous.

We could keep going for pages, but by now you should get the picture.  Kamala Harris is far more dishonest than President Trump.  If you claim that you are not voting for President Trump because he is a liar, then you should write somebody in.  Kamala Harris is not an option for anybody who cares about truth.