09 Nov CanWeTalk….About Trump Supporters?
As America sorts through the ongoing vote count, a variety of serious fraud allegations, “mail-in-ballots sent after the deadline” issues and more in the 2020 elections, I thought I’d address a question recently posed to me about why I support Donald Trump.
As a conservative woman, a talk show host, and political activist, here is what I think.
At the big picture level I have been waiting for decades for a strong leader on the conservative side to come along and stand up against the relentless aggressive march of big-government leftism in America. From the ever-growing massive bureaucracy that seeks to control more and more of American industry and private life, to the intolerance for free speech on America’s campuses and on main street and mainstream America coupled with censorship by social media, to the power grab of the Obama administration taking over control of America’s health system and beginning the end of healthcare freedom, Americans have been incrementally but relentlessly surrendering freedom, both personal and economic.
While this loss of freedom is in part due to GOP acquiescence in Democrat-led projects, it is happening for the most part because America’s leftists have a basic mindset that is always about pursuing more power over their fellow citizens, with the excuse that they are just trying to help. This has never been more obvious and alarming than in the last 8 years or so in America when the left has managed to mainstream socialism, a project that would’ve been impossible twenty years ago. The Left is scaring the daylights out of freedom-loving Americans.
I love freedom and deplore the idea of submitting to a government-controlled society, and there are too few officials giving voice to this idea. I have been waiting for a politician to acknowledge these things, and to fight to reverse them. Donald Trump intuitively grasped and opposed these freedom-crushing trends. His policies are geared toward letting freedom ring. He comes alongside the American people in support of their lives and journey, instead of trying to find yet another reason and way to take control of their lives.
Another reason for Trump’s popularity is that the American people are simply not guilty of the ugly picture that today’s Democrat Party paints about this precious country. I am tired of the accusations leftists make about the nature and character of America and her people. Democrat campaign messages are filled with accusations against the American people (racist, xenophobic, hateful, intolerant etc. etc. etc.) that are hurled out as justifications for the latest program, policy, speech rules and power grab Dems are pursuing. Those attacks on America are the dominant Democrat message.
Donald Trump exudes love of and respect for the people and the country, and it is palpable at his rallies. He believes in the goodness of the American people. He never claims America is perfect, but his presumption seems to always be that America is good. People love hearing Trump’s affirmation of what they know is true, that America is not the ugly place Democrats claim it is.
Democrats have settled on a strategy of cultivating group identity politics that silo Americans into assigned categories in which you are informed of the unique way in which you too are a victim of America’s evil culture. Group identity formation is an ever ongoing mission for leftists, and has alienated many Americans who want to be seen as individuals who have the sense of self-worth and the capacity to think as individuals.
Conservatives do not wish to be told to stand in the correct silo based on our skin color, gender, etc. We want to be respected for who we are and to choose our friends and allies based on commonly held beliefs and genuine human fondness. It’s a most remarkable feat, but Donald Trump talks to the massive crowds at his rallies as though he is talking to friends whom he likes, respects, and enjoys being with. Rally-goers are Americans who love their country, love freedom, respect their fellow-citizens, and love that a politician is putting that message out rather than the Dem’s “we deplore America and you should too” message. The fact that Trump manages to deliver this message in a feisty, entertaining, passionate albeit irreverent way makes these rallies even better. Rally goers are celebrating America with a man who also loves the country.
For decades both political parties have allowed serious problems that damage the American economy and people to fester. From bad trade deals that took jobs away from America, to an over-zealous and brutal incarceration rate in the criminal justice system, to hundreds of other issues, politicians have ignored the concerns that fill the hearts of the American people. Democrats were too fixated on growing and concentrating power in Washington and some Republicans were happy to slowly surrender to that mission while claiming to stand for freedom. No one was looking out for the average American.
This last point matters the most. Donald Trump has reminded millions of Americans that they should love and treasure America, and that their lives, voices, and views matter. Which means that after a real, true, accurate count of legal votes, if Joe Biden takes this election, the real winner will still be Donald Trump and the American people. Because Americans have a rejuvenated sense of the importance and goodness of America and their right to have a major role in shaping its future, and a right to expect that government listen to them. This love of America and its foundation in freedom of the individual is 100% at odds with the agenda headed America’s way if the Left truly takes power in America. Perhaps that will be one of Trump’s great gifts to America, whether he has a second term or not, that he has left America more inspired than they have been in decades to play a leading role in shaping our future and demanding that Washington listen to them.
President Trump’s NYC style brashness and manner of speaking, colorful life story, tough-talking negotiating style and his determination to win on behalf of America, are a genuinely unique package for an American president. In fact his detractors when being honest will acknowledge that many politicians they support share these traits. The trait unique to Trump that rattles his political colleagues and opponents alike is that he just does not play the long-established DC insiders’ political games. He won’t follow the “rules” in a variety of arenas, because his foremost instinct is to protect the American people. Too bad that is such a rare trait in DC today.
Debbie Georgatos is the host of America, Can We Talk?