Reflections of a Trump Voter

REFLECTIONS OF A TRUMP VOTER

By Rick Eichhorn

 2017

When the entire country was referring to first lady Barbara Bush as America’s grandmother bedecked in a strand of warm, white pearls, what I remember is an interview with one of her former high school classmates.  “She was the one who told us who to hate,” the woman said about Bush.

Actually, Barbara Bush as the original mean girl doesn’t surprise me at all.  What does surprise me is how the so-called mainstream media as well as Hollywood have followed in her footsteps.  With a groupthink mentality that would startle and delightfully surprise the most brutal despot, they have formed a giant mean girl clique that cannot get past a drumbeat mantra of, no matter what, “We must hate Trump.  Obama cool. Trump bad.  Very, very bad.”

Sure, Trump can be crass.  He fights back against bullies; doesn't know his place.  But the media combined with Hollywood is a louder, bigger bully.  Trump might need a personal editor, but the editors in the media conglomerate are in on the plan: Impeach Trump.  Stop this travesty. Trump’s corrupt, the White House is in chaos, Melania lives in a D.C. hotel and Barron has some sort of development affliction.  No wait, Trump’s a racist, misogynist, homophobe on the verge of Alzheimer’s.  And he eats way too many Big Macs and puts ketchup on a well-done steak!  Democrats are a constant diatribe against Trump of name-calling and made-up facts that have no connection to reality. And I thought the libs’ forte was practicing political correctness. Trump, on the other hand, is known for smashing through political correctness, being an equal opportunity insulter. 

Backing up, I was a Democrat my entire life.  Until, that is, Obama ran.  I was for Hillary that first election, and was disgusted, ironically, at the way the press treated her while refusing to vet him.  Instinctively I felt he was corrupt—not too mention remarkably inexperienced and far too far to the left.  He gave the same dull speech about hope and change like a Disney Robotron, turning mechanically side-to-side to catch all teleprompters.  Absolutely no experience in governing or running anything.  In the Illinois legislature he repeated the same vote: “Present.”  I probably would have loved to have him as a college professor, with his bullshit abilities akin to a babbling sidewalk philosopher swigging from a paper bag full of MD 20/20.  But as President?  Really?

So, I began to reassess my politics.  I began to realize that I was a Democrat because I was an environmentalist,  supported civil rights for all, and hated corporate welfare.  Charles Krauthammer, a onetime Democrat, has said, to paraphrase, that when you truly start to examine the issues, Democrats simply make no sense, it’s inevitable that you’ll turn Republican—with all its flaws.  Republican becomes your base to work from, to improve upon.  Krauthammer added that if you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today.

Indeed, by layering regulations into bureaucratic nightmare, Democrats have hurt the environment as much as they helped.  Sure, setting aside lands is the best thing to do for the environment, and Obama did some of that, but Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, started the National Parks program.  Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency.  And Civil Rights?  Of course there’s Lincoln. Women’s rights?  For blacks and women there’s a mentality that government must take care of them , protect them from the white man.  Isn’t the notion of babying people, instead of fighting for an equal playing field prejudicial by definition. Gay rights and gay marriage?  Democrats, despite what they want to claim, didn’t do jackshit.  Ted Olson, a staunch Republican, argued for legalizing gay marriage before the Supreme Court and won. Clinton and Obama were against gay marriage until the polls tipped in favor.  It was a grass roots movement, aided by, yes, Hollywood and the mainstream media.  White liberal women with gay friends and the Lesbian baby boom are also reasons why gay marriage is legal. 

Anyway, I realized I was a Libertarian who wanted a strong defense, sensible regulation, state’s rights, and no interference in social issues..  Now, even though I’m a devout Christian, the religious right’s infiltration into the GOP makes this Libertarian nervous.  Still, for now, the only place to park my vote is the Republican box.