Last night amid all the endless media hysteria I stopped to think about what was so different about this election cycle. Being a pragmatist I’m honestly not the least bit surprised that so far the outcome has been the worst possible scenario imagined. Of course it is!! Why are you surprised? So what was different was the emotion of supporters on BOTH sides over that last year. I was feeling somewhat depressed yesterday and realized it wasn’t about the election results……it was because the election was over and as a Trump supporter we had SO MUCH FUN!
Here was the difference. From the liberal side pretty much all we heard over the last year was DOOM and GLOOM. The climate change will destroy the planet in 12 years. Fracking will destroy all the drinking water. Let’s glorify thugs and allow domestic terrorists to take over our cities, loot our businesses, and burn it down. Police are horrible people and should be eliminated. Let’s allow the homeless to take over Seattle, Venice Beach, San Francisco and NYC. It’s our fault that California is on fire despite the fact that good forestry and timber cutting used to prevent such uncontrolled burning. Abortion should be allowed right up to the moment of birth if the mother decides she doesn’t want to “be pregnant”. Covid deaths ALL could have been prevented. We’re ALL racist, sexist, elitist, deplorables, misogynists, xenophobes that want to lock children in cages. What was Biden’s message? “We’re about to go into a dark winter”. Well that’s something to look forward to!!
Trump supporters on the other hand were the polar opposite. THAT’S the thing I’m going to miss. For the last year I saw people around me happy, successful, doing the best in business they had done in 25 years. Their businesses were recovering. Their retirement plans were back on track. They were paying less taxes. They were able to take vacations. They felt safer and there hadn’t been a beheading by ISIS in 3 years. We weren’t at war in some country you couldn’t find on a map. The borders were real again and there wasn’t the fear of terrorists being able to just walk into the country. Wages were rising. Unemployment was dropping. We were finally getting fair treatment in world trade agreements. We had become energy independent in 2019 for the first time. We had enough of China sending us cancer causing medications, dog food and in almost everything they send us. Manufacturing was coming back and we saw more “Made In America” labels.
Here’s the thing. We WERE PROUD again! Make America Great Again meant ALL of the things I just listed. It wasn’t about returning to slavery, racism, intimidation, throwing out immigrants, sexism, taking away anyone’s rights. We felt for the first time in a long time how our parents felt about America. PROUD! Not ashamed to be the best and to try the hardest. Not ashamed to WIN and not just get a trophy for “showing up”. Proud of the legal immigrants we ALL ARE that came here to work and make America better. We had parades, waved flags, had hats, cheered, drove in caravans and boat parades. Yes and we gave the “middle finger” to Covid when we didn’t hide in the basement. We showed up by the thousands at peaceful rallies to support our BELIEFS…..not just Donald Trump. This wasn’t about idolizing him. We know who he is……and that’s the thing! We don’t have to love him and everything he says or does, but he made us PROUD again. He WANTS us to continue our lives and of course there will be a price….there always has been whether it’s our brave military who go to war to help the people of another country or the dangerous job our amazing police and firefighters do when they put their lives on the line to protect us every hour of every day.
So that’s why I feel a bit down today. Not because Trump might not win. Not because Joe Biden might be President. America will make it through that….hopefully. We need to capture that spirit we as Trump supporters have had for the last year. You can hate us if you want….and probably will. I have less “friends” from the past now and more from the present who understand. I will continue to respect the Office of the President of the United States and tell the world that America is still the most incredible sociopolitical experiment in the history of the world and I will continue to be proud of the people that understand what MAGA REALLY means.
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