Well, it happened. I don’t know about all of you but I was shocked. We were in Jamaica when the election took place. From Saturday to Monday when people asked us what we thought about the election Bruce’s response was, “Well, if she wins I’m moving to the north end of the island and if he wins I’m moving to the south end but either way I’m not going home.”
We vowed to sleep through the night and find out the next morning who won. It didn’t work. I woke at midnight and muted the TV to see where things were. Behold my astonishment when I saw Mr. Trump leading in so many states! Bruce slept through that update. Close to 3 am I woke again and had to check. By then, most of the states in play were being called for Mr. Trump and I watched as he was named our new President. Bruce woke up right as the TV announced it so I upped the volume and we stayed awake for an hour or so. Shock for me–“I told you” from Bruce. His reasoning…would you admit to a pollster if you were voting for Trump?
I was convinced that Hillary Clinton would win this election. It was her due, her right, her shattering of the political glass ceiling, something she dreamt of her entire life for crying out loud. As we talked I said “Can you imagine what she must be feeling right now, to loose to HIM?” Oh the humiliation! Loosing to this brash, unapologetic, loud mouth man had to be worse than…just about anything. I actually feel sorry for her. I didn’t vote for her but I feel–empathy.
Since election day there have been news pieces that present Mr. Trump in a more positive light, or did until he started naming his peeps (and so it begins-again). Anyone see the 60 Minutes piece on Sunday? That stellar family lined up behind him? His adoring wife quietly sitting next to him all grace and smiles? Even his rhetoric sounded less strident and hateful…if this is who he is in reality I might have considered voting for him (it’s a big might). When he dismissed the affect his campaign might have on his business by saying “Who cares?” I almost fell off my chair. All along I’ve said this man was only in the race to benefit himself, now he doesn’t care? I’ll take my eggs with cheese please.
As the days pass and more media coverage emerges we see fear, hatred, panic and hyperbole on the left. The same fear mongering seen on the right when it comes to Hillary. Ever visit the site charismanews.com? Don’t. You’ll leave the Christian community immediately. I view it from time to time because some of the old time Pentecostal people from the 70’s are featured and I like the nostalgic ooze through my minor denominational veins. However, if I see one more headline like “Trump’s Fulfilled Prophecies Prove How Close We Are to End Times”, I’m going to puke. And we wonder why the left despises the Evangelicals when we send engraved invitations to them! But I digress. The Trump hatred from the left is every bit as ill informed and partisan as the right’s hatred of Hillary. One fears him, the other fears her and the country is going disintegrate, annihilate, exterminate and eliminate everyone, whichever side you live on.
Can I just say…NOT!
My biggest challenge in voting 3rd party was overcoming my fear of what could happen to the country if Hillary was elected. I’d been conditioned to fear a liberal SCOTUS, to fear loss of religious liberty, to fear unrestrained abortions on every street corner, to fear mandated approval of homosexuality in churches, to fear limitations on my unpolitically correct speech, to fear higher taxes, to fear more war (she was touted as a “hawk”), to fear ‘death boards’ in healthcare and to fear the collapse of America as I was raised to believe it should be which admittedly, is politically conservative and ultimately Judeo-Christian. Overcoming those fears was no small feat. Years of conditioning by both the conservative party and the church had shaped my thinking. I needed a new mindset, a complete overhaul of my thinking. To that end I prayed and began learning about the other side from their perspective. Eventually I began to see that my fears were rooted in a polluted river of hyperbole and supposition. Not everything liberal is simultaneously evil. So while I wouldn’t vote for Hillary I also didn’t fear her. And I hope I never cast another vote for anyone out of fear of the alternative. Fear is not from God.
On the flip side, my reaction to Mr. Trump and his engagement of the Evangelical community was one of utter disbelief. That they could vote and campaign for a man so far removed from their ideal of character left me–shattered. I was repulsed by the Evangelicals for compromising so much of what they fought so hard to win over the years. Politicians of character, who valued family, marriage between men and women, the sanctity of all life-even the unborn, aging and terminally ill, faithful family men and women who are trustworthy, honest and true. As I write this I find myself wondering if it’s even possible to be political and still hold to those values. It sounds like an ad for Superman. They sacrificed principles for fear of the alternative. I still feel this way. While Mr. Trump may have matured, outgrown his earlier man child ways and is now a faithful husband, father and potential leader I wish we could have done much better.
So here we are. He won. He will be our president on Friday, January 20th 2017. It’s a done deal. I underestimated the American voters and their frustration with Washington DC’s elitist political machine. I underestimated Donald Trump. I underestimated just about everything this time–except Pennsylvania. I predicted that one, nice to know I was right about something. While I underestimated on one side of the aisle, I over estimated the other and let me just say this about that.
What were you thinking Democrats?!
Is she the only person you could run? You’ve had 8 years to prepare for this election, she represents everything elitist and nasty about politics, why didn’t you do better?! Much of this outcome is your doing! If Bernie Sanders could give her the kind of competition he did, think of what might have happened if you chose a more desirable candidate with a less Communistic agenda. Sheesh! I’ve been hard on my own party all along and I’ll continue to be, but man people…step up will you? This contest could have been the World Series of elections if we’d let the Cubs and Indians duke it out. But noooo, we had to go with the Braves and the Rockies! Oh man…what were we thinking?
Which brings me to this conclusion, as my dad would say (heads up, NPC)
“Baseball’s a’ been bery, bery good to me”
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