After four years, here’s why this never- Trumper is voting for Trump
Age has a way of disabusing us of idealism. I was 25 when I drove across the country to Washington D. C. in a three- cylinder tin can of a car that barely made it over the Appalachians. A resume of restaurant and retail work wasn’t the most competitive on Capitol Hill, and it took me a while to find a job at the Dole Campaign running the file room.
After the election, a glum mood settled over what remained of headquarters. After the death of a campaign, the candidate’s finance office lumbers on zombie- like for months. As the damp chill of a D. C. winter arrived, I couldn’t stop wondering why Americans would choose a smarmy womanizer over a decorated WWII veteran.
The answer, which eluded me at the time, was simple: a majority of Americans preferred Clinton’s persona and policies to that of Dole’s. Also, Clinton was a better campaigner. And later, when Clinton’s relationship with a White House intern came to light, the same people who preferred those policies maintained their support through the scandal and subsequent impeachment. Their loyalty conjured in me a delusion that lasted for nearly two decades.
I came to believe Republicans were a little more virtuous and a little less likely to justify means by ends than Democrats.
The 2012 election only reinforced my feeling of righteousness. A majority, albeit slim, of Americans voted for President Obama even though he had lied repeatedly about the Affordable Care Act to get it passed. Why would people do that? Exhausted
after a 12- hour shift as an election judge, I actually cried when I heard the results. I look back on those tears with a jaundiced eye.
Silly girl, President Obama’s supporters liked him better than Mitt Romney and preferred his policies to Romney’s; that’s why. The Obamacare lies were unfortunate — no one approves everything a politician does — but the deception was irrelevant in light of their greater concerns. Moreover, Obama was a better campaigner.
The end of illusions came four years later when a boorish, uninformed celebrity real estate tycoon beat a field of qualified primary GOP contenders. My friends who’d championed the character- counts- don’t- trust- amanwho- sleeps- around- on- hiswife line during the Clinton era now openly embraced a serial philanderer. Trump got elected.
It took me a couple of years to get the lesson that had eluded me since 1996. It’s simple; people vote for candidates they like and/ or whose policies they prefer. Period. The candidate’s character or lack thereof might be a consideration, but it’s more likely an afterthought.
That’s okay. We are not merely the sum of our flaws or our virtues.
My pre- election predictions about Trump were only half correct. The tweets, the nepotism, the juvenile insults, and the blithe disregard for facts continued unabated from the campaign to the White House. Since he took office, we’ve endured a pointless government shutdown, rising national debt, and costly tariffs.
Although I was right that Trump would do wrong, I was wrong that he could do no right. I’ll say it again; I was wrong. Since taking office, President Trump has exceeded my low expectations. The administration has nominated originalist judges who will be less likely to legislate from the bench. He has reversed the regulatory overreach of the previous administration, avoided starting protracted military engagements, encouraged some beneficial tax changes, and championed criminal justice reform. These actions contributed to a strong economic come back from the previous recession.
In a kind of Nixon goes to China move, Trump has actually facilitated normalization between Israel and Arab states. While I have mixed feelings because of the impact on a possible two- state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, I have to admit this was an extraordinary accomplishment that will contribute to peace in the region.
Lastly, I appreciate how the Trump administration has handled the COVID crisis by supporting vaccine research while allowing states to make their own way. We know now that the case fatality rate for COVID- 19 ( 2.8%) in the U. S. is closer to seasonal flu (. 2%) than it is to SARS ( 15%), MERS ( 11%), Ebola ( 50%), or Bubonic Plague ( 15% with treatment). It’s a deadly contagion but not the Stephen King novel pathogen some deem it to be. An anxious and overwrought president could have abused emergency powers to force all states to follow the economically disastrous lockdown policies of New York or California. More people would have been hurt economically and psychologically from a nationwide lockdown, and the virus still would have spread when the restrictions were lifted.
Let’s face it; deeply flawed leaders can do good things. Nixon ended the Vietnam War. LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. Andrew Johnson bought Alaska.
This explanation of my change of mind would be incomplete without acknowledging how the extreme left has influenced my thinking. The rioting and looting, the sanctimonious pearl- clutching, the Hitler- Trump comparisons, the conspiracy theories, and the insufferable virtue signaling have taken their toll.
The embarrassing treatment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh was a turning point. I rejoined the GOP during the hearings. The video of unhinged people scratching the door of the Supreme Court in anguish simply confirmed I made the right decision.
Last year I joked on public television that voting for President Trump would be like eating out of a dumpster. It’s something I’d only do if I had to.
Here’s why I have to. I have health issues. The so- called public option espoused by Biden and Medicare for All supported by his running mate terrify me. A friend of mine died at the age of 50 because of the poor care he received under socialized medicine in England. I saw with my own eyes how they rationed care through delays and denial of treatment. The US system isn’t perfect but my friend would have lived had he been here. There are other problems with the Biden platform: taxpayersupported abortion, higher taxes, and more regulations. While the former vice president seems like a nicer person than Trump, his policies are too extreme. So it’s time to dumpster dive.
Last election I sat out the top of the ticket. This year, I wish I could vote for a Reagan or a Truman, rather than the flawed man in the White House but they’re not running. And for once, I have no illusions.