Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
From NeverTrump to Humbled Supporter: A Journey of Faith
For a few weeks, I’ve had an article brewing in my brain. It’s a follow-up to a previous article that I wrote, and I was pleased to read the new article last night. I didn’t write it, so I owe Western Chauvinist a debt of gratitude for not only writing what I was thinking, but doing it better than I would have. The article — “Reluctant Trump Christians, Where Is Your Confounding Love?” — is pretty much the defense I was planning on making as a follow-up to the Christian perspective for supporting our President.
I have a new wrinkle to add to the argument. I was a NeverTrumper. In fact, I was such an angry NeverTrumper that I left the GOP in July 2016, and started a new political party. Things were going extremely well as we surpassed 30,000 members very quickly, but I was blindsided by dissension from within that evicted me from the party I established. It hurt. I withdrew from politics and public society for several months.
The small, empty spot I left open in the world of politics would have stayed empty for a long time had it not been for two things. First, I had given everything to the party prior to being usurped. I sold my half of a company that I’d worked hard to build because I believed my calling was in politics, not advertising. Most of the money I received from the sale went into two things: The party and my newborn son’s healthcare. He was born with a bum ticker, putting me and my wife in hotels in Hollywood for three months through his three open-heart surgeries. It was expensive, much more than expected. The party was expensive as well; getting to the point that fundraising could support it required money upfront. Just as we were a month or two away from making the party self-sufficient and able to start paying me back, I was hit with the bad news that they were moving on without me.
At least I thought it was bad news at the time. As it turned out, the second thing that brought me back into the world of politics was a direct result of what took me out of it. Depressed, I turned to faith. The Bible is far more capable of curing all ills than most people realize. Human expression falls short in describing how amazing the Bible truly is because Λόγος, the Logos, the Word itself has power beyond what our feeble minds can grasp.
I can’t recall exactly what it was that made me realize the “bad” things that had happened were really blessings in disguise. It would be nice to tell a story at this point about how this verse or that passage made me re-examine politics and my place in it, but I was too stubborn to let it all happen at once. It was gradual. I started writing again. I even did a couple of interviews, something I did every other day when the party was going strong but had stopped doing mostly out of shame. Through it all, I gradually realized my complaints about the President weren’t nearly as prevalent as the good things I saw happening in America.
For the last year or so, my transition from NeverTrump to unabashed Trump supporter was completed. It doesn’t seem like a long time, but I actually have no lingering reservations about the President. Do I still get annoyed by some of his Tweets? Absolutely. But I’ve been wrong about him enough to realize the fight over his bombast is insignificant compared to the fight against the once-creeping Marxism that is now in full sprint towards America. I was sure he’d buckle on the wall. He hasn’t. I was sure he’d cave to gun control. He didn’t (bump-stock ban notwithstanding). I was sure Chinese tariffs would cripple our economy. It hasn’t.
At heart, I’m still a conservative who opposes the populist, big-government agenda. But I’m also aware that the long-term goal of less government and more constitutional conservatives in control in DC can only be achieved by walking the populist path for now. In fact, I’m confident that my dream of inserting fiscal and social conservatism into the DNA of our lawmakers is only possible after the growing allure of Marxism is beaten back into its dark cave. The right person to do that is President Trump and the right party to see it through is the GOP.
Someday, I’ll be back to fighting for a resurgent Tea Party-esque entity that’s putting in limited-government, federalism-minded conservatives to replace RINOs and neocons. But the bigger fight right now is against Mike Bloomberg, Antifa, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Extinction Rebellion, Bernie Sanders, Justice Democrats, Everytown for Gun Safety, George Soros, Planned Parenthood, mainstream media, and the Democratic Party.
We need to limit government. We need to fight Cultural Marxism. We need a whole bunch of people fighting the good fight. For the next five years, the person to lead those fights is President Donald J. Trump.
Published in Elections
Amen and G-d bless.
Evening JD,
Give us the update on your munchkin. I think a lot of folks were not used to having a president who talks like a Queens cab driver, but as President Trumps successes continued many folks began to see that Trump may be the answer we need at this time.
He’s doing well. Turns three soon. Likely won’t need another surgery for a few years, God willing.
I actually never had much of a problem with how he speaks (then again, I lived on Long Island for four years so maybe I was used to it). My fears were his policies and the fact that I didn’t trust him. I was wrong to think he’d break all of his promises. More humbling from bad predictions, like the time I thought Newt Gingrich was going to win the 2012 nomination easily once people realized they couldn’t fight Obamacare by nominating Mr. Romneycare. What did I know?
Great post, JD, and I am glad to hear that your son is doing well.
I was never a NeverTrumper, but I didn’t like him then and don’t have a lot of respect for him now (though I will vote for him). My fear was that the Democrats would figure out that the way to manipulate Trump was to praise him effusively and frequently, and so wrap him around their fingers. But no, they simply went hair-on-fire crazy, and so that potential trap was never realized! I’m very happy he has stuck to the script on judges, and as a pro-lifer I am very pleased with him. And the Dems have marched so far Left I think he has a good chance of being re-elected.
Yeah, when I realized that, I ended up writing in Herman Cain in November.
Glad to hear you saw the light, spiritually and politically. We each must figure these things out for ourselves. So many never do.
Thanks for the great post, JD
Hear hear! But what should head your list is the ideological administrative state.
This is my shocked face. A collection of political dissidents who don’t get along well?
Or, as the Bulwark folks might call them, the Loyal Opposition.
I left the Republican party on the day it nominated Donald J. Trump to be its candidate for president. I’ve recently rejoined the Republican party only so I could cast my California Primary mail ballot for Donald J. Trump, which I did today, on Presidents’ Day 2020.
Welcome to Ricochet, @kevinforrester. Any relation to @kentforrester?
During the primary season of 2016 my father was battling lung cancer. I was adamantly never Trump and he was very much pro-Trump.
regardless of our two political positions we spoke on the phone almost every day or certainly every workday. He lived in Rhode island and I lived in Louisiana and I would call him every morning after I drop the kids off to school.
And the course of that summer we litigated every part of Donald Trump’s past the philandering the numerous bankruptcies the failed products the licensed products that he permitted people to hawk in his name.
After he became the nominee my dad was getting worse and he asked me to promise him that I would vote for Trump in the general election. It was a promise I reluctantly made. But there was no way I was going to vote for Hillary.
When it came right down to things I enthusiastically pulled the lever for President Trump. And I have had a huge grin on my face ever since.
When he won the election in November I called my dad up and signed to him the song from the wizard of Oz, “Ding dong the witch is dead.” He laughed hilariously (it is an inside joke in the family, that song). He passed away the Saturday before Thanksgiving of 2016. I have to admit that my dad was completely right about President Trump.
Seeing The Beast out on the race track this weekend had me grinning for 48 hours straight.
Truthfully I’m not been worried about all of the investigations because they were so nakedly partisan. Now they’ve rendered even impeachment impotent.
I am not yet tired of all the winning.
I’ll never understand the people that are proud of totally flip flopping on a position. Anyone that tells me they are both a former NT…and also thinks Trump made a perfect Ukraine call…….is a complete flip flopper. Congrats, you caved. Your 401k balance rules, impeachment be damned. Will you flip flop back?
Anyway, I’ve literally changed nothing I believed about Trump in 4 years. Not bragging….just saying. The people that flipped from NT to Trumper are doing it largely due to peer pressure. Thats nothing to brag about.
I would consider that an ad hominem attack against the gentleman who started the conversation, Roman. Do you really want to impute bad motives to members of Ricochet?
Or, just spit balling here, they are intelligent logical people capable of revising their opinions based on new information.
When NT started Trump was kind of a jerk, and was going to ruin the economy, and was going to be a complete authoritarian (re-education camps and everything) and was going to sell out the base and pass whatever the Democrats wanted, but we would not notice any of that because we would all be dead from the 2 or 3 nuclear wars he started.
Instead, Trump is kind of a jerk and everything else is just fine. Some stuff is good and some stuff is Status quo.
I think that JD explained this quite well. He was opposed to President Trump because he didn’t believe that the President was a real conservative, or would govern in accordance with conservative principles. President Trump won him over by doing so.
There’s actually a pretty good quote on this issue, attributed to John Maynard Keynes (who, incidentally, I think was wrong about a great many things). Keynes reportedly said: “When the facts change, I change my mind — what do you do, sir?” There are some doubts about whether Keynes ever actually said this, but it’s a good point regardless of the source.
My general impression is that NeverTrumpers are completely closed-minded on this issue. Impervious to evidence, and actually proud of it, which is strange.
I wonder what you believed about the President four years ago that caused you to be so vehemently opposed. Did you doubt that he would appoint conservative judges? I doubted that — and I was wrong. There are many other issues like this.
Generally, no. Thats my point. I don’t like equating flip flopping with intelligence….because its not. At best, you were ignorant before and need to own your old wrong headedness. Or just admit you’re a crowd follower, which is the most logical out. But, saying you were NT before…..and then saying you are OK with Trump’s “perfect call”……just isn’t gonna fly, imo.
Sorry to be blunt, but I suspect there will be Trumpers writing these “I was so stupid to be NT before” posts in order to trash Never Trumpers. I’m not buying it.
No relation that I’m aware of.
You are mixing things up here. Being intelligent is not synonymous with being correct. Being incorrect does not mean being ignorant or wrong headed.
The was a lot of concern that Trump would govern as a liberal. Trump was not a politician, he had no history of governing or voting as a conservative. He had said things supportive of some liberal policies, he had donated to liberal politicians and his “core philosophy” was fuzzy in some places. Given this data, an intelligent person could determine that there was an unacceptable risk Trump would govern as a liberal. After 3 years of this not happening, it is appropriate for that same intelligent person to revised their opinion based on the new information.
I highly doubt the guy above, who left the Republican Party to start his own party over Trump, is secret “Trumper” trying to make NT look bad.
Fiscally, he most certainly has governed as a corporatist liberal. Nevermind, the $1T+ infrastructure spending he’s been dying to do, but Republicans won’t let him. Then there’s the palling with dictators, that even Democrats wouldn’t do. And of course the neverending buffoonery, gaslighting, and trashing of all that oppose his cravenness.
If you’ve flip flopped because only 70% of the worst case scenarios about Trump have been realized but your 401k is OK…..then you weren’t much of an NT in the first place and you shouldn’t be calling yourself a former one.
Fiscally every President since Reagan has be problematic. Plenty of past Presidents have been entirely to nice to dictators, Obama was down right friendly with Cuba, Venezuela, Egypt and Iran and even Russia. Former President Carter as Clinton’s special envoy hugged the North Korean leader. Lets not pretend that Trump is some how special in this regard.
“Only 70% of the worst case have been realized” I guess you are going to have to point those 70% out to me. Cause in my part of the country nothing is worse off because Trump is President and some things are better. I guess out 70% is entirely that the guy can be a jerk. Not a problem for some one who has been called a “bitter clinger” a “deplorable” a racists, sexist and a nazi for being Republican.
Excuse me?
What would those things be?
The “Trump is spending too much” is BS. Jeb! would have spent too much. Romeny would have spent too much,
I don’t know of a single FNT who thinks the phone call was “perfect.” Not everyone who thinks the call was less than impeachable thinks it was “perfect.”
This is ad hominem, and is not acceptable on Ricochet.
Hard to say exactly, but based on the OP not mentioning the Ukraine impeachment even once in his essay….its definitely not a concern for him. In fact. “annoyed by tweets” was the only negative about Trump in the whole piece. So, I would guess he’s way closer to “perfect” than “impeachable”. But he’d have to offer his FNT opinion on that one.
a)That he would team up with Democrats to pass big spending and deficits….check
b)That he would pal around with dictators and chase away allies and encourage the US to be more authoritarian with an all powerful leader, paving the way for a future Democrat to do likewise….check
c)That he would lie, gaslight, and insult people relentlessly and engage in corrupt and even impeachable behavior….check
d) That his promises like repealing ACA and having Mexico pay for a 1300 mile wall would end up going nowhere…..70% check
This is the crux of why someone would be an NT…and they’ve largely been realized. So if you’ve decided to not be NT anymore, then you’ve caved on big parts of this. Which makes me believe you were never really NT.
Anyone was going to do this. What president did you want who was not. This is not a valid criticism of Trump as Trump. Congress shares on this.
Citations please. Not based in fact. Nothing he has done has been worse than Obama. In fact, he had reigned in the administrative state to a larger degree than even Reagan. Fact.
He has done nothing worth impeachment. Insulting people falls into the “I don’t like his tweets” catagory for people like the OP. For me, I love them. He is sticking it to the people what need it.
He has done his best in the wall in the face of people like you who didn’t want it I’m the first place. ACA was stymied by Congress. Hmm, Congress again.
I was never NT. I never claimed to be. You really need to work on what people say, instead of what you want them to say. You appear to work hard to be rude to others. I guess you like that sort of infamy.
One of the most fascinating things about Never Trump, is how its members are unable to assume people backing Trump may do so for rational reasons. It is so clear to them that there is no reason to support Trump, so people doing so (95% of the GOP voters) have to be under his spell, part of a cult of personality, selling out their faith, flip flopping, what have you. Never can Trump supporters be offered the benefit of the doubt, that maybe, just maybe, they have looked at the facts, and made a rational choice to support Trump. Here is a though: How about assume that the person supporting Trump is as rational as you are and come to a different conclusion than you have and not act like they are someone in invasion of the body snatchers.
So, you’re going to accuse the OP of essentially lying about being a former NT and/or selling out his principles based on something that he didn’t mention?
My video in #23 was for you, @umbrafractus.
Hey, man, I’m not ashamed to defend Trump or his supporters when he/they deserve it. 😉