I’m remembering back to the 2016 election. The Republicans had a crowded field of candidates for president, and then Donald Trump announced his intention to run.
I laughed. I figured it was a joke. Here is a guy who is a billionaire showman running a TV program called “The Apprentice” whose most notable phrase was: “You’re FIRED!”. I thought he was doing it just for the attention, and exposure.
He was not last on my list of preferred candidates, but he was close. In the early days he ranked 15th out of 17, right in front of George “The Walking Political Dead” Pataki and Lindsey “Douchebag” Graham*.
I had one main question I asked with regard to the candidate I was going to support: “Does this candidate have a track record of doing what they say they’re going to do?” Three candidates met that criteria. Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Who you see is who you get. I obviously was not going to vote for Bernie.
As one after another candidate dropped out, Donald Trump stuck with it, making it through primary after primary. It was down to him and Ted Cruz and I was supporting Cruz. He smartly put Cruz to bed. Donald Trump was carrying the Republican banner against Hillary Clinton.
Between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the choice for me was easy. The best way I heard it described was: “You are in a plane and one of the two engines is on fire. The pilot and co-pilot have put on the last two parachutes and have jumped to safety and the plane is going down. Two candidates offer to try and fly the plane. One of them is an arrogant buffoon who believes he can do it, the other is wearing a Japanese Kamikaze headband…
So I held my nose and voted for Trump.
Living in NY it was somewhat a useless gesture, but I consider voting both a civic and religious obligation. I was somewhat surprised when he won! I watched his inauguration while in a restaurant on a cruise ship. The room was equally split between cheering and glum faces.
He then went on a rampage of fulfilling campaign promises one by one. He lowered taxes, lowered the regulatory burden, and he supported the unborn, and religious freedom.
The president clearly loves this country and the people who live here. He is kind to everyone except those who are unkind to him first. I consider him the best president in my lifetime, and I will happily and enthusiastically support him and vote for him on November 3rd.
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* After the death of John McCain, and during the Kavanaugh SCOTUS confirmation hearings, Graham redeemed himself quite a bit in my eyes.