Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Feb 25 2016

Of Beliefs, Convictions, and Gronk’s Party Boat

 

Much has been made this election season of the amount of Christians that are voting for Donald Trump. To help quantify the consternation, many have floated ideas to the why and how of the disconnect between the professed beliefs of Christians and the history of Donald Trump varying from the issues of the day outweigh personal beliefs to Trump is the second coming of Cyrus the Great…wow, on that last one. I’m leaning more towards the less apocalyptic explanation with a much simpler and fundamental twist.

 

It boils down to beliefs and convictions. Just as many who call themselves conservatives, tea partiers, or libertarians have shown a complete lack of conviction on their professed beliefs in the constitution to vote for Trump, so have Christians been exposed for their lack of conviction concerning their Biblical beliefs. Simply put, times of desperation show the courage of your convictions. Many Christians of today simply don’t believe the Bible.

 

“Now hold on,” some of you might say, “haven’t you ever held your nose to vote for someone?” Yes, I’m a conservative Republican in the State of Maine. I have permanent scar tissue in my nose from holding my nose so much. Still, never in my life have I had to deal with a candidate in my party that violates every belief system that I have on every single level, which is compounded by the fact that the man is a pathological liar.

 

Those of you that have followed my column/blog may remember that one of the mantras I preach is to never believe what a candidate says during a campaign. Look at what they have done and said outside of the election year, in their life history. So now we have this man, who has crafted a whole new persona for this election, which continues to morph hither and yon, whither the winds blow in his best interest, and I am supposed to turn a blind eye, soul, and intellect to the warning billboards littered all along the road of destruction Donald Trump has paved?

 

I think not. Truly, Donald Trump has become the Republican Barack Obama. Trump’s followers were interviewed in the latest caucus in Nevada. The overwhelming reason they gave for voting for the man was change. Where have we heard that before? The billionaire refuses to give details on his policy but is big on grand promises with no substance. Where have we heard that before?

 

All those that oppose him, he mocks, humiliates, and demeans. Saul Alinsky? Where have we heard that before? The only difference between Obama and Trump is that, where as Obama is willing to trample the Constitution to achieve his goals, Trump will crush and pulverize the Constitution to achieve his. Imagine the day, and it will come if Trump is elected, that we would prefer Obama.

 

He believes single-payer healthcare works, is for universal healthcare, has a history of supporting gun control, supports raising taxes, establishing mandates, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, supports Eminent Domain and has a rabid following that defends his questionable past. No, I’m not talking about Barack Obama. This is Donald Trump. They’re both big fans of Hillary Clinton, which could explain why Trump will be taking the stand on trial for fraud. My goodness, we could have two Presidential candidates splitting time between the campaign trail and standing trial for felony charges.

 

And for Christians, the man opened the first strip joint casino, brags openly about sleeping with other men’s wives, publicly joked that he’d like to date his daughter because of her beautiful body, his latest wife,who would be First Lady, poses sans clothing in various racy glossies, and has used questionable business practices to bilk people out of their personal wealth. He claims to read the Bible every day and we believe him? What Bible? The Hugh Hefner version?

 

It is increasingly clear to me that people cannot believe the things they say they believe and support this man. It’s more a desire to follow the crowd like kids hopping on the Gronk Party boat to be part of the “in group”. Once again, it’s not about truth. It’s about hope and change!

Update: New information has surfaced that shows Trump preferred to use foreign workers rather than pay American workers to build his Florida hotels and Trump Towers.

Update: David Duke, former KKK Grand Wizard, has come out to publicly support Trump.

 

 

Feb 4 2016

“Trumpertantrum”

 

It’s not mine. I can’t claim it but the title is certainly befitting of the current state of the Republican Presidential primary. How can one candidate’s behavior, which is more befitting of a toddling tyrant whose diapers are oozing dangerously beyond capacity, influence the integrity of otherwise dignified, accomplished individuals? It seems when the “Trump-slinging” started other candidates have decided to denigrate themselves and join the “Trumpertantrums”.

 

At the center of this latest Trump sideshow is an accusation from Ben Carson that Ted Cruz employed dirty tricks when a staffer from Cruz’s campaign passed on information from CNN that Carson would be terminating his campaign after Iowa. Ted Cruz and his staffer have both since apologized for the indiscretion of trusting CNN as a valid news source, but Donald Trump, ever the opportunist, is demanding the results of Iowa’s caucus be nullified…and we all know the best way to win an election is to keep firing the results until you get the one you want.

 

The fact that Trump has appointed himself the new champion of the dignity of Ben Carson is laughable, at best, when just mere hours ago he was trampling Carson’s name through the mud with the usual Trumponian vigor. While it truly pains me to say this as I have been a supporter, Doctor Carson is not the innocent victim in this that he is portrayed to be either. A quick look at the timeline of events leading to this so-called “election fraud”, pens a telling narrative.

 

The Sunday before the Iowa Caucus, the campaign manager for Ben Carson announces that he is switching to Ted Cruz.

Carson then announces on Monday he will not be going to NH, but home to Florida to get “a fresh set of clothes”.

Later that same day, the entire staff of Carson’s Super Pac folds tent and moves into the Cruz camp.

CNN, the same day, speculates on air, citing all of the above along with the info that Carson had no more campaign stops scheduled in his calendar, concludes that Carson is dropping out after Iowa.

Then Marco Rubio’s, yes he did, and Ted Cruz’s campaigns made the mistake of trusting CNN as a valid news source (my sarcasm inserted) and reposted the “news” hoping to capture some of Carson’s followers. In other words, they acted like they were campaigning to win.

 

Ted Cruz won. That is really the sole reason for Trump’s sudden piety. He lost, he’s sore, he’s pouting, and he wants a mulligan. Had the Carson “misinformation” worked in Trump’s favor, be assured he would be standing arms folded smug in the face of the accusations saying, “Yep, I did it. I won. You lost. Now, Bye Bye,” with no apologies forthcoming.

 

The “Trumpilations” of the Donald’s behavior should come as no surprise to anyone, but the influence his “Trumpertantrums” have had on other candidates is disheartening. Ben Carson has resorted to questioning the validity of Cruz’s faith, which if the brilliant neurosurgeon would just take a breath, he would remember that for a Christian to judge another man’s heart is scripturally forbidden. Marco Rubio, after a surprising performance in Iowa, has allowed himself to behave like a juvenile eagerly running to sling his share of “Trump” on the Cruz bandwagon as it passes him by. Can we please, just forego the “Trumpertantrums” and, instead, focus on the competition and debate of the issues of a Presidential primary?

Jan 26 2016

King Me, Desperate!

A lot can be discovered about one’s beliefs and convictions by the decisions we make in the crucible of passion and desperation. Our mettle is tested when we are faced with the stark realization that the burden of the beliefs we claim to treasure may preclude us from traveling down the path well trodden joining the choral swell of the populace euphoria. For all our preaching, the pomp and bluster are mere words when life’s practicum calls the bluff demanding validation of our zealous verbiage and we capitulate.

 

How we have railed against this President for trampling the Constitution. We have questioned the reasoning of those that voted for him and supported his policies. But irony always prevails, doesn’t it, and the pendulum swings both ways.

 

Eight years ago the nation was desperate for change. Unhappy with what they saw in government but not sure of what changes they wanted and what the repercussions were, the voters were ripe to be plucked by a persona with lofty well-crafted speeches with ambiguous substance trimmed in utopian promises. Now, eight years later, there is a growing bipartisan pall that has settled over our Nation as we realize that the actions of our top executive and congress has not done the good promised, but has accelerated and exacerbated the Nation’s downward spiral.

 

So, we are desperate all the more. Now, with all the bluster and blow of a circus barker, a new persona has emerged to tantalize the desperate hearts of Americans yearning for a man with the solution. Therein lies the greatest problem we face in this Nation.

 

This Republic was designed, from its foundation, to be a Nation, which found its solutions through the people of that Nation. No one man could ever have a solution for we the people were built to repel that very notion. Yet Americans, in their desperation, have in recent years begun to seek out a man, an individual to solve their problems rather than solve the problem themselves and the Republic crumbles.

 

America has weathered and recovered from disaster in the form of war, nature, and poor leadership time and time again. It is not the fallout from poor leadership that cripples our Nation; it is the causal mechanism of that fallout, which left in place, causes irreparable damage to the people. Still, in desperation, we go from bad to bad “lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.”

 

Anyone with a nominal understanding of government knows that most of Donald Trump’s grand promises cannot be accomplished without the use of Executive fiat, the very thing so many of us were appalled to see Barack Obama abuse. Yet those who claim to support an adherence to the Constitution are willing to behave like Sarah Palin and swoon at his feet like a teenage schoolgirl. And then there are the many social conservatives who have tossed aside their convictions to bask in the hope of new savior. Why such a quick change in beliefs?

 

The answer is really not that difficult. It’s simply a matter of conviction. We can toss aside the Constitution in tough times because we really don’t believe in it. We can trample the Bible as Christians because we simply don’t believe in it anymore. They are merely icons, verbiage, and a trophy we pull out to prove a point or gain an edge.

 

Our desperation exposes us. We are too impatient to wait for the Republic to fix itself like it was designed to do. So now again, to the throngs of the desperate masses a persona rises once more and cries out, “King Me, O’ desperate fool!”