As I approach my 80th birthday I review my
life. Something about being this old
triggers looking in the rearview mirror rather than the windshield. I reflect on my life, what I have done, what
I have not done, the good things I did and the mistakes I made. Some of those mistakes haunt me to this day.
My 18-year-old grandson came to me the other day with a
series of questions I had a hard time answering. He was in his senior year in high school and
was studying American Government. He had
already had American History. He was
confused about the past and my take on the situation.
“Grandpa,” he began. “Can
I ask you some questions about what was going on in our country back in the
2016 to 2020 time frame? We are looking
at our government during that time and some of my classmates have very strong
feelings that I do not understand.”
“Sure. Ask away.”
I said.
“Did you support President Trump?”
“Well, yes I did,” I said reluctantly.
“Why?”
“There are several things you have to understand about those
days for any of this to make sense.
Barak Obama was elected President in 2008 and took office in 2009. He inherited one of the worst economies this
nation had ever seen. Stocks tumbled,
foreclosures were skyrocketing, plants were shutting down, unemployment was
rising, the national debt was climbing, and on and on. The nation turned to a Democrat to fix the economic
fiasco left by Bush and handed him a Congress controlled by Democrats. In other words, the Republicans really took
it on the chin in the 2008 election.
But the Republican machine was a long way from dead. During the campaign conservative talk show
hosts and Fox News continued to imply that Obama was a Muslim and that he was
born in Africa, not Hawaii. It was a
constant blitz of false information. I
did not know it was false. In fact, I had
voted Republican every year since the late 1970’s so I hated that the Democrats
were in control. Hearing that their
leader was possibly ineligible to be President and that he was a member of a
religious group that attacked us helped me feel better about hating Democrats. I was uncomfortable with a Black
President. It seemed to me that our
nation was turning more and more to protecting minorities and less and less to
protecting the Anglo middle class. That
upset me. It seemed to me that we were
being taxed just so people who could not or would not work would have benefits.
That upset me. It seemed that our judicial system was always
siding with minority rights. That upset
me.
But what really upset me was the Democratic Party stand on
two issues. Gun control and abortion. I was opposed to stricter gun control and
believed it was my 2nd amendment right to own firearms. The NRA constantly told us that the Democrats
were going to take our guns away, so did Fox News. When Obama won there was a rush on firearm
and ammunition purchases. We now know
that was the goal of the NRA who represent firearm manufacturers. But many believed the Democrats would take
away our guns.
The Democrats also supported Roe v. Wade which gave women
the right to decide whether to have an abortion or not. I was strongly, emotionally opposed to
that. I felt that unborn babies needed
protection. I felt that only God should
judge which baby survives and which ones become miscarriages. I felt like abortion was murder and I stood
on holy ground opposing it. No matter
what the Democrats did regarding the economy, or health care, or international
treaties, or protections against future crashes, or protection for American
workers, or efforts to reduce global warming I could not see it. I was told over and over again that Obama was
terrible. Democrats were terrible.
And I believed it because I wanted to believe
it. As long as I listened to just some
news sources and read some books and talked to only certain friends all these
beliefs were strongly reinforced and I believed they were factual, not
propaganda. It was as though my team had
lost the Super Bowl and I believed the other team cheated to win. I could never forgive that other team even if
they in fact did not cheat.
Obama won a second term.
Unbelievable. At least Congress
was now controlled by Republicans and every effort the Democrats made to pass
legislation was thwarted. Republicans
even allowed the government to shut down to stop Democratic spending even
though the national debt created by Bush was coming down under Obama’s budget. The debt was coming down because employment
was improving, homes were being built, and the economy was rebounding. But again, I could not see it because I hated
Democrats.
So, when 2016 rolled around and Trump won the Republican nomination
I was all in. He promised to reduce the
number of Hispanics entering our country illegally by building a wall. He convinced us that those people were
killers and drug dealers. He promised to
protect gun rights and oppose abortion. He promised to stimulate the economy
with a huge tax cut. He promised to
improve our standing in the world by not taking any gruff off anyone, standing
up to NATO, the UN, the EU, China, North Korea, Iran, ISIS, etc. He said everything I wanted to hear. So yes, I supported him.”
“But Grandpa, did you know he was a liar? Did you know he was charged with sexual assault? Did you know he used women and hated
minorities? Did you know he would
protect oil companies at the expense of the environment?”
“Yes, I guess I knew all that at the time. It didn’t matter. I hated Democrats so much and Trump was
talking my kind of talk. Make America
Great Again sounded wonderful, back to the good old days where men were men,
and white men ruled. I really liked
it. I loved it, in fact, and the more I
loved it the more impossible it became for me to see the truth and the more
impossible it became for me to listen to Democrats.”
“I don’t understand.
You knew he was corrupt and his administration was corrupt and he committed
impeachable offenses, and yet you continued to support him? Just does not make sense to me.”
“In hindsight, it does not make sense to me either,” I
said. “I was living in an echo
chamber. The news I saw and heard, the
friends I had, everyone around me was strongly supportive of Trump. And my hatred of Democrats and the belief
that Democrats wanted our nation to be a socialistic/communistic country scared
me. It took a long time for me to see
what was really going on, and when I did I felt great guilt and embarrassment.”
“What changed your mind, Grandpa?”
“I watched the impeachment proceedings. Witness after witness confirmed what the
Democrats had been saying all along. I
began to doubt what I believed so I started listening to other sources of
news. Suddenly I realized I had been
living in a cave. This man was
corrupt. He was guilty as charged. And no matter how many times I heard him say
he did nothing wrong and how many conservative editorials attempted to dismiss
the facts, the facts were the facts. I
read the Meuller Report and realized that there was collusion, there was
obstruction. He obstructed justice. He abused his power. He opposed the US Constitution. I was sick at heart. I think I felt much like the Germans did when
they saw Hitler as the savior of their country only to realize he was a
horrible war criminal.
“But I changed before he was removed from office. I began to share facts with my friends, but
they did not want to hear them. They had
an excuse for everything. It wasn’t that
Trump was bad it was that the Democrats were bad. To this day I am amazed I ever swallowed all
that. I don’t anymore.”
“Thanks, Grandpa.
There are still a lot of kids whose parents think removing Trump went
against God’s will and was the beginning of the end of our nation. How do you respond to them?”
“I believe the truth will set you free and the truth will
come out. When I opened my eyes I saw the
truth of Trump and I will never go back to believing the ultra-conservative
propaganda machine again. It may take a
generation to recognize what almost happened here, but thank goodness democracy
and our law prevailed. We will
eventually right the course this man set.
I am so sorry I did not help do that sooner. If I and others had done so you would not be
facing these tough questions now. I am
so sorry.”
“It’s OK, Grandpa. I
still love you.”
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