Live and Let Live?

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By Patrick F. Cannon

I don’t know how many time people have said to me: “I don’t understand how anyone could vote for Trump.” The reason I won’t vote for him is simple – he’s a horrible, awful human being, and I despise him with all my heart and soul.

            But that doesn’t mean that I don’t understand why some 40 percent of my fellow citizens currently say they would vote for him rather than President Biden (assuming both end up being the actual nominees). Let’s just explore a few of the more obvious reasons.

            Conservative Christians – and that includes a significant number of Roman Catholics – believe that abortion is morally wrong. To many of them, Trump is a hero because he appointed justices to the Supreme Court who made it possible to overturn Roe v Wade. Now, I don’t think Trump really cares about abortion either way, but he sees it as important to his base, so changed his former “pro-choice” stance. The left’s demonization of those who oppose abortion for strongly-held moral and religious reasons just hardens their attitudes, which Trump exploits (as many another politician would also do).

            As it happens, the majority of Americans support abortion, but within limits.  Many have suggested it be legal up to about 13 weeks, or about 10 weeks before fetal viability. After 13 weeks, abortion would only be permitted for medical reasons. This sensible compromise exists in some states, but others ban abortion outright. Absent Federal law, the current Supreme Court decided to punt, with predictable results.

            I know people who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 and may vote for him again. All of them are good citizens and neighbors, as generous and civic minded as you would wish. Do you wonder why they resent being demonized because they believe in the sanctity of human life? Or that they are concerned when their children are exposed to a variety of sex education that is far too sophisticated – and dare I say doctrinaire? – for little kids? And are concerned when their young sons and daughters are forced to share bathrooms with someone obviously of the other sex? Or girls who are required to compete in sports with trans girls? Rightly or wrongly, President Biden takes the rap for all of it.

            I won’t go into all the varieties. of “wokeness” that infuriates people, including me. I will point out, however, that there is a growing reaction against its more blatant examples. The presidents of both Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania discovered – I’m sure to their amazement – that sometimes there is a clear wrong and right. And that the major donors who give them all that money understand the difference better than they do.

            This is not to say that every Trump supporter is a solid citizen. It’s clear that a significant number are racists, nativists or just plain wing nuts. Although many Republicans are trying to rewrite history (including Newt Gingrich’s attempt to rehabilitate Richard Nixon), I watched January 6, 2021, on live TV, and showing some footage of smiling and peaceful Trump supporters isn’t going to erase the violence.

            Finally, Americans of both parties are sick of the dysfunctional Congress and government. Trump supporters see him as someone who will shake things up. As for me, I worry that the shaking might turn into an earthquake. The Republicans could make a more rational choice, but it doesn’t look like they will. It won’t be a dull year, anyway!

Copyright 2024, Patrick F. Cannon

7 thoughts on “Live and Let Live?”

  1. There is something especially flawed about national politics, and specifically presidential elections. They run counter to principles on which this country was established.

    At state level, voters seem to have more control over their leadership. Many states, Indiana included, have elected excellent governors. Others, especially where radical gerrymandering or patronage systems (Illinois) have enabled political parties to control outcomes, have had less success. We rarely elect an excellent president. At the national level there are many forces, other than voters, influencing choices: Big money fueling public opinion, a highly partisan press and media, an entrenched bureaucratic state looking to protect its turf, and political parties interested in self-preservation more than national priorities.

    A candidate entering the fray has to deal with all of these forces. The average politician, even an outstanding public servant like Mitch Daniels, for example, doesn’t have much of a chance. To gain serious consideration the candidate must have name recognition, huge financial backing, ability to win party support (through insider deals or intimidation) and skill at manipulating the media. The candidate’s personal character or moral compass is of minor importance. Yes, unethical behavior can fatally tarnish a public image, but the media can (and does) conceal it or vigorously refute it. Ironically, high moral standards can sometimes be seen as a negative, as with Mike Pence, for example.

    In simpler words, candidates are judged by what they represent, not who they are in the eyes of God. Biden is a good example. He was a mediocre politician who accomplished little in his many years as a senator. He aligned himself with known KKK figures. He has a reputation of plagiarizing others or fabricating stories about himself. There are troubling indications he is a pederast and incestuous. He has enriched himself while in office through influence peddling, using his son and family to receive millions in bribes from foreign adversaries. In 2010, he became the party nominee, not by popular acclaim but through a deal worked out with party leaders who feared a Sanders or Warren candidate would bring certain defeat. His victory would not have occurred without obvious anomalies in mailed balloting procedures put in place under the cloak of a Covid crisis. Presently, he is clearly mentally incompetent to serve in the nation’s highest office., let alone run for a second term. He is being supported by a politicized judiciary that prosecutes the opposition. His time in office has been marked by a weakened military, world hostilities, a confused foreign policy, high inflation, uncontrolled immigration, urban decay, soaring drug abuse and racial conflict. And yet, despite all this, the NYT, WaPo and the rest of the MSM portray him as the last best hope for “democracy.” They are getting nervous, however.

    Trump was never a likable type. I don’t like him. He made a fortune in real estate and entertainment enterprises. He’s boastful, vain and uneducated. He represents the classic bourgeois type, Babbitt incarnate, the vacuous middle class capitalist with suspect business ethics and alterable standards of conduct. My cousin doesn’t like him because he reminds him of a jerk he knew in high school. Your animus towards the guy is perfectly reasonable and understandable.

    I know too many people who support Trump. But I can appreciate their thinking. They’ve seen the Dems and their allies trample their values: religious, social, moral, economic. Trump is an outsider. He represents opposition to the establishment and the elites, even as they try to destroy him with specious indictments through the courts. He did a surprising decent, though erratic job as president. Will he be a good president if re-elected? I seriously doubt it. But what really is the alternative? Biden or some other manipulated figurehead (Harris? Michelle?)? The primaries for both parties have been a bust.

    The Founders feared the country might end up as we are. They established the government as a republic for that reason, with states voting for a president through electors. Now, with only one primary (Iowa) completed, the press is already declaring who the respective nominees will be in November. Maybe ours is not a republic that we can keep after all.

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    1. Ah, yes, the evidence. There never seems to be any. Biden does seem to get particularly touchy-feely with children, smelling their hair, etc., even as they get very uncomfortable. But evidence? He’s just being old folksy, avuncular Joe. That doesn’t pass the smell test. There was also the matter of Ashley Biden’s diary, apparently stolen from her, in which she narrates having to shower with the old goat. Truth? Fiction? Evidence is tricky, even in courts of law. The fact checkers claim no evidence, but who is checking them? Pedophile or not, he’s a creep. But that’s his private business. His public business on the other hand is how I’d judge him.

      A curious thing about Trump, with all the accusations made against him by the Dems, you would think he would have fried many times over on the electric chair by now. They may eventually nail him on something but so far are batting zero. Victor Hanson has a helpful summation: https://amgreatness.com/2024/01/15/lawfare-against-trump-is-running-out-of-gas/

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  3. P.S. I was watching a doc on the Webb telescope and it reminded me that there are minds that can solve the most complex problems — they just aren’t in politics. If we can design and send this marvel a million miles into space, you think we’d be able to protect our borders, or pass a budget. Talk about mediocrity!

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  4. Immigration and inflation are really quite simple problems. But it seems to be in the interests of current government leaders to keep the southern border open to millions of undocumented illegals and also to spend as much money as they can, debt be damned. The more crises we have, it seems, the more justification for expanded government intervention and control. Trump did not rise through government; he seems to have little to gain from it. That may be a reason why Democrats and Republicans attack him with such relish, but it also may be a reason for his popularity with voters.

    Wouldn’t it be a pleasant surprise to see conservatives such as Hanson and others given the mic by the NYT or WaPo, even as a dissenting voice, as the World Economic Forum in Davos did for Javier Milei recently? Real Clear Politics is the only media site I know that airs both sides of issues without prejudice.

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