Those of you who follow along at Wayne Dupree, know that I am a big fan of the blog “American Thinker.” I am always poking around over there because I love their content. They’ve got amazing writers and unique angles, and I think they’re one of the most underrated political blogs online — them and The Conservative Treehouse. So, when I see something that really catches my eye, I like to share it with you. I hope that when I do, you’ll get a taste of what they’re about and head over there on your own and check out their stuff. It’s not a big MAGA-fest, it’s a lot of different points of view. And yes, there are some writers over who don’t like President Trump, and that’s what I want to talk about today.
There’s a journalist by the name of M.B. Mathews, and while he’s not a “NeverTrumper,” he was definitely ready to leave the entire “Trump/MAGA” thing behind and he most certainly did not want Trump to run in 2024… He actually just wrote an article about why Trump shouldn’t run in 2024, that’s how passionate he was about Trump not running.
Until he had an epiphany.
Well, it was less an “epiphany,” and more like an awakening of sorts. See, M.B. listened to a speech by Tom Klingenstein, and it changed his entire perspective about President Trump and even his 2024 run.
I want to share a small portion of M.B.’s journey to understand and embrace President Trump, and then I encourage you to head over and read the rest. It’s really amazing.
Some people want Trump without his vices. I was among them — until yesterday, when I watched and listened to Tom Klingenstein’s speech titled “Trump’s virtues.” It was masterful and shamed me that I did not make the distinction between Trump’s character and his virtues, the former being deeply flawed, the latter being almost perfect. I need to man up in my defense of the former President’s virtues. The speech was among the most pointed I have heard and deserves some exposure. Klingenstein says:
Other Republicans say some version of “I like Trump policies but I don’t like the rest of him.” This gets it almost backwards. Although Trump advanced many important policies, it is the ‘rest of him’ that contains the virtue that inspires the movement… Trump was born for the current crisis, a life and death struggle against a totalitarian enemy I call woke communism… that control all the cultural and economic powers in America…
[Trump] revealed, not caused, the divide in this country. In war, you must make a stand… Trump is a manly man… traditional manhood, even when flawed, is absolutely essential… Trump plays to win… There are no clean hands in a fistfight…Trump is unreservedly, unquestionably pro-America… Trump is a refreshing break from the guilt and self-loathing that marks our age…
M.B. goes on to talk about how the left’s hatred of everything “American” is what infuriates us most of all:
It is anti-Americanism that makes so many of us very angry: The Left have trashed America’s Founding and her history to the point where some believe it virtuous to hate America. Rather than advocating forgiveness for sins, the Left are advocating hair shirts, self-flagellation, and perpetual guilt. It is un-American and certainly un-Christian.
Trump thinks we can vanquish all comers if we just put our minds to it, and he’s right… Courage never demands perfection… Trump over and over said exactly what political correctness prohibits one from saying… Trump said Haiti is a shithole and that representative Maxine Waters has a low IQ. These were not racist lies. They were uncouth, politically incorrect observations that most of us would agree with but would not dare say.
M.B. points out that what drew us to Trump — the fact that he was NOT a polished politician — is what caused many on our side to turn on him.
In 2016, we loved Trump for his outspokenness. But many seem to have changed their minds without cause; Trump is the same today as he was before he was elected. The very things we disdain today are the things that made him the man for our time.
From morning to night, we were told that Trump is a racist. But endless repetition does not make it true. It isn’t. Trump’s contempt for political correctness showed patriotic Americans that its ever-tightening grip could be loosened… It is difficult to overestimate the significance of Trump’s fight against political correctness, a fight which most Republicans are reluctant to engage… Trump treated the woke media with the same contempt he treated political correctness, provoking their outrage and revealing their utter corruption… it must be defeated.
It’s the left, not us, that needs to check themselves. We’re right, they’re wrong.
I take back my unwillingness to engage Trump on his own terms. It is the Left, not we, who are politically correct. They are the ones restricting speech, cancelling and censoring, not we on the Right.
Unlike most politicians, when Trump sees a problem, he goes out and fixes it. He fixed our porous borders. He moved our Israeli embassy to Jerusalem after decades of inaction. He eliminated hate-America critical race theory in his administrative agency. He developed a vaccine in record time. He achieved energy independence and much, much more.
His accomplishments far outweigh his personality quirks. No other president did so much in so little time.
I loved this piece, and I loved M.B.’s honesty, and humbleness to share this story. I encourage you to go read the entire piece, and share it with someone you know, who is a conservative, but not a “fan” of President Trump.
You can read the entire piece here.