OPINION:
Donald Trump is president. Some in the Republican Party can’t get over that fact. But they should. Who else but Donald Trump could take this much political heat, and still fight for what matters most — the spirit of America?
Some anti-Trumpers, like Sen. John McCain and George W. Bush, both of whom just delivered public remarks painting this White House in negative lights — without naming names, of course — will never support this president.
They won’t because they’re creatures of the very swamp, the very establishment and entrenched political swamp that Trump vowed to drain while serving as president.
Forget them; they don’t count. Their spots will never change. They’re part of a movement, a larger movement, that seeks to instill Big Government at the expense of individual rights — and later, Bigger Government, at the expense of national sovereign rights.
They’ll never like Trump, no matter what, because Make America Great Again counters that globalist view.
But there are other anti-Trumpers among the conservative base in America who could change — who should change — their anti-Trump viewpoints. They balk with distaste at some of Trump’s statements, some of his tweets, some of his past behaviors and dealings.
But they’re missing the forest for the trees.
There’s a larger picture to consider, one that begins with this question: What other Republican would be able to withstand what Trump is currently withstanding?
What other politician out there could suffer the daily attacks of this president, yet emerge from the fray with an even deeper commitment to win?
Look at the slate of candidates the Republicans ran.
You think Sen. Marco Rubio, had he won the White House, would be able to stand tall against the tide of anti-Republican forces on Capitol Hill and restrain from doing too-liberal dealings with the liberals? He already proved himself a deal-cutter when he worked with Democrats to bring about an amnesty plan he then quickly denied was amnesty.
How about John Kasich — the guy who’s already walked hand-in-hand with the despicable Joe Biden down the Civil Talk Aisle, pretending a meeting of left-right minds that only exists in their agenda-driven imaginations. You think he’d be able to resist Sen. Chuck Schumer’s onslaughts and attacks? Or Nancy Pelosi’s?
There’s always Mitt Romney, of course, the guy the establishment-minded GOP wanted to bring in to replace Trump at the last minute of the campaign — as if the former Massachusetts governor hadn’t already caved on health care and served as the left’s go-to example of how Obamacare could work in the states.
Think of some of the other candidates Trump faced and beat back in 2016: Lindsey Graham. Chris Christie. Jeb Bush. Their common denominators?
They were all much-preferred by the establishment GOPers. But they were also skilled politicians in the art of the behind-closed-door deals. They were true card-carrying members of the Wheel-and-Deal Club.
They would’ve caved to Dems on Day One. Trump?
In the eyes of both conservative and liberal critics, Trump may not be diplomatic. He may not have the fanciest, most elegant, smoothest-talking manner of speech. He may tweet too much for some tastes — tweet too harshly for others. He may appear the bulldog at the United Nations, the pit bull to Iran and North Korea — the watchdog to a dishonest press. He may call out political enemies in the vein of a street fighter; talk the trash political talk to his detractors. And he may in fact in the past have uttered vulgarities, treated women with less than Miss Manners-perfect etiquette, and behaved in a manner that was as far removed from proper Christian virtue as practically possible.
But listen up, slow-walking would-be Trump backers: Those are the trees.
The forest is this: America. Comes. First.
And Trump is consistent on that note, carrying that message to political reality by doing things like pulling America from the Paris Accord; putting the United Nations in its place; staring down the faces of wicked North Korea and Iran leaders; fighting for tax reform, Obamacare repeal and border control — even against the very Republicans who are supposed to be on his side with these issues. He’s brought forward a Supreme Court justice who can counter the liberal leaners. He’s reviving the economy with a pro-business, anti-regulatory atmosphere message. He’s issuing executive orders to counter Barack Obama’s egregious overreach with executive orders.
He’s calling on Americans to say “Merry Christmas,” not “Happy Holidays,” for crying out loud.
The forest — all forest stuff.
The forest is the spirit of America; the trees, the silly sidebar, sometime petty, always partisan and ever-changing political fights. The forest doesn’t change; the trees do.
Let’s remember that presidents come and go. But it’s the spirit that we want to last. It’s the spirit of America — the one that says our rights come from God, not government — that is worthy of saving.
Trump may not be a perfect president. But he is a president who fights that forest fight — for the spirit of America. And he does so very often against great odds, at a time in history when few others in the political world would or even could.
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