Trump’s Virtues Part II
Now that former President Trump is the Republican nominee for President in 2024, it’s time for Republicans, including those who doubt him or even can’t stand him, to get behind him. The times demand it.
We are in a war, fighting an enemy of revolutionaries that kick and spit on America. I call our enemy the “woke regime” or the “group quota regime.” This war is a contest between those who love America and those who hate it. But we do not have a commander-in-chief. You can’t win a war without one.
We shouldn’t much care whether our commander-in-chief is a real conservative, whether he is a role model for children or says lots of silly things, or whether he is modest or dignified. What we should care about is whether he knows we are in a war, knows who the enemy is, and knows how to win. Trump does.
His policies are important, but not as important as the rest of him. Trump grasps the essential things. He understands that the group quota regime is evil and will not stop until it destroys America. He is a fighter—bold, brave, and decisive—who has confidence in himself and his country.
Trump never apologizes for America. He rightly believes America is the greatest country in history. Trump says, in effect, “We have our culture, it’s exceptional, and that’s the way we want to keep it. And we won’t keep it if we usher in millions of immigrants with cultures different from our own.” Trump knows his job is to protect Americans and just Americans. Protect them not just from enemies abroad but from the woke globalists within. He knows that America does not need more “diversity,” it needs more cohesion.
The Woke radicals tell the Trump voters they are a threat to democracy. Think about that. They’re saying, “You Trumpsters are a threat to democracy.” The woke radicals also tell us ad nauseam that America is systemically racist. Trump knows this is deadly nonsense, and he says so. This charge of systemic racism bounces off Trump because he has no white guilt, or any guilt for that matter. Trump tells his supporters what they already know: They are not racist and they do not have white privilege. The woke radicals shut up those who disagree. Trump will not be shut up. If they manage to put him in jail, he will still roar like a lion.
The woke radicals have the moral arrogance of fanatics. Trump—God bless him—knows we are all sinners. Trump rejects the utopian fanaticism of the woke radicals. He is a businessman who takes the world on its own terms and navigates by facts and common sense.
Trump’s base knows first-hand the America that Trump wants to recover. They love him and they know he loves them. They will fight for him because they know he will fight for them.
Trump speaks to his supporters as fellow citizens without any condescension or poll-tested BS. Despite his billions, he is one of them, an outsider looking in, a man who takes ketchup on his steak; and is as disgusted as they are with the anti-America elite.
This natural appeal has created everyday patriotic Americans into an army. We cannot stop the Left’s revolution and retake the nation without these men and women. Unlike most conservatives, they will actually fight for America. But they follow Trump. Without him, they stay home. With him, they are united and determined.
At his rallies his audience invariably breaks into chants of “USA! USA!” In these moments Trump and his audience mutually pledge to each other their fidelity and their sacred honor.
His enemies hate him with an indescribable fierceness. “Another Hitler,” they say, “elect him and he will be a dictator.” We should take this hysteria as reason for hope. The America-haters rightly fear that he and his party are on the threshold of a successful counterrevolution.
Trump hates his enemies every bit as much as they hate him. His enemies are America’s enemies.
Trump is the most towering figure of our time. He has changed politics, not just in America but in the West. If we are to take back America, we need someone who is unmovable, who has proven that he can stand up against the immensely powerful army of woke modernity that will attack him with all its might, someone who will go after the deep state without pity or compassion and someone who has the conviction that America is still the last best hope of earth. That someone is Trump.
Trump the politician came out of the blue. An unconventional commander against an unconventional enemy. Almost inconceivable as President at any other time, Trump fits this turbulent moment to a tee. Is it too much to wonder whether the appearance of this most unconventional man is providential? Lincoln spoke of Americans as the “almost chosen” people. Trump gives us hope that the God who has never forsaken his “almost chosen” people will not do so now.
Thank you.
Tom Klingenstein
