A Working Man’s Case for Trump

Note:  I have written guest editorials for many newspapers. None would publish the following piece. Their reason? They do not run endorsements for candidates. Really? Print media has published countless pieces trashing Donald Trump, yet they couldn’t run just one praising his candidacy? Share this with your friends, particularly those who are undecided.

Want to peek inside the mind of an average, working-class Donald Trump voter? Just consult a newspaper columnist, particularly of the liberal persuasion, but any professional know-it-all will do. And you can count on them to be fair! According to Charles M. Blow of The New York Times, “anyone who helps [Trump] advance his racial, religious, and ethnic bigotry is part of that bigotry. Period.” The Wall Street Journal‘s William A. Galston says of poor whites (mostly those supporting Trump), “There is a cultural movement in the white working class to blame problems on society and the government. . . ” Conservative author and columnist Jonah Goldberg writes off much of Trump’s appeal to “racialism.”

Here’s a novel idea, why not just talk to an actual working-class Trump supporter? I don’t claim to speak for all. Nor do I consider this election about my wallet or my race. It’s about my country. To those (on both sides of the aisle) perplexed by Trump’s ascension, look no further than yourselves.

In fact, I’ll start with those Republicans (Colin Powell, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, etc.) who have garnered headlines recently by declaring their opposition to their party’s nominee. Where were you all to speak in unison when we needed you? When Senator Harry Reid lashed out at those Americans who claimed they had lost their policies and doctors because of Obama-care, basically calling them liars, where were you to back them up? Republicans won a landslide victory in 2010, in large part, on promising to repeal Obama-care. The party’s feckless leaders told us there was little they could do without the Senate. We gave them the Senate in 2014, then they said they needed the White House. The fact that primary voters in 2016 chose a brash outsider as their nominee speaks volumes about a GOP with a spine of a jellyfish.

Voters can handle defeat if they feel that their leaders are fighting on their behalf. Many of us feel that the political class is not only oblivious to everyday Americans, but downright contemptuous. For example, we are labeled as religious bigots for daring to mention radical Islamic terrorism by name and questioning our seemingly lax immigration and vetting policies. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration is suing the Catholic Church (over the Obama-care mandate)! It makes you wonder, where does the recent New York/ New Jersey bomber fit in Mrs. Clinton’s Basket of Deplorables or President Obama’s Barrel of Bitter Clingers?

We see open borders and sanctuary cities as a drain on limited resources, a threat to public safety and a drag on wages and jobs, impacting mostly those on the lower-end of the economic scale. That’s not liberal or conservative – that’s common sense! We side with the Disney employees forced to train their own foreign-born replacements, yet we are targeted as racists and xenophobes. We see Republicans intent on cheap labor, Democrats anticipating a future voting bloc, thus our porous borders. We may be wrong, but that does not make us bigots.

We side with coal miners, against whom Hillary Clinton (like candidate Barack Obama before her) declared war. We like the fact that Trump favors an energy policy based on competition, reduced regulation and – gasp!- America first. That sentiment used to rally voters of both parties, yet today, in some quarters, we must temper our patriotic sentiments. The NFL, for instance, will abide Colin Kaepernick and others who express their dismay at America, while Tim Tebow, and those players who sought to honor the fallen Dallas police officers were mocked and silenced.

So, how does one get from energy policy to the NFL in one paragraph? Brevity aside, in our politically charged culture, one topic inevitably bleeds into another. The self-appointed smart people throughout media and entertainment will tell us how we should think. The patriotism on display at the Democratic National Convention? Acceptable. Patriotism as an underpinning of immigration and trade policy? Unacceptable. Racist.

Then along comes a leader who spits in the face of the pervasive political correctness and conventional notions of how a presidential candidate should talk. Donald Trump is bold and speaks for millions of disillusioned voters. The fact that he is written off as a demagogue and his his supporters are dismissed as racist rednecks only reinforces our belief that the dominant political establishment sees us with contempt, and I haven’t even gotten to the Nazi comparisons! So, to anyone who really wants to know a Trump voter, don’t talk about us, talk to us.