If you've read my prior posts, you may recall that I have been the CEO of a marketing technology firm for almost 20 years. I travelled extensively for my business. I was either meeting clients, or speaking at an industry event, or working with partners on data and technology deals. Every once in a while, I'd decide to give up the airplane, and hop in my Volvo for a road trip.
I had one such occasion in early 2015. I was driving to Nashville from Chicago. After going through Indianapolis, I decided to change the radio from 90's alternative to Talk Radio. I stumbled upon someone making a speech. I didn't know who was speaking. Whoever this was spoke of how much he loves this country that had given him so much. But he also talked of a failed economy, our society being the financiers for rebuilding other countries, and of a country that doesn't look like it wants to win at anything. America was broken. He talked of the ability of America to overcome all of this, but it would take work. We need to stop wars. The manufacturing jobs we sent overseas and to Mexico need to come back. With a strong industrial base, we can make sure our vets are taken care of, and our Social Security system is funded. We can think again about the greatness of our country.
The speaker was Donald Trump.
I am not from New York. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. I did not watch The Apprentice. I had little knowledge of or interest in Donald Trump. But here I was, agreeing with the words I heard before I knew their deliverer. This was in February 2015, at CPAC.
When I got home from my trip, I remember telling my wife that she wouldn't believe who I was listening to, and that I agreed with everything that was said. She laughed, since, as I said, we've never had any real knowledge of who he is, other than the caricature presented in the media.
During the campaign, I cringed at what he said about Carly Fiorina. I winced when he told John McCain that he "liked people who weren't captured". I found it hilarious though, when he called out "Low Energy Jeb" for not being up for the job of president. I was learning that he was a street fighter. I was conflicted because my personal values of respect for others kept tapping my shoulder. Can I condone someone who I think will stand up for us, the country, while I condemn their style? I clearly was not alone in battling these thoughts.
I also noticed the lies being told about him. That he's racist. That he embraced the KKK. He's dog whistling white supremacists. He's in bed with a Russian bank. He's a misogynist. He's only in the campaign for the money. America First is "white nationalism".
Those of us paying close attention knew that there was nothing to the Russian collusion story. There were no facts, and no, the germophobic President did not pay prostitutes to pee. The fact that this disgusting filth was paraded around the intelligence agencies, and then into the press should be a symbol of how far our country has fallen.
After the election, the press expressed interest in understanding how the American people could elect Trump. This was apparently too much work because they dropped that storyline before the inauguration. It was easier to focus on RussiaGate, which was being spoon-fed to them. And to politically crucify Michael Flynn. And use the tools of the press to intimidate anyone who would work for President Trump.
Please recall that the election of DJT was called illegitimate by the corporate media for years, with not a single data point to support them. We all watched. We saw the media concoct the Fine People Hoax Years later, there was the drinking bleach hoax. More lies. The media did not care to inform the people about the difference between legal and illegal immigration. I want a big front door into this country, and a locked shut window. Come on in, live by the rules of our society. Don't get smuggled in.
In the meantime, we witnessed President Trump beginning to bring manufacturing back to America. He repaired, rebuilt, and built much of the wall on the southern border. In fact, over Christmas break, he was in the White House asking for Pelosi and Schumer to come to the White House to solve the border crisis. They went bonkers. The left went nuts. He also supported HBCUs, built Opportunity Zones for inner cities, and created the highest black employment numbers ever.
Internationally, he defeated ISIS. He has been the only president in recent memory who did not start a military conflict. Israel embarked on a new era of engagement with Arab nations, with Trump Administration-brokered peace deals with Morocco, UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan. No longer were there North Korean long-range missile tests. Donald Trump has 5 Nobel Peace Prize nominations to his name (of course, the organization would never allow him to actually win). All of these policy successes showed me that our government could, if it wanted to, act in the interests of the average American, for peace, and security.
The fact that this drove liberals crazy is highlighted by calling the detention camps at the southern border "children in cages". This was Obama's doing, was a temporary holding site, and not the tragedy that AOC said it was. The Democratic Party that I supported in my younger years was now something unrecognizable. The liberal Marxists had taken over not just the left flank, but a large part of the party apparatchik. BLM seemed like a sham from the start, but America's largest corporations went along and contributed. They are another group that hoodwinked Americans into contributing to Democratic coffers. A large part of our country did not seem concerned about the riots and violence during this time.
It also made me question and explore the real motive of the media, the large bureaucracy in DC, and the elected representation in the legislature. It didn't seem to be policy differences. There was a real fear in DC of a Trump presidency. They shackled the administration in constant investigations (with many seemingly illegal activities), an impeachment about, um, investigating corruption in Ukraine, and constant gaslighting. There was real power being destroyed in DC, behind the scenes, and the "swamp" was pushing back by any means necessary.
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