PURELY POLITICAL, By Jim Buckley
The soundly defeated congressional candidate Liz Cheney gave a little “concession” speech in front of her backers in Jackson, Wy., Tuesday, during which she referred to Trump supporters as a “cult.”
I feel compelled to respond to that accusation.
We Trump supporters are a large group of mostly beaten-up, betrayed and broken Republican voters who’d gone through the treachery of the “Read my lips, no new taxes” George Herbert Walker Bush presidency. Then, eight years of Bill (and Hillary) Clinton.
Liz Cheney
After the George W. Bush years, the following two Republican candidates broke our hearts: John McCain, who refused to take on Barack Obama’s radical friends, and Mitt Romney, who couldn’t and wouldn’t and didn’t fight his way out of a file folder full of women.
When Donald Trump (accompanied by his wife, Melania) took that unforgettable ride down the escalator on June 16, 2015 at Trump Tower, I believed he was probably serious but had my doubts. This was the same guy, after all, who had donated to the campaigns of Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, who’d never — as far as I knew — involved himself in any Republican or conservative cause.
He was also someone who had been quoted as saying that he “loved” using other people’s money. That made us nervous.
We were a desperate group, clinging to the promises of this loud-mouthed braggart New York billionaire who, as it turned out, became one of the best presidents in the history of this great nation. Our loss of hope became optimism. He led us to believe that a smaller, less intrusive government was indeed possible.
But even though he received more votes than any other candidate ever in his bid for re-election, he was ultimately snookered by a basement-dwelling, masked-up, lifelong do-nothing politician via the machinations of too-clever-by-far Democrat lawyers, the COVID-19 pandemic, Silicon Valley billionaire chicanery and the conniving support of the establishment press.
I jumped on the Trump train in July 2016. My then favorite – Florida Sen. “Little” Marco Rubio – proved to be not ready for prime time and was beaten (46% to 27%) by Mr. Trump in the Florida primary in March 2016.
My earlier favorite, Scott Walker, dropped out before he had a chance to make a mark (September 2015).
A few weeks before the election, I was shaken by the 2005 Billy Bush recording of Mr. Trump talking about his salacious experiences with young contestants as a beauty pageant owner. I thought it was over, that Hillary would win.
But a friend who worked at a business on Coast Village Road held my hand and helped me through those fears.
I confronted her where she worked the morning after the news of the “October Surprise” broke and said: “Well, what do you think?”
“What do I think of what?” She asked.
“You know. The Tape,” I stammered.
“Oh that. That was just a man talking like a man,” she laughed, adding “You know how men are.”
This woman was a devout Irish Catholic, a mother, a grandmother of nine; her husband was Hispanic, and she wasn’t fazed. She really did know “how men are.”
Ultimately, I gave Donald Trump my editorial support — one of just a handful of editors in the entire nation to do so. I wasn’t sure he’d back up his promises, or keep them, but since I knew Hillary Clinton would do none of the things I’d want a new president to do, the choice was easy. And I’m proud of that decision.
The Trump presidency was consequential. In the four years of his hugely successful administration, President Trump fulfilled — one by one — nearly every promise he’d made during the campaign.
After decades of various U.S. presidents and Congresses “promising” to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israel’s stated capital, President Trump made it happen.
His Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, helped negotiate an understanding between Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Israel. It was called the Abraham Accords; the parties acknowledged that Abraham was important to them all.
President Trump promoted the idea and the importance of energy independence and achieved that goal before his presidency ended.
I’m going to stay with the man who secured the southern border, took on the Chinese communists, quieted the North Korean dictator, brought success and prosperity back to America and whose policies helped put blacks, Hispanics, teenagers, Asians and other minorities to work, making good wages in numbers never before seen, or at least not seen for a very long time.
I’m going to support a man who has proven his worth, kept his word and fought the good fight.
So, no, we are not a cult.
We are, however, a committed group in search of someone who’ll fight for our priorities, our ideas. A person who says what he believes and does what he says he will do. Someone who won’t apologize, won’t give in, won’t compromise.
That person was and is Donald J. Trump.
It may also be Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, or Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkin. Maybe others.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem seems smart and brave.
One thing we do know: It isn’t California Gov. Gavin Newsom, or (God help us) Hillary Clinton, or (God help us again) Joe Biden or Kamala Harris.
So I’m sticking with Mr. Trump. I’m also sticking with his choices for senators and congressional members.
You should too.
James Buckley is a longtime Montecito resident. He welcomes questions or comments at jimb@substack.com. Readers are invited to visit jimb.substack.com, where Jim’s Journals are on file. He also invites people to subscribe to Jim’s Journal.
