DISCLAIMER: Article part of Old Black & Blue
By: Ima Berning
With the recent failure of the Republican Party to repeal ObamaCare, one of President Trump’s larger campaign promises, conservatives nationwide are beginning to realize that maybe they’ve made a huge mistake in electing a man with no political experience to leader of the free world.
“I voted for Trump because I liked the idea of getting the rich people out of power,” says Billy Snyder, registered Republican in Alabama. “He promised to drain the swamp, but when he began appointing billionaires to his cabinet, it dawned on me that trusting a self-interested rich person to rid the government of other self-interested rich people was not the smartest idea.”
While many people voted for Trump because of his unconventional yet refreshing behavior, like including hate speech in his campaign rhetoric and fighting with other candidates on social media, they did not expect that those attitudes would continue once elected.
“During the campaign, I thought Trump was being so harsh because of how horrible his opponent was, that nasty, lying woman Hillary Clinton,” says Betsy Collins, wife of a cotton farmer in Georgia. “Now that he’s president, he’s still blame shifting and talking all hateful like towards everyone. I never considered that he’s probably just a mean person.”
Others single-issue voted on certain moral issues, and they continue to stand by their convictions. Mark Miller, who claims he doesn’t adhere to any party but votes independently, explains why he voted for Trump and doesn’t regret it:
“Abortion was my number one priority when picking a candidate. The slaughtering of the unborn is a crisis we should not tolerate in this country. Yes, it’s true that Trump isn’t the greatest person in the world. But even if our president freely talks about violating women’s bodies, wants to defund the arts programs in schools and doesn’t give two flips about the dying Syrian refugee children, the important thing is that he’s going to save the American babies. That’s why he got my vote.”
Despite the confidence of single-issue voters who thought it was appropriate to sacrifice a qualified leader for the sake of their personal moral convictions, most conservatives are beginning to see that the country is in deep doo-doo. While “Make American Great Again” was fun during the election season, it’s not sustainable for an entire four years.
“I’m starting to see that this country needs a leader for today, not a leader for a bygone era,” admits Snyder. “Instead of implying that we should go back to how things used to be, maybe Trump’s slogan should have been something more focused on the present-day… I don’t know, something like ‘Trump for America,’ ‘Stronger Together,’ or maybe even ‘Fighting for us.’”
DISCLAIMER: Article part of Old Black & Blue
