Some lessons to be learned from Trump now abandoning his immigration stance from the primary.
1) Character still counts, and more than anything else. The fact an unrepentant serial liar/adulterer who’s filed multiple bankruptcies (despite being a multi-millionaire) proved himself to be pathologically dishonest shouldn’t shock anybody. But apparently it still does, which leads me to my next lesson.
2) Never turn politicians into heroes/idols. The really good ones can be your champions, but none of them are heroes. They’re merely human. And the worst politicians are always the messianic ones, who promise to bring you “hope and change” or “I know how to win.” When we idolize politicians we cease critical thinking and seeing things clearly, and that’s when we get taken advantage of. This government begins with the words “we the people” not “I alone can solve.” So you’re not looking for a political messiah. You’re looking for the candidates who know they’re not.
3) The one position Trump had built credibility with proven conservatives was immigration. Despite his terrible/sloppy/incendiary messaging, he fought on that issue for months on the campaign trail. Which allowed those conservatives to say “even if he just holds the line on amnesty his baggage is worth it.” Well, now that last remaining fig leaf has been torn away. And if you really believe the guy who couldn’t even manage to hold on to his most passionate position during a campaign is gonna fight to appoint Scalia-type judges to the Supreme Court, then you’re probably one of those people sending “self funding” Trump a check each month to not build a real campaign, too.
4) We owe some people some apologies, and some people owe some to us. We owe Bill Clinton an apology on character and family values. We owe Marco Rubio an apology on the Gang of 8. And we owe Ted Cruz an apology on “vote your conscience.” Otherwise we’re a bunch of flaming hypocrites. On the other hand, people like Laura Ingraham, Phyllis Schlafly, and others who turned on their own this election, because of the preeminence of the immigration issue in their minds, owe the rest of us apologies.
5) Trump was already going to lose before his immigration surrender. Amnesty is still a bad deal for Americans. These things should be not be conflated, but they will be.
6) Don’t make important life decisions based on anger and resentment.
7) Perhaps the most tragic thing about this tragedy of an election is that nobody is more responsible for elevating a conman/knuckle-dragger (and thus electing Hillary) than Bible Belt evangelicals. As an evangelical myself who loves the South, this breaks my heart to say but it’s true. Yes, Trump’s candidacy was entirely a media concoction driven by voter rage at the GOP establishment, but Bible Belt evangelicals are supposed to have the Holy Spirit-led discernment to see through the things of this world.
They should’ve been the first people to reject this sham candidacy, and instead they are the biggest reason it got as far as it did. My guess is on Election Day they will be the last group to abandon the conman/knuckledragger, too, when the exit polls come out. And then their “leaders” will lecture those of us who saw through it that we’re responsible for Madame President, when they are and we even warned them ahead of time this is how it would turn out.
The church in this country is very sick. Can anybody refer us to a “Great physician?”
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7 lessons to learn from @realDonaldTrump immigration flip flip. Including some folks owe us some apologies:https://t.co/HRnsk6Ml9e
— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) August 25, 2016
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