Well, I’m not sure your critique of my comment about part of what Trump said is fair. So far, when it comes to economic hardship in America, Trump’s position has been more government in the form of tariffs which hinders the free market. But he also talks about the free market. So he talks about both.
Here, Trump said to “struggling Americans who have felt the the bitter taste of hardship” that “the White House is fighting for all those left behind” and to “work and live with the dignity all are entitled to know.” “No one left behind” and “entitled” are usually code words for more government.
So I think my comments are reasonable and I don’t think deserve to be lumped in with the mindless knee-jerk comments, usually from #NeverTrumpers, which “read the worst into every situation” and “adopt the mindset of Leftists who see a boogeyman hiding behind every Trump phrase” and certainly has nothing to do with “breaking off and joining the Democrats.” That would be the antitheses of the point of my comments.
When it comes to our elected politicians like Trump who we have and do support, I don’t believe our “mandate” is blind trust. That’s how we got into this mess to begin with. I believe in “Trust but Verify”.
Mindless bad-faith bias against Trump and everything he does is destructive and demoralizing. But good-faith, thoughtful questioning of a particular issue or statement of Trump can be helpful and informative. I don’t think we serve our country well by mindless acquiescence to our politicians including Trump and if Trump is the man I think he is, I don’t think he’d want that either. He doesn’t need a following of “Yes men.” He needs a following of knowledgeable and faithful patriots who love God and our country who may disagree with him from time to time on particular issues.
The answer to #NeverTrumpers is to blast them, support Trump in every way you can, and if he says or does something that you consider harmful, say so.
Remember, Trump is on a continuum going from the Left where he (and most of the rest of us) started, to the Right where he’s headed. You and I don’t know where he is on that continuum. So, again, let’s support him every way we can but let’s not be afraid to speak up when there may be a good reason to. IMO, that is our job.
Trump is not a libertarian. But he’s not a socialist, either.
When Trump talks of the free market economy, he does so with the reasoned expectation that nations will not game their markets to deny us entry. The reality is that we have been exposed to trade war tactics for decades, while we simply allowed it to happen. All this came to benefit the biggest threat to world peace in the 21st Century.
Your attempt to connect tariffs and government handouts is a mighty big stretch > IMO. Using that to justify your extrapolation here seems very thin indeed.
While I don't think the word entitled is the best word to use here, we do expect everyone to have access to the largess of Capitalism.
Aren't you entitled to a neighborhood that is safe? Aren't you entitled to a job, an income, a way to provide for your family? If you think you have to say this in other terms, I think you're being far too picky for your own good.
Who benefits from every single word Trump says being dissected to the point of absurdity? We have a great example of this sort of thing in the New Testament Bible.
Jesus Christ's words were twisted by the Pharisees trying to entrap him. The Sanhedrin laid traps to snare him. In essence, that is what is going on here.
Trump isn't Christ and is nowhere near perfect, but we know from history that the populace wasn't even happy with perfection when it manifested on Earth in the form of God's Son Jesus Christ.
Jim, Trump is one of the greatest presidents this nation has had. We can tell that by what he has accomplished so far, and by what we can see coming. His intent is very clear. We cannot continue to rip him for stuff we make up out of thin air. It's very very destructive.
Trump hasn't proposed one single Great Society program, and yet here you are charging him with that. He didn't. You know he didn't.
We have a minority that sees itself as not sharing in the American dream. As Conservatives we can discuss why, and there are some very obvious reasons. They aren't flattering. We could harp on them, or simply tell them in an important season, they are on our minds, and we intend to see their lives improve.
We want them to see the promise of our ideology, and yet when Trump reaches out with innocent thoughts to let them know we care, you jump in to trash Trump for promising costly big government fixes. He didn't, and you know it.
...I don’t think I deserve to be lumped in with the mindless knee-jerk comments, usually from #NeverTrumpers, which "read the worst into every situation" and "adopt the mindset of Leftists who see a boogeyman hiding behind every Trump phrase"...
I can understand your reluctance to be lumped into groups, but the only way I could get you to see what I see is to remind you of those groups.
Quoting:
#NeverTrumpers, which "read the worst into every situation"...
This is exactly what you did here. If given time and some thought, I think you'd agree with that. Trump promised nothing of substance here, other than that he was thinking about them, and planned on helping them.
Quoting:
..."adopt the mindset of Leftists who see a boogeyman hiding behind every Trump phrase"...
You don't think you deserve to be lumped with Leftists who do this, evidently because you think it's not the same thing when you do it. Yes it is. That's why I called you on it.
Look, I don't have a long standing animosity with you. Far as I know, you're a great FReeper. I'm not trying to trash you. I just want to open your eyes.
This infighting and trashing of Trump using clairvoyance, mind reading, or whatever you want to call it, is destructive.
If it were only happening once in a while, it would be pretty much normal. It isn't happening in isolated cases. It's all over the forum daily.
Some of us recognize it for what it is. I could coin some stupid word like "TrumpPhobe" to get the message across, or I can try to address the specific issue and appeal to you to join those of us who are behind Trump pushing on most things.
As for Trust and Verify, that isn't what you're doing here. You immediately assumed the worst out of the blue and raised issues to attack Trump on. You don't trust him at all.
As I said in my previous post, this is one of the most Christian centric addresses I've seen a president make. It touched on our foundation with the Jews, and progressed through to our observances of Christian holidays today.
You read it and just launched. Why is that? Can't you see my point?
Mindless bad-faith bias against Trump and everything he does is destructive and demoralizing. But good-faith, thoughtful questioning of a particular issue or statement of Trump can be helpful and informative. I don’t think we serve our country well by mindless acquiescence to our politicians including Trump and if Trump is the man I think he is, I don’t think he’d want that either. He doesn’t need a following of “Yes men.” He needs a following of knowledgeable and faithful patriots who love God and our country who may disagree with him from time to time on particular issues.
My take away from this, "Mindless bad-faith bias against Trump...", is only bad when you're not the one participating in it.
My take away from this, "But good-faith, thoughtful questioning of a particular issue or statement of Trump can be helpful and informative...", is that divining bad from good out of thin air is your way of helping the rest of us. I don't agree. That wasn't helpful at all.
You raised a false issue out of thin air, and ran with it. That helps? That's exactly what NeverTrumpers and the Left do. Is it helpful when they do it? Are you telling me I am wrong to oppose them doing it?
I don’t think we serve our country well by mindless acquiescence to our politicians including Trump and if Trump is the man I think he is, I don’t think he’d want that either.
So it's your take that anyone hearing or reading Trump's Easter presentation and enjoying it without objection, is a person who is deeply mired in "mindless acquiescence"? Good grief.
Unless you can read Trump's mind back decades, you don't really know what was at his core. You have no more business judging him with regard to that, than you do anyone else.
Trump has made the best jump out of the gate of any president we have ever had. He has accomplished more than any other president on Conservative's behalf than any other president to this point.
There are literally hundreds of things we could point to now. In the last couple of days he signed a bill that will give states the right to defund Planned Parenthood. You understand the implications of that, and yet here you are saying he's still progressing from Left to Right.
Please tell me which Republican in your lifetime has been right of Trump as he sits, and yet you're second guessing the guy's superb religious presentation.
I'm here pondering who it is still moving Left to Right.