Posted on 03/17/2016 9:46:49 AM PDT by dps.inspect
I live in Missouri, the state Trump won by less than 2,000 (the last I heard). I had been saying all along that I’d be voting for Ted Cruz, mainly because he says he’s a Christian. But on the day of our election this week, I could not do it, I voted for Trump... knowing full well his foibles. Here’s the short story of my transformation:
I am a Christian man in my sixties, have not always been the best I could be, either as a man or a Christian, but I do try, sometimes. Months and even years back I saw Cruz as one of the only ones in DC who was standing for what I believe; I thought then, if he runs for POTUS, he’s got my vote. However, the more I’ve heard him speak, the less I've liked him, not because of the content of what he says, he says mostly the right things, but its the way in which he says them... inauthentic, insincere, disingenuous; these are words that describe my emotions when I see the expression on his face when he speaks, and then there’s that stupid little half-smile after he says a one line-er to applause... ick!
Right up until the day of the election, Tuesday, I had never really understood how instrumental Cruz was in giving us John Roberts, Chief Justice of the supreme court (the man that literally delivered Obamacare to the nation as law). The day of our election, I looked up an article from a Texas news/paper/mag, that railed on Cruz because he was one of the biggest voices selling John Roberts to the nation. Unfortunately for Cruz, I read that article before voting on Tuesday... that is mostly what sealed the deal, against voting for him.
Cruz may be a moral man, but the devil used him to help sink our nation to where we are today; moral maybe, but not wise. Why the hell would I want that man in the White House.
Comparatively, Trump is not what I'd call a moral man, at least by biblical standards, but we know that about him, its a given... he’s not trying to gloss over his, well, fallenness; he is what he is... I dumped Cruz for Trump. I made that decision within about two hours before I voted. It's not easy to explain but I felt a sense of freedom when I voted for Trump. My brother who is a Baptist pastor was nearly apoplectic when I told him I voted for Trump, he wanted me to feel very,very guilty, but I don’t, I actually feel quite good about it.
Adding to that, there is the "inbetween-the-lines" reasons that swung me to Trump. The biggest? All the entities that we conservatives and Christians see as our mortal opposition, the MSM, DC Elite, Republican Establishment, Liberal Progressives, Black Lives Matter, and now, Fox News have been trying to destroy Trump... "the enemy (Trump) of my enemy (the above noted) is my friend". I know their hatred of me and all that I hold dear, so when I see them descend on Trump with the same ferocity that I know they hold toward me and my kind, I count Trump as my kind. And now out of desperation, Ted Cruz seems to be siding with the enemy, not my kind... phooey on that!
Trump is not claiming Messiahship, like Obama does, and like Ted seems to imply (the savior of Conservatism), Trump is Trump! And you know what, I like that... as brash and unsavory as he may seem, compared to the PC Elites, Trump is more like me than anything I have seen!
It felt good to vote for Trump... I feel like a feminist freed from her bra strap, free at last, free at last...
“Cruz also took credit for bringing Roberts into the fold of the George W. Bush campaign”
Cruz takes credit for a lot of things. I started out liking Cruz so I bought his book. I’m a reader. I learn more by reading what people write than by what they say. In writing we tend to reveal “signals” to our real personality. Cruz’a book is a boring tome of name-dropping in order to look “larger” than her is. That turned me off and his stretching the truth on the campaign trail has confirmed what I felt.
Thank you.
I wanted to vote yesterday, but I needed to lead a funeral for a member of my flock who had died. And because thanks to silly MO law, my polling place is about 200 miles away. I couldn’t make it there in time.
What you’re saying about Cruz and Trump is very similar to what I’ve been thinking about them too, but with a slight addition.
Trump may not be traditionally Christian as we see it, but he knows the value of the Lord’s Supper, and that is enough for me in this election.
Its not enough to say you prefer Trump. You must find Cruz evil incarnate to join the club.
***
It’s not enough to say you prefer Cruz; you must find Trump evil incarnate to join the club.
Because that’s what my experience from September to January was, before I dumped Cruz entirely.
Now that we’re even, perhaps we can try to bury the hatchet and work on saving our country from Hillary? If we ever meet in person I’ll even let you punch me in the face for any times I’ve crossed the line with our fights.
Don’t let your ideology blind you.
The scripture was for the poster.
Jude’s letter was written to Christians.
The poster brother is a Pastor. The brothers are being divided by both Trump and Cruz.
One of the pastors at the church I attend wrote a rant comparing Trump to Hitler and saying he is in the neverTrump camp. It was disturbing to hear that from him.
***
Hoo boy that cheeses me off...
I won’t go into an epic rant about this, but I’ll copy/paste something I wrote last night.
“The super-religious tone of the Cruz campaign made me wary. I might not sound like it all the time, but I’ve completed my MDiv degree and I’m serving a church in Missouri as an interim minister at the moment.
And the way Cruz just kept on talking God made it sound like he was trying to use the Lord to win a political campaign, and that soured me.
There’s another reason that I don’t like the super-religious campaign either. I love talking politics, but when I serve my congregation, I have to make absolutely sure that I don’t bring up names as positive or negative. I speak plenty about what Scripture says about certain issues, mind you. Abortion and same-sex marriage are NOT acceptable, to say the least. But I do not mention who it is I support. Nor do I mention who I oppose. Mostly I trust my flock to look at the issues themselves.
The reason is not because of tax exempt status or anything like that, but because I’m a spiritual leader in a congregation, and if I start mingling politics with the Word, then I run the risk of offending the faith of someone weaker than me. I’ve seen how politics taken too far in church can wound faith, and their souls are my responsibility.
But Cruz running like he’s God’s chosen candidate really makes me queasy for that same reason.”
That’s why I believe that pastors—with some exceptions—really shouldn’t get involved in personal politics, other than to point out which policies are morally evil and which are morally justified.
When a spiritual leader starts talking about people, the same thing happens as what happened to you. It wounds faith, especially when these rants are coming from people who are supposed to be spiritual leaders. It’s an abuse of power.
Addendum:
Being open about faith is one thing. Prayers before rallies, or saying that his Christian faith informs his politics, or the like. Those are all awesome.
It’s at the point where they start trying to use God to win that things start getting skeezy.
It’s good to see so many freepers and conservatives finally realizing that Ted Cruz is a false prophet and that Trump is the real deal.
Here is a video of Trump saying the same pro-American things 25 years ago and how Japan and China are ripping off the USA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZpMJeynBeg
I didn’t need a last minute conversion that now because many have not done this conversion is putting our country in peril.
I’ve been a fan of Trumps since the 1990’s since when Trump’s been saying the same pro-American things as now. I’ve read his books.
But I didn’t need to be a fan of Trump to know a snake when I saw one and Ted Cruz is a snake.
Ok, so I have been an early/often strong Cruz supporter, who in the last year or so have been less so.
In this race, I contributed to Cruz, Florina, Trump, and Carson.
So i get email from all of the above from being an early donor.
Last year I bombarded his office over his support for TPP - which he eventually started waffling on he eventually voted for fast tracking it.
Likewise he voted FOR the Corker bill - which essentially enabled the IRAN deal. At least he could have voted against it, even though it would have passed without him.
Lastly, he is a BIG supporter of H1-B Visa expansion. This was the deal breaker for me. I must have called his office 3-5 times. He teamed up with Rubio to support a tripling of the number of H1-B Visas. I don’t think it passed (need to check). If you have heard the Disney story about 150 US workers fired and forced to train their H1B Visa replacements, that is just ONE story — I have friends who have 20+ years industry experience who have been displaced and can’t find jobs. They have 1 or 2 degrees. And out of work at 40-50.
Also, Ted is silent on the exporting of American Jobs. So, he is part of the “Cheap Labor Express”.
This country can’t afford to loose any more paying jobs and taxpayers. It’s not on Ted’s radar. He’s a strong conservative in other ways, but SOMEHOW we have to pay our way out of this hole we have dug, and you can’t do that by selling our jobs out.
I think his shutting down the government was pure grandstanding. Did it achieve anything for anyone but Ted Cruz? And it turned out to be a double edged sword because his co-workers hate him. Even George W Bush commented that “I just don’t like the guy”.
Yes, I know the requirements for Senator are different than POTUS....but he apparently “forgot” to mention to the voters that he was still a Canadian citizen.
I heard him on the radio on my way to work this a.m. - going on and on about Trump not debating him....I had to turn it off. He definitely has something that makes people dislike him.”
Great post. Hit it out of the park on all points. Cruz is a phony and a liar
Yeesh. I hope I don't come across as THAT unstable.
“Then there’s the fact he gave money to the left including Hil, he exposes their hypocrisy over and over.. they took his money happily.”
My question is whether he was happy to GIVE them that money. They didn’t just “take it”, they “asked for it”, according to him. He didn’t call them out of the blue and offer them his support, they came to him and asked.
People seem to assume that he was trying to buy influence, that he was the initiator, but it sounds more like he was being extorted for protection money. As though politicians are honest and hard-working until corrupted by men who come to them with bags of money.
I put most politicians in a similar category to the mafia — they can make your life difficult as a businessman without any way to hold them accountable.
I don’t blame the corner grocer for paying protection money to the mob so his store doesn’t “accidentally” burn down. The corner grocer isn’t “happy” to pay for “protection” and the mob boss and bagmen aren’t his “friends” — even if from the outside all you see is him smiling and giving them money.
Yeesh. I hope I don’t come across as THAT unstable.
***
Heh. No, you haven’t. I hope I haven’t. But despite all the fairly brutal arguments we’ve all had on this forum, I hope that we can all pull together once the primary season is over, whether or not our guy won.
It often feels good blasting someone anonymously over the internet, but tough to take those words back when things cool down.
Thank you! I alwas thought it was like those old-fashioned things men used to help slip on their shoes. :)
Good insight. What did you think of the Art of the Deal? (or any Trump book)
your tagline lol
Oh please, while I know the context. I also know you are a Cruz supporter and it was meant as a dig at Trump and trump supporters as well.
I’m not the one that is blind.
Bingo. I run a para-church ministry and have had similar issues arise.
Footage of doffing your bra?
Just kidding.
Cheers,
Jim
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