I must have heard it a thousand times over the course of the last eight years from people that I had, for so long, seen eye to eye with on political and social issues:
We aren't electing a preacher, we're electing a president.
This was, and this remains, the go-to phrase for Christians and conservatives vehemently justifying their support for former President Donald Trump, whose lifetime of cutthroat corporate dealings, questionable business tactics, marital infidelity, and at times contemptible personal conduct, would seem to provide a moral roadblock.
As silly as the phrase is (I mean, holding out the expectation of strong character and an honorable integrity for the chief magistrate of your federal government really shouldn't be considered unreasonably pious), I've just chosen to roll with it.
But if we're going to do so - if we're going to play the, "I know he's not perfect, but he's better than the alternative" angle - then could the right please stop circling the wagons and defending the utter nonsense that emanates from the Trump tribe so frequently? Things like this:
That's simply buffoonish. Trump didn't build the New York skyline. Not even close. You can still support Eric's dad for the presidency, still point out he is a thousand times better than the alternative, still acknowledge that the Democrats have utterly disqualified themselves from consideration given their fascination with moral turpitude, and also say those boastful, prideful, and fantastically ignorant claims are embarrassing.
You can believe that the illegal riot at the Capitol on January 6th was not even remotely similar to a true "insurrection," and still acknowledge that President Trump acted irresponsibly that day and the days leading up to it.
You can believe that the current menagerie of litigation against the former president is 100% politically motivated, and still say that Trump's claims of "planted documents at Mar-a-Lago" were crazy, and his paying off a porn star was grotesque.
You can believe the country can't survive another four years of Joe Biden, and simultaneously admit that Trump's COVID leadership was atrocious.
In your mind, Trump may be the perfect person for the presidency this year, but it's still okay to admit he is far from a perfect person.
The refusal to do so, the contentment to exercise no objectivity in the evaluation of candidates is as discouraging as anything else in contemporary American society.
Let the Left be the lunatics, unhinged and frothing at the mouth with their hatred of all things Trump, rather than rivaling their psychosis with deranged, militant defenses of, and effusive adoration of every bat-guano crazy thing that emanates from his Truth Social account.
Make progressives answer for their nutty Stephen Colberts without matching his derangement with a quiver full of Laura Loomers.
It's okay to freely admit that your preferred candidate has any number of flaws.
There should be no compunction, no hesitation, no disinclination for any of us to point out the errors in those who deign to rule us. No would-be leader is above criticism or critique, and the more party politics makes us pretend otherwise, the quicker we hasten America's seemingly imminent collapse.
If it's true that you are voting for Donald Trump because you're choosing a president and not some religious leader, please understand that defense would be far more believable, far more reasonable if you stop the rigid, aggressive, cult-like treatment of his every move.
