Conversion
A diehard NeverTrumpTard comes around.
I just donated $300k to Trump
I just donated $300k to Trump. I’m prepared to lose friends. Here’s why.Back in 2016 I had drunk the media Kool-Aid and was scared out of my mind about Trump. As such I donated to Hilary Clinton’s campaign and voted for her.
By 2020 I was disillusioned and didn’t vote – I didn’t like either option.
Now, in 2024, I believe this is one of the most important elections of my lifetime, and I’m supporting Trump.
I know that I’ll lose friends for this. Some will refuse to do business with me. The media will probably demonize me, as they have so many others before me. But despite this, I still believe it’s the right thing to do.
I refuse to live in a society where people are afraid to speak.
Fair enough so far, but then ol’ boy lapses into a brief near-delusional endorsement for the veracity of Her Herness!©’s long-since-debunked Russia Collusion hoax. Maybe he’s crazy, but he demonstrates he ain’t stupid with his next section, containing some up-close-and-personal observations and analysis on Asscrackistan, Bribem’s failed foreign policy initiatives, and beyond.
My “radicalization” towards the center
August 16th, 2021 was the day I knew I could never support Joe Biden or any of the senior officials in his administration. This was the day that Afghans fell to their deaths from US C-17 airplanes at the Kabul International Airport, or KAIA as ISAF forces referred to it.Back in 2012 I deployed to Afghanistan working for DARPA. I used to fly out of KAIA at least weekly, usually taking a Blackhawk to Bagram Airfield (BAF), but sometimes jumping on a C-130 down to Kandahar (KAF).
I’m not going to go into all of the details here, but this was personal for me — as it was for anyone that served in Afghanistan. Most have the wrong impression of what happened there. Afghanistan wasn’t Iraq. And real progress had been made. It took roughly 15 years to stabilize most of Afghanistan, but the ISAF coalition had gotten it to the place that little girls were going to school in Kabul, sometimes walked there by their mothers who weren’t even wearing Burkas anymore. All of this was unimaginable a decade prior.
And then there’s the strategic aspect. The US’s most strategic base in Afghanistan was Bagram Airfield. Unless you’ve been there it’s impossible to imagine how strategic this base is, and how easy it is to defend. Nestled in a remote valley at the foothills of the Himalayas. Within a couple hour flight of China and Iran, and a few minute flight to Pakistan. I believe this airfield could have been held for 50+ years with 50,000 men. A similar scale to the US permanent forces stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany or the US bases in Okinawa, Japan.
We gave up one of the most strategic air bases in the world, and arguably stability in Kabul, for political gain — to be able to say that President Biden ended the War in Afghanistan. And we did it in the most incompetent manner possible, literally with people falling from our airplanes. Everyone I have spoken with that served in Afghanistan knows this.
It wasn’t just Afghanistan, I believe that the Biden administration has had some of the worst foreign policy in decades. And this has manifested in two major Wars breaking out during their administration, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Iran’s proxy attack against Israel.
Was the timing just bad luck? I don’t believe so. I believe that a weak America leads to a chaotic world.
Just for the sake of contrarianism if nothing else, a few questions:
- Are there any serious, well-informed souls left who are entirely comfortable with Amerika v2.0’s FederalGovCo apparat arrogating to itself the role of World Policeman?
- Has there ever been a time when the world wasn’t chaotic to some degree or another?
- Can a shambolic, inept, and badly over-committed Amerika v2.0 credibly be considered NOT weak?
Asking for a friend. Follows, the meat of the matter.
The next topic that has boiled my blood are the double standards and lawfare that Trump has faced. Here are some examples:
- Classified documents: Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden, Mike Pence and Donald Trump were all caught with classified documents. Only Trump was indicted. Either it’s a crime for all of them or none of them. All of the arguments about quantity of documents or obstruction are distractions to justify a double standard.
- The Border Wall: remember how Trump was villainized for promoting a border wall? Biden resumed building sections of it after pausing them, which the legacy media has been very quiet about.
- Election denialism: yes, Trump denied the 2020 election results. But as we linked to above, so did Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden regarding the 2016 results. As have hundreds of other politicians since 2000. Either they’re all election deniers, or none of them.
- Corruption charges: every inch has been searched for Trump corruption while Joe Biden’s involvement with foreign countries (through Hunter) have been swept under the rug. Here are some examples.
- Three strikes for thee but not for me: Joe Biden was the architect of the 1994 Crime Bill, which most attribute as the source of the mass incarceration we saw over the next two decades (especially amongst black communities). Crack cocaine in particular was treated harshly when combined with the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act. Watch this video. Hunter Biden would be locked up for life if the same rules were applied to him that Joe Biden imposed on thousands of others.
This is just the tip of the double standard iceberg.
Ain’t it, though. Ain’t it just. The article carries on from there—some of it insightful and eminently reasonable, some of it…ehh, not so much. Greatly to his credit is his diligence in maintaining a genuinely even-handed approach to his subject matter, I must say. Several of his professed “concerns” are plain-as-day indicators of his abiding liberal-Leftism, his declaration that he’s a libertarian notwithstanding.
All in all, if you’re looking for support for the contention that there in fact are some more or less sane, open-minded, non-wild-eyed zealot shitlibs still extant who might actually be worth bothering to talk with, debate, and/or attempting to persuade, this could very well be your cup of tea. Myself, I blew past that stage at speed and left it in the rearview a goodish while back, so I can’t in all honesty say it’s mine.
Reassuring as it is to know such thoughtful, agreeable rara avii haven’t gone totally extinct just yet, in my estimation there aren’t anywhere near enough of them to matter much now. Our stolen, intentionally-broken nation is ablaze; open, no-shit existential war is close at hand, therefore making the hardening of Real American hearts a non-negotiable requirement if we intend to prevail. And prevail we must—in this strictly-binary solution set, the lone alternative is far too ghastly to even contemplate.
(Via Stephen Green)