Oh, ain’t it a shame what we choose to ignore
The Menzingers, “America (You’re Freaking Me Out)“
What kind of monsters did our parents vote for?
Happy π day! Our country is just under eight weeks into the second Trump presidency, and boy what a fun ride it’s been! As much as I’d love to dive deep into the many horrible actions of the Trump administration these past few weeks, what I’d really like to discuss today is – how exactly did we get here?
Before jumping into my main question and concern in this post, I first need to make an admission: I am a self proclaimed progressive/leftist/liberal, whatever your preferred terminology. Like the majority of folks who grew up in suburban or small town Midwest, I was raised in a conservative family. And yet, I have never been a political conservative nor have I ever identified as one.
My political ideology started forming during high school around junior year. A combination of reading the Grapes of Wrath along with the lyrics to various songs from renowned Christian ska band Five Iron Frenzy’s first album Upbeats and Beatdowns had an outsized impact on my politics and view of the world. I like to tell a funny story about how one afternoon in high school I was at home alone blasting Nirvana’s In Utero album on the stereo when my mom arrived home to discover Kurt Cobain’s loud, angry screaming and was aghast at what she heard! I was thus forced to say goodbye to my beloved Nirvana CDs, and off I went to the Christian bookstore to find some acceptable Christian music with more uplifting Godly lyrics. It was there that I discovered Five Iron Frenzy, and upon my first listen to their debut album, I was immediately radicalized into a staunch leftist! So clearly, if I hadn’t been forced to listen to Christian music as a high schooler, I might have grown up to be a conservative!1 Anyways, the point is that I obviously have biases, and I think it’s important to acknowledge my biases right away: I am personally biased towards the policy positions of the Democratic Party.
And to be clear, I didn’t write this blog post to debate Trump’s or Harris’ policy positions, I wrote it to have a conversation about values, and which values matter most when voting for President of the United States. I know that some of you likely agree with Trump’s politics and positions on topics such as the economy or government spending. You might like Trump‘s aggressive stance on immigration, have a concern about abortion, maybe you’re fed up with the inflation during the Biden administration, or you might just want a change in leadership because you felt the Biden administration wasn’t looking out for your needs.2 All those reasons on the surface are valid political stances, even if I personally don’t agree with any of them.
So, for my friends and family who voted for Trump, my question is, in your opinion, what makes Donald Trump qualified to be president despite his amoral character and long history of harming and taking advantage of others? Why did you vote for a man that is by any objective measure a terrible person? How are you able to overlook, brush aside, or feign ignorance to his countless misdeeds?
Donald Trump’s flaws are many, and they are all well documented and public knowledge. What exactly has he done that disqualifies him from holding the highest office in the land? Below is a short (but by no means comprehensive) list of some of Donald Trump’s worst actions that I compiled with a few quick google searches:
- Attempted to overturn the results of the free and fair 2020 election and then attempted to incite an insurrection.
- Was found guilty of raping and then defaming female columnist E. Jean Carroll.
- Was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Trump concealed a $130,000 hush money payment from his presidential campaign to adult film star Stormy Daniels so she would keep quiet about the fact that he slept with her while married to Melania.
- Stole classified documents from the White House after losing the 2020 election.
- Defrauded banks and others with financial statements that inflated his wealth.
- Was caught on tape bragging about using his celebrity to take advantage of women sexually.
- Has been accused of sexual assault/misconduct by more the 26 women since the 1970’s.
- Mocked a disabled reporter on the campaign trial in 2015 and then mocked Joe Biden for his stutter in 2024.
Coming Full Circle on π day, or Section 3 of the 14th Amendment
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
Clearly, per the 14th amendment, item 1 on the above list (attempting to overturn the 2020 election and inciting an insurrection) disqualifies Trump from holding office, but the fact that he is also a serial sexual predator further disqualifies him from being president.
Back to the 90’s
Here’s where things get really tough for me. I haven’t forgotten the 90’s. I vividly remember when the scandal between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky broke. The adults in my life, both in my family and at church (all conservatives), were outraged, and understandably so. The president of the United States had committed infidelity and then he LIED ABOUT IT! Things like “character counts” and “the leader of the free world should be a person of integrity” were thrown around often. Bill Clinton was a liar and a cheater – everyone in church and my family agreed he was unfit to lead our country and must be impeached.3
Now let’s take the same standard conservatives used in the 1990s towards Bill Clinton – namely that character does actually count – and apply it to Donald Trump. The list above makes clear that he is a man of very little character to no character. Donald Trump is a serial abuser, fraudster, and traitor to our nation. And by traitor, I mean he has literally betrayed his obligation and allegiance to the constitution and our country as made clear above.
It is deeply saddening for me to know that folks in my life, many of them Christians, have chosen to vote for Trump and just brush these things aside. It’s especially tough remembering that same standard applied to Bill Clinton no longer applies to Trump.
It’s also been very hard to watch the church I was raised in turn towards Trump. In her book “Jesus and John Wayne“, Christian historian and professor Kristen Kobez Du Mez writes:
“In 2016, many observers were stunned at evangelicals’ apparent betrayal of their own values. In reality, evangelicals did not cast their vote [for Trump, at the rate of 81%] despite their beliefs, but because of them.”
Count me as one of those folks who was shocked by evangelicals support for Trump in 2016. But I was even more surprised in 2024, when evangelicals overwhelmingly voted for Trump AGAIN! In a recent essay “Jesus and John Wayne Revisited,” scholar and Baylor historian Andrea Turpin writes:
“In 2024, Trump was still not running against Hillary Clinton and Roe vs. Wade had been overturned and the Republican Party had removed the pro-life plank from its platform. And yet, once again, 81% of white evangelicals voted for Trump.”
Let’s Talk – For Real!
If you are one of the folks in my life who voted for Trump and made it this far in my post, I truly thank you for reading. I realize that much of what I said here might make you feel uncomfortable. But please know that I have struggled with whether I should even make this post and have agonized over these words for weeks4 trying to make sense of how I feel about all this. Ultimately, I decided this is the healthiest way forward for me to express my feelings without getting into tough conversations or arguments that could cause lasting damage to my valued relationships.
So I’ll state my conclusion again: Donald Trump is unfit for office (see above). It hurts me deeply knowing that folks in my life I love voted for him.
If you did vote for Trump, and would like to share why, I really do want to hear from you! Send me an email, text me, or use the contact form on this site. One caveat though – like I said at the beginning of this post, I don’t want to have policy debates. We can agree to disagree on taxes, DOGE, immigration, etc. What I’m trying to understand is specifically why all the terrible things I listed above that Trump has done don’t matter in regards to voting for him for president, the most powerful position in our country.
Because for me, when choosing who to vote for, I still believe that character counts.
Footnotes
- I’m joking, I probably wouldn’t have ended up a conservative, but we’ll never actually know. ↩︎
- I want to make clear that I’m also not arguing that people had a binary choice and had to choose either Trump or Harris, because that’s a false dichotomy. I have conservative friends who hold traditional conservative beliefs like lower taxes, smaller government, etc., and who are so appalled by Trump as a person that they could not vote for him, but also did not vote for Harris. ↩︎
- As we have later learned, Bill Clinton’s misdeeds were not limited to Monica Lewinsky as he has since been accused of sexual misconduct by many other women. You won’t catch me defending Bill Clinton! ↩︎
- WordPress tells me I have 24 revisions to this post, I really have been laboring over this essay! ↩︎
Brandon's Blog 