Trump Triumphs!

Remember that Pence caved last year on Indiana’s Religious Freedom and Restoration Act. First, he signed the bill into law, then about a week later caved to pressure and signed a bill to repeal RFRA. A couple of months ago, I talked to someone who is active in Indiana politics and knows Pence about Pence’s change on this and whether he thinks Pence will be able to resist pressures on certain social/moral issues. He hesitated to answer because he wasn’t sure. Trump is open to homosexual and transgendered groups. If anyone thinks we will see change from the gov’t oin this issue, that’s unlikely. Even if the Supreme Court ends up with 1 or 2 more conservative Justices, the Court does not like to reverse itself. A Trump administration may be more conservative in the application of regulations about this issue, but the door is open and will not be closed.

[Jay]

I’m stunned that Trump won.

I’m even more stunned that people - Evangelicals AND Fundamentalists - keep portraying Trump as a defender of all things Christian and as God’s tool to ‘save the country’. I’m appalled at how many think that ‘holding their nose’ to nominate and elect a known adulterer/whoremonger who has built his life and empire on greed and covetousness is ‘the right man’ for those who identify with the sinless Son of God.

God’s mission has nothing to do with saving America and everything to do with the gospel. Let’s keep our eye on the real goal here. Even if Trump were able to overturn all the laws regarding abortion, nominate 9 iron-clad conservative SCOTUS justices, enshrine ironclad religious liberty protections in law, enact term limits and a national balanced budget, etc….none of that has anything to do with preaching Christ crucified and glorified, or making disciples. Would those things make it easier? Sure. But all of it could be undone in four years by a Democratic POTUS (if elected in 2020), and it might, actually, make us lazier and more complacent.

I continue to fear that we have sold our mission and calling for a bowl of soup at the earthly powerbroker’s table…and we’re so excited about it. The highlight of a Clinton victory is that the stranglehold that this nation has on its’ evangelical and fundamentalist voters might finally be broken. Instead, it’s much stronger than ever.

Regarding Robert Apps’ question on nukes, I think that there is a reasonable query of ANY candidate, and Trump has opened himself up to that by some very questionable and sinful things he’s done in his life. His bankruptcies are the result of poor business plans and bad debt, and of course his two divorces are the result of adultery. Not what I want to see in someone who needs from time to time to have veins of ice, so to speak.

But that said, let’s put it into perspective. President Obama is one who basically spent his young adulthood high, and who bought his home with the help of convicted felon Tony Rezko. Remember his church, his partnership with Bill Ayers, and the like? George W. Bush was basically an alcoholic as a young man, and a lot of his early business dealings appear to have more to do with connections than with his actual skill. Bill Clinton was at least a match for Trump in the adultery and fornication department, and if you want bankrupt business dealings, let’s not forget Whitewater, cattle futures trades, and the like. You’ll see similar things with Kennedy, Johnson, and others. So we’ve survived—perhaps by dodging bullets—just as bad. A lot of these guys just covered their tracks better, really.

Some argue that a bit of exhibitionism and risk taking—symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder—correlate well with political office and almost seem to be a prerequisite. And with the choice we had this year, I’d argue that Mrs. Clinton was worse because she not only participated in the behaviors (fraudulent foundation, cattle futures, Whitewater, emails, etc..), but also ran interference for them (bimbo eruptions team) knowing that they were wrong.

What we ought to pray for—here and down under—is that he grow in office and that his tendencies towards reckless behavior don’t turn outright murderous. I pulled the lever for Trump reluctantly, and while I’m glad Hillary lost, I realize there’s a lot of praying to do here.

…I appreciate what Aaron says, but if we can’t get Clinton or Obama impeached and removed from office for clear violations of the law while in office, good luck getting Trump impeached before he does anything. And again, it would be a great way for Republicans to throw away the votes of blue collar workers for a generation or more.

[dcbii]

I’m still getting a lot of enjoyment from reading the pontificating of the press right now, but I know we are a divided country, and we now have to figure out a way to walk circumspectly in the world, knowing that half of our country now thinks the apocalypse has come. Obama had one of the best speeches of his time in office yesterday. Whether or not he believes it is one thing, but he is right that we have to now move forward together as Americans, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to see the failure of the new pilot of this plane we call America, because we are all on it, and most of us don’t have parachutes to bail out over Canada, even if we wanted to.

^This.
One of the interesting things that I have been dealing with this week is ministry and outreach to people at work who have been utterly devastated by Hillary’s defeat and who are not believers. Sometimes I can only go as far as ‘I’m sure we will be okay’ and sometimes I can go as far as “God is in charge”. Because I’m new(ish) to the scene and because I usually am dealing with non-believers who are hostile to the name of Jesus, I have to be extremely careful to encourage while I am trying to open doors for further discussions. It’s a delicate balancing act.

I wonder of Donald Trump is now part of the “plutocracy”, the rule by the wealthy? Despite what many say, he is not a “political novice”. He is very familiar with politics. You don’t build his kind of businesses without some familiarity with politics and how the “system” works. He may not be as familiar with Washington politics, but he is familiar with politics.

Part of the reason there is such unrest on the side of those who supported Hillary Clinton is because media had led them all to believe the election was over. Dewey was going to defeat Truman, so might as well count on it and print the headline. But just as with Truman, when the votes were actually counted, Trump was the winner.

Here is what happens when the media gets a little too eager. 125,000 copies recalled and they had to start over, printing a magazine for Trump, the actual winner.

Complacency had something to do with it, but probably just as big is that there are a bunch of people who have just had it with politics as usual—people who got ticked when they were told they were “racist” for not supporting Mrs. Clinton, people whose jobs were lost as factories moved to Mexico or the far east, people whose parents worked jobs in the trades now significantly staffed by Hispanics (including lots of illegal immigrants), and the like.

They were badgered, so they didn’t answer polls honestly, hence that demographic slipped in without being detected. Serves the “social justice warriors” right in my opinion.

Love it that Newsweak took a million dollar hit to budget and reputation with that one. Just read an “article” to them that read like a DNC press release—no balance at all in it.

There was one polling outfit called the Trafalgar Group who correctly called Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and Florida for Trump. I read that they were confident of their numbers because they asked people on the phone who their neighbors were voting for, and it revealed to them the hidden voters who were voting for Trump. The neighbor question always resulted in stronger numbers for Trump than they got with regular polling.

[Aaron Blumer]

Now if we can just impeach him fast enough, Pence will be Pres.\

We had an election following our Constitutional system and Mr. Trump won the election. We don’t start impeachment proceedings against him unless he commits substantial crimes. I expect better from you Mr. Blumer. Your attitude is akin to the rioters in the Democrat cities. You are not advocating violence but your respect for the Constitution and the rule of law is lacking as is theirs.

[Jim]

dlhanson wrote:

Aaron Blumer wrote:

Now if we can just impeach him fast enough, Pence will be Pres.\

We had an election following our Constitutional system and Mr. Trump won the election. We don’t start impeachment proceedings against him unless he commits substantial crimes. I expect better from you Mr. Blumer. Your attitude is akin to the rioters in the Democrat cities. You are not advocating violence but your respect for the Constitution and the rule of law is lacking as is theirs.

In defense of Aaron:

• I suspect his “if we could impeach him” comment is somewhat wishful #NeverTrump thinking … that we would have Pence as Pres!
• Re: “your respect for the Constitution and the rule of law is lacking”. Well impeachment is in the Constitution so he did not disrespect the rule of law

Finally: Will not happen! Bigger fish to fry now

I would think the rule of law is one must commit a crime before impeachment so yes he is disrespecting the law.

[Joeb]

When the Democratic Convention was in Philadelphia I heard one Reporter who was on the street make an interesting prediction. He said the African American community in Philadelphia was very much tied to a Democratic machine with historic ties with Unions. Old time Politics.

The Reporter said that this set up translated to cities in Ohio Michigan and Wisconsin. This Reporter speculated that these African American Comunities are different then the South in that they won’t just lay down for Hillary and might just buy into some of Trump’s message.

The Reporter also said that they don’t trust Hillary due to the E mails and the large losses of Union Jobs. The Reporter Opinioned that these African Americans may not vote for Trump but will stay home and not support Hillary. Interesting considering this Reporter said this at the Democratic Convention.

I actually think it is more of a generational difference within the black community. African Americans 40 and under hate Hillary. They do not have the same love that their parents had for the Clintons in the 1990’s. Because the Clintons expanded the war on drugs from Reagan era which led to the over-incarceration and decimation of an entire generation of African-Americans within America, many wanted nothing to do with her. Bernie Sanders really galvinized the younger African-American vote during the primaries. I saw it on my facebook newsfeeds. And when Bernie finally conceded to Hillary, most of those who I knew voted to Bernie either voted for Johnson, Stein or wrote in Bernie. Only a few actually voted for Hillary.

“I would think the rule of law is one must commit a crime before impeachment so yes he is disrespecting the law.”
I suspect they could find one, if they looked hard enough. You know, adultery used to be illegal.