A Vote for Trump Is a Vote for the Human Race
Halfway between the gutter and the stars.
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” — Oscar Wilde
If you have yet to vote, please make a point to do so today, no matter your affiliation. Despite what you may think, it matters. Even if your vote doesn’t budge the electoral college, it has an impact on the popular vote, which reflects the legitimacy of the outcome. One of my great regrets is skipping the 2020 election.
In 2020, I was unhappy with every presidential candidate on the ballot. I was displeased with Trump’s COVID response and the general chaos of his term. Joe Biden’s mental decline was already apparent. Even the third-party candidates were deeply unappealing. So I declined.
Even though Biden’s politics have never quite lined up with mine, I liked him as a person, at least on a surface level, and assumed that he would surround himself with competent advisors and govern as a moderate. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The past four years have been some of the most stressful of my life. My family has been absolutely wrecked by inflation. We live simply, but our grocery bill is now double that of our mortgage. I’ve had to practically work myself to death to keep up. On top of this is a pervasive threat of another world war, possibly a nuclear one. In fact, in many ways this publication exists because of the persistent failures of the Biden administration.
Biden’s mental decline finally became apparent to all after his disastrous debate with Donald Trump, and while he’s no longer on the ticket, I have no reason to believe that Kamala Harris would govern differently. She has said as much.
That’s why this year, I voted for Donald Trump at the earliest opportunity, and I didn’t hold my nose or feel any shame in doing so. I had always been ambivalent about Trump, often critical. But several things have happened over the past few months to soften my view of the man and give me hope that his second administration will be far greater than his first.
The Kernel of Trump’s Character
We’ve heard so many stories about Trump over the years, and it’s often difficult to discern the truth. Many of the accusations against him have turned out to be false, such as the RussiaGate hoax and the infamous “pee tape.” Remember when over 50 former intelligence officials signed a letter saying the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation? They were lying, it was all real. Even recently, Trump has been accused of threatening Liz Cheney with a firing squad, which even Snopes—no friend of Trump’s—has debunked.
Trump is often painted as a dishonest character, but his opponents are even more so.
It’s hard to determine a man’s character even in the best of circumstances, and there are only a handful of situations in a man’s life where his true self can be seen by all.
One of the most obvious tests of a man is when he’s under fire. Many unassuming men are sent into war zones to find they’re made of much sterner stuff than anyone imagined. Alvin York comes to mind. Others talk a good game but utterly fall apart when things get real. We all like to think we’ll rise to the occasion, but we truly don’t know until we’re tested. As the great philosopher Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
On July 13th, we saw Donald Trump put to the test in a way that many of us never will be. After he fell to the ground, a stunned nation assumed he was dead, only for him to rise up, raise his fist and shout, “Fight, fight fight!” In that moment, it became clear who Donald Trump is.
You may recall many years ago when a man charged the stage during a Trump rally, and Trump rapidly spun around until the Secret Service intervened. Trump’s fans said he was ready to fight the man. Trump’s haters claimed he was ready to run away. Now we know the truth.
Trump is, as we all are, a sinful and flawed man, but in that brief moment in July, we saw Donald Trump as he is when everything is stripped away except for his gut instincts. Trump is a man who boldly confronts danger, ready to lead. No reasonable person would have judged him for running for cover, but instead, he took a brief moment to rally and reassure the crowd. And grab his shoes.
The Candidate of Technology and Preparedness
I was stunned to see that Trump was endorsed by none other than Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step foot on the moon, and one of our greatest living Americans.
“For me, for the future of our Nation, to meet enormous challenges, and for the proven policy accomplishments above, I believe the nation is best served by voting for Donald J. Trump. I wholeheartedly endorse him for President of the United States,” Aldrin wrote.
Aldrin’s endorsement reflects one of the major polar shifts we’ve witnessed in this cycle. It wasn’t long ago that the Democrats were the party of technological progress, but that has changed rapidly under the Biden administration. Tech companies—one of the bright points of America’s post-industrial economy—have struggled under Biden.
Under Biden, tech has been threatened by vague and onerous regulations, or threats of regulations. Most notably, the burgeoning crypto industry. In fact, many friends of mine in crypto, law-abiding citizens and often loyal Democrats, have suffered harassment and unwarranted investigations. Biden’s SEC refuses to offer clear legal guidances, positive or negative.
Perhaps one of Biden’s most foolish moves was spurning Elon Musk. I have many issues with Musk, but no one has done more in the past two decades to advance space travel and popularize the electric car. Musk has also done more than probably anyone to advance personal preparedness, thanks to his promotion of at-home solar power and the incredible Starlink network, which proved invaluable in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Speaking of preparedness, I have been especially impressed by J.D. Vance. My wife—a former lifetime Democrat—is a huge fan of Hillbilly Elegy and was over the moon when Vance was announced as Trump’s running mate. I was skeptical. But after watching his Sunday morning appearances, his debate against Tim Walz, and his recent interview with Joe Rogan, I’ve been impressed by his vigor, mental clarity, and thoughtfulness in approaching even the toughest issues.
But what impressed me most about with Vance on Rogan was his thoughts on how to prepare the United States against an EMP attack:
“But the answer to the question about the grid is, this is actually, it's one of these things where, if we had a functional government, it's pretty easy to develop the systems. Because if you do like an EMP attack, right? Ron Johnson, who's a senator from Wisconsin, is really preoccupied with this.
You know, it doesn't take down the whole grid. What it really screws with is the power transformer system. So what we should have is basically a backup power transformer for every major system in the United States of America just sitting in a warehouse that's turned off.
And because it's turned off, it won't be affected by an EMP pulse. And then if there is an EMP attack, you just get those transformers to swap out the ones that were destroyed, and then the grid is back up and running. It's actually a scandal, I think, that the federal government has not just at one point, with all the money that we spend on defense and everything else, just said, we're going to spend $15 billion to buy enough power transformers to have a backup for every transformer in the country.”
$15 billion would be a relatively small sum for the federal government to prepare the United States against an apocalyptic attack. That’s barely a single payment to Ukraine.
I will feel much better about living in a country with a man like J.D. Vance in power.
The Candidate of Health
One of my biggest concerns over the past few years has been the pervasive pollution of endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
Years ago, I reviewed Count Down by Dr. Shanna Swan, who has spent decades studying endocrine disruptors in our environment. In the book, Swan outlines her research into these pervasive chemicals and how they’re causing lowered testosterone levels in boys, birth defects, obesity, and declining fertility rates.
Swan warns that if these chemicals continue to spread, it could very well mean the end of the human race.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one of the few noteworthy figures on this planet who takes seriously the danger we are in, and thanks to his unlikely partnership with Trump, he could be our one hope of reducing endocrine disruptors from our environment.
It’s not an exaggeration that the continuation of the human race could depend on a second Trump term. Kennedy is an odd man in many ways, but when I met him, I was impressed by his thoughtfulness and breadth of knowledge.
Personally, I don’t care how odd his ideas seem. This is the man I want in charge of our country’s health:
The Candidate of Virtue?
I’ve never considered Trump to be a virtuous man. He brags, he exaggerates, he lives an opulent lifestyle, and he’s often just plain mean.
But as we’ve entered the final days of this campaign, the messages from the two camps could not be starker.
Trump and his surrogates are on the campaign trail promoting science, technology, fitness, security, and prosperity. The Trump vision is one of conquering challenges, solving problems, and advancing both America and the human race.
God has a strange sense of humor, and in an ironic twist, a man once famous for lurid tabloid exploits has become a man calling the nation to virtue. But is it so odd? John F. Kennedy called the nation to strength, vitality, and public service while sneaking hookers into the White House. Martin Luther King, Jr. had similar proclivities. Benjamin Franklin, the man practically synonymous with American virtue, himself led a fairly scandalous private life.
Perhaps one of the things that makes a great man great is an ability to inspire others to be greater than himself, even in spite of his own flaws.
Meanwhile, the Kamala Harris campaign is campaigning on humanity’s basest instincts.
In one commercial, a man is shown vigorously masturbating, only to be stopped by a mean old white man in a suit. In other, a man accidentally ejaculates into a woman, and he’s horrified to discover that he may be responsible for a child.
Other ads encourage voters to lie to friends and family members, encouraging them to publicly say they’re voting for Trump, only to sneak in a vote for Kamala Harris in the privacy of the voting booth. Kamala Harris is apparently such an embarrassment that her own campaign admits that it’s shameful to admit voting for her.
The choice for America could not be more stark. Trump promises a path to greatness. Perhaps not an easy path, but one that will create a greater world for our children and grandchildren. The opposition promises comfort and convenience. The easy road, a warm, semen-crusted blanket. A life of frivolity, nothingness, and a slow, pleasant death. A suicide pod for the nation.
We must all ask ourselves if we can rise above our basest instincts and passions to strive for something greater. I believe Donald Trump, in his own way, has. Here is a man who lived that life of comfortable ease. He was rich and beloved, and had everything a man could ever want. Instead, he chose the hard road uphill.
It would have been very easy for Trump to have simply given up. I’m sure he was given the choice after 2020. Maybe with a bit of massaging and the right messaging he could have been let back into his celebrity circle, or at least have been left to play golf in peace.
Instead, he marches onward, despite the lawsuits, the impeachments, the criminal trials, and the gunfire. No matter whether you love him or hate him, no matter who you choose today, he is the man who has defined the 21st century.
Vote for the One with the Smaller Horns
Every election year, Americans lament having to choose the lesser of two evils. But the reality is that, like it or not, in January either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris will be sworn into office. Your vote—or lack of one—helps determine which one it will be.
Ron DeSantis is not on the ballot. He wants you to vote for Trump.
Ron Paul is not on the ballot. He wants you to vote for Trump.
RFK Jr. may be on your ballot, but he also wants you to vote for Trump.
Trump is not a perfect man, and I’m sure he won’t be a perfect president. He will disappoint us, and I will be the first to call out his failures. But regardless of his flaws, I believe he is the best hope not only for the United States, but for the human race. May God help us.
During the 2008 election, a group of people approached Elder Ephraim of Arizona and asked who they should vote for. He told them John McCain. Many of them didn’t like hearing this, and pointed out McCain’s many misdeeds. Elder Ephraim said:
“Look, they both have horns, you have to vote for the one with the smaller horns.”
It’s now up to you to decide who has the smaller horns. I have made my case, and I hope you’ll consider it in the voting booth.