My Journey to Zion

Good Republican Government

What I see when my friends tell me Trump has done good things for our country

I have friends who won't praise Trump as a person, but say he has done good things for our country, and that he—and the Republican legislators who support and enable him—is better for our country than the alternative (read Democratic candidates and legislators). I honestly wonder what they see? This is what I see:

Corruption:

Mapping Corruption
Here are 1 sentence summaries of long, detailed lists:

5,500 Child separations and counting:

Sexism:

Nearly weekly summaries of anti-woman and anti-LGBTQ+ actions by the Republican administration. I won't go into it because there is too much, and those who don't believe it's happening aren't going to admit many of these things are even problems.

Failed Pandemic Response:

Summary of Trump's response to the coronavirus outbreak, and how he not only ignored warnings and expertise, but actively dismantled safety efforts and worked against the best advice available to him. Much of the world has done better. Trump has made a poor response evidence of political loyalty. Now millions are suffering and tens of thousands are dead—avoidably.

Racism:

Trump and Racism: What do the data say
Racist acts, bullying, and hate crimes all spiked and remained anomalously high from late 2016 through 2017. I don't have data for the last two years ready to hand, but do I need them? Are there data to the contrary? I can look.

Economy:

Forbes economic scorecard
Not exactly a liberal source, and they give far from a glowing review:

Religious Freedom:

Religious privilege, not freedom
Defense of Christianity is not defense of religious freedom.

Voting Rights:

An explanation of the partisan divide in voting rights

Judges

Appointed Conservative Judges.

What am I missing? Once again:

I can only see how one of those is an unqualified good for my Republican friends—conservative judges. I can only see how four others might be argued as good by those same friends, with caveats that some parts aren't ideal. That still leaves one as largely irresolvable and four—Trump's personal character, torture of children, tens of thousands of avoidable COVID deaths, and extensive corruption and abuse of power by Trump appointees—as major wrongs.

I would honestly like to see, in one place, from someone willing to take the evidence I see seriously, an explanation of the good they see and how it is really greater than the evils summarized in my list and the evils they claim Democrats and (God forbid) Progressives will enact on our country.

But that's probably me lying to myself. What I really want is for them to see the evil, cry with me, and then work to fix things. I want them to fix what I see as real, present, systemic evil and stop worrying about what I see as feared evil, or focusing on individual level solutions to system level problems. I find reasons to believe I really am pretty good at compromise with people working sincerely toward the same ends as me—things like peace, justice, proportionality, freedom to, good education, sound science, and many other good things. I tell myself I'm willing to compromise when we are working toward the same goal.

Or maybe what I really feel is that supporting Trump, McConnell, and the other Republicans (and Democrats) who enable the Trump administration's many evils, means we aren't even working toward the same virtues. I won't compromise with them, or trust them to do their best. What I really feel is that what they think is their best, right now, is an existential threat to humanity. To quote the Indigo Girls, “I won't stop short at common ground that vilifies the trodden down.” They can't be trusted. They have to be fixed.

I say they are afraid of the wrong things: feminists, experts, BIPOC, environmentalists, fringe socialists, and more. But I'm afraid, too. I'm just afraid of the right things. Ha.

Maybe I have some unresolved issues.