From Never-Trumper to Trump Voter
Four years ago, I refused to vote for Donald Trump. Four years later, I refuse not to.
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I know this makes me a minority and persona non grata on Medium, but next Tuesday, November 3, 2020, I will be voting for Donald J. Trump as president of the United States of America. However, before you brand me as a “racist”, “fascist”, white-nationalist, backwards-thinking, patriarchal, unwoke monster, hear me out. I wasn’t always a Trump supporter… quite the opposite, actually.
I actually used to be like many of you, a “Dump Trump”, “Never-Trumper”. And in 2016, I even exhorted my fellow Christians to not vote for Trump. I wrote three pieces on Medium, preaching that Trump was a hypocrite, hardly pro-life, and a vote for him would destroy our democracy. The pieces were largely received with applause from my fellow progressive Christians, who pointed out that “being pro-life means more than being against abortion.” While not being a supporter of Hilary Clinton, I was looking forward to her defeat of Trump on the night of November 8, 2016. I woke up the next morning absolutely shocked to see the results. By the time he became inaugurated as president, I joined my voice in unison with the #NotMyPresident crowd. I groaned, complained, and hate-tweeted my way through the first few months of 2017.
Four years ago, I was one of the most vocal anti-Trumpers around. Today, merely days before the 2020 presidential election, I am hoping he wins. What changed? My change of heart is summarized best in these three questions I have asked myself since 2017.
1. What do my political views do to me as a person?
In 2016, I considered myself a pro-life Democrat. My Roman Catholic background influenced me to choose the party that I thought represented the best interests of the poor, marginalized, and disenfranchised. Even today, you will see many Roman Catholics vote Democrat because of the party’s tax policies, immigration stance, and advocacy against capital punishment. It seems that Biden — a baptized Catholic himself — represents the positive, humanistic, empathetic character of Pope Francis.
Preceding (and following) the 2016 presidential election, I was not a very nice person…
