Imagine where we might be if Trump had modeled resistance instead of submission

Above is a post that I recently shared on Facebook. I wanted to share my response to the above comment because I think it is important for us to talk about the proper relationship that is meant to exist between us and our government. If we knew our rightful role, then the "agenda of the government" would reflect the agenda of the people. Government that is meant to be of, by, and for the people becomes something else entirely when the people withdraw from it and put the protection of their freedoms into the hands of others.  

For our government to change for the better, then WE must be the ones to change first. Our government was never meant to be a spectator sport, but that it really all it has been reduced to. We watch. We don't participate. Not truly. Sometimes we think we do. But for the most part, we are just cheerleaders for our "teams."

The reason I once so admired Donald Trump is because I thought that he was a candidate who saw himself as being on OUR team. And perhaps, at one time, he did. I don't think that Donald Trump is a bad or evil man. Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't. I can only judge him by what I do know. I know that he speaks and acts like someone who is insecure. We know that he likes to tackle anything that "they said couldn't be done," and we know that when those projects are successful, he likes to emblazon his name across them in large letters. It also appears, based on Trump's repeated track record of giving people more "second chances" than they deserve, that Trump--despite all his tough talk--is a man who isn't reliably going to hold people to account because he so very much wants people to LIKE him. He has said as much many times before--that he likes people who like him and who are loyal to him.

So despite all of Trump's good qualities, I no longer feel safe with the idea of him returning to the highest office in our nation. We need someone stronger, more secure, more willing to follow through, and who--when push comes to shove--will put OUR interests ahead of his own. I believe that DeSantis has more true courage to act than Trump does. And I believe that RFK, Jr. does as well. That doesn't mean I'm voting for DeSantis or Kennedy. No candidate has yet EARNED my vote. But what it does mean is that I believe that DeSantis and Kennedy have done things which demonstrate a willingness to be more honest and less malleable than Trump. Trump gets compromised by his own ego, and when that happens, we get caught in the crossfire of the consequences.

So what does any of that have to do with Trump having put on a mask and called it "patriotic?" As I said, for our government to change, WE must change first. Trump was uniquely positioned to have changed the trajectory of history. Our nation has become so dumbed down and indoctrinated that we have been conditioned to act as sheep--and that includes conservatives. We do what we are told because we "have to." Our reliance upon government has made us forget what independence truly is. We think we have it, but we don't. It is merely an illusion--a fairy tale that we tell ourselves because we have forgotten the history of what took place for us to ever become an independent nation in the first place. It took sacrifice. It took people willing to give up their comforts. It took a war.

Trump was uniquely positioned to have shown people how to fight tyranny and social control and to protect our freedom. But he made the WRONG choice. Trump could have helped to fast-track the undoing of decades of indoctrination. He could have shepherded us by modeling resistance rather than submission. But when Trump put on that mask, he might as well have been putting a collar on himself—and on us. What he modeled had the result of further leashing us to bad government, for those who trusted Trump began to believe that it “was just a mask” and that it would go away after the election.

Trump isn't stupid. All indications, based on Trump's actions and words, are that he knew Fauci was full of shit on the advice he was giving and that he likely knew the masks didn't work (despite telling Leslie Stahl in an interview that aired shortly before the 2020 election that did believe that "masks work"). But even as Trump has claimed that he found Fauci's advice to be all over the place and nonsensical, Trump did as Fauci advised. Many whom I have spoken to try to defend Trump by saying that he did things like wear a mask and fast-track an experimental vaccine because he "had no choice" and because the media would have excoriated him if he hadn't done those things. People never seem to follow that thought through, though, for if they did, they might see that what they are actually highlighting in such a "defense" of Trump is his weakness and not his strength. There is ALWAYS a choice. It's just a matter of whether or not one is willing to endure the consequences of one's actions. And when it comes to accountability, Trump's silence on the harms being caused by "that beautiful shot" (that he claimed we would not have if not for him) demonstrates that Trump is NOT a man who is willing to hold himself to account for the decisions he's made.