I don’t agree with Eric Sammons at Crisis Magazine about everything, but I couldn’t agree with him more in his article “Trump Wins: Let the Work Begin.”
I think he summarizes the situation perfectly, especially for us Catholics and all Christians of goodwill. I suggest you read this short article which I have provided below.
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In spite of facing the most unhinged and vicious opposition from a plethora of powerful figures in government, media, academia, and other influential institutions in this country, Donald Trump has been elected to a second term as President of the United States.
From the moment he declared his initial run for the presidency in 2015, Trump has endured more attacks than any other candidate in memory. These attacks range from lies about his connections to Russia to literal attacks in the form of two assassination attempts, including one that left him bloodied on the ground (before he famously got back up and urged his followers to “Fight! Fight! Fight!”). The past eight years have been a steady drumbeat of accusations against him as being every form of evil, including “literally Hitler.”
But here’s a sobering thought: all those attacks will look like child’s play compared to what’s coming. Don’t for a minute think that Trump’s overwhelming victory—which proved that the American people decisively rejected the lies about him—will slow down his enemies. In fact, it will likely embolden them.
I predict that defeat will lead Trump’s opponents completely over the edge (if they haven’t already fallen over it). Every single day of a second Trump term will be filled with demented politicians and talking heads accusing Trump of the most vile evils. Every single governmental act by Trump will be compared to a Nazi pogrom. This is going to be ugly.
Fortunately, Republicans also won the Senate and will likely retain the House. This will at least allow Trump to enact some of his agenda (assuming the Republicans don’t fold in the face of opposition, as they have too often in the past). Hopefully congressional Republicans will finally realize that the attempts to demonize Trump by the Left are a failed project and they can be ignored without fear of losing the next election. You can only cry “Hitler!” so many times before people tune you out.
What I find most fascinating about the Trump victory, though, is the coalition he brought together to make it happen. This has been the most significant political realignment I’ve seen in my lifetime, even more so than the Reagan Democrats of the 1980’s. Trump’s win in 2024 does not look at all like his victory in 2016. While he retained his passionate base, his most prominent supporters this election cycle wanted nothing to do with him back in 2016. And I would argue we have Covid to thank for that.Trump’s win in 2024 does not look at all like his victory in 2016.Tweet This
To be clear, Trump was bad on Covid when he was President. And he’s never apologized for that, or even suggested that he was anything but “the greatest” when it came to his response to the pandemic. Yet the people who were the best at recognizing and opposing the tyranny that grew out of Covid all coalesced around Trump: RFK, Jr., Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, Tulsi Gabbard, J.D. Vance, and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Five years ago every single one of these people, with the exception of Tucker Carlson, were opposed—sometimes vehemently—to Trump. Now they are his biggest backers. They don’t have a lot in common with each other, either. Yet now they all see Donald Trump as the best hope to restrain the creeping totalitarianism in our country. They support free speech; they oppose the forever wars; they oppose government programs making our children chronically ill. Most importantly, unlike the Woke Left, they don’t hate you and me.
To be clear, this new political realignment is a cause for concern for conservative Catholics, for it has put social issues like abortion and homosexual “marriage” on the back-burner. This is where our work comes in. We must convince the Trump Administration that true prosperity cannot come to our nation if we continue to slaughter the unborn and discard the sacredness of marriage. But the good thing about the Trump Administration is that, unlike the Woke Left, they will at least give us a hearing. Now we have to work to make that hearing count and truly make America great again.