An Open Letter to Trump Supporters

As one who has not been on the Trump bandwagon, and one who could admittedly hop on, wave Trump's banner singing kumbaya, just to run with the herd, just to get along, may I point out something you may have missed in all your exuberance. This is not to take away from your exuberance, after all, your man won, your views have, in your own mind at least, been vindicated, and you've broken into your happy dance. Fine.

Lately, in social media, I have been inundated with a flood of, how shall I put this? ...cretins who question my intellect, my patriotism, and my integrity based on, as near as I can translate from the Trumpwonese, "Neener, neener, our guy got more votes!", which is true, but to my point, irrelevant.

In a contest like the Super Bowl, two championship teams meet, play, and the one with the most points at the end of the game is declared the winner, with all the appropriate bragging rights. In this analogy, Trump has an entire cadre of people to inflate his balls for him. But does scoring the most points always guarantee a superior champion?

Settling your arguments by saying, "I won" sounds remarkably like another politician we all know. If your whole raison d'être for being a jerk and harassing Cruz supporters is that your guy won, does this then vindicate Barack Obama, who garnered more votes at least four times as state senator, US Senator and POTUS for two terms? Did winning more votes vindicate Obama's intellect, policies and character? Is "Neener, neener, our guy got more votes!" really the standard you want to set in politics? Really?

Hillary got more votes in New York than Trump did. Why are you not embracing her, according to this standard? Are you going to now embrace the Hillary Clintons, Teddy Kennedys, Diane Feinsteins, Harry Reids, John Kasichs, Mike Huckabees, and Barack Obamas of the world because at one time or another they received more votes than their opponents? C'mon now! "Neener, neener" is our standard! Right?

Well, yours, perhaps. My standards express my patriotism and love of country by trying to elect the most conservative candidates I can. Trump is not a conservative. He is a populist with a long history of supporting liberal causes and the most liberal of politicians. My standards cause me to pick the most moral individual I can find. Despite Trump and his Branch Trumpidians bleating "Lying Ted" over and over, I find that Cruz is far more honest and of higher moral character than "Lying Donnie" ever was. And my standards do not shift or change based on any popular vote. To my mind, that's what makes them "standards" instead of "suggestions" or "whims".

Actor Alan Alda (a liberal) was once asked if he was ever tempted to be unfaithful because of all of the beautiful women that surrounded him in Hollywood. He was incensed at being asked the question. His reasoning was, you don't ask a banker if he is ever tempted to steal, just because he is around all that money!

There may be some who supported Cruz for purely pragmatic reasons, just as there are some who likewise support Trump. Ben Carson comes to mind. But some who supported Cruz and opposed Trump did so for deeply held ideological reasons. You need to make a more convincing argument than "Neener, neener", or "Oh you must be a Hillary supporter!" to win them over.

Now I'm not saying that all Trump supporters are like this. Surely there must be some sane ones somewhere. But on social media, the ones I see tend to be a little unhinged. If you want to argue the merits of your candidate and his positions, great! Let's have that discussion. But if you're just trolling to see how many names you can call people, because it satisfies the desire of a person of limited intellect to feel superior somehow, by trying to tear others down, then give it a rest. I expect mindless liberals to be drones. There's no need for anyone on our side to emulate them.

Donald Trump has been very gracious to Ted Cruz after his concession, unlike many of his followers. If you're still Tweeting or using the words "Lying Ted", even though Cruz is no longer in the race, you may be jerkwad troll. If you really want Trump to win in November, how about trying not to insult the very people whose votes you'll need to make that happen? 

BTW, if you are of the quaint and delusional notion that somehow I should be "eating crow" for having supported Cruz, you really are unclear on the concept! One "eats crow" when they are wrong. There was nothing "wrong" in taking a principled stand for a principled candidate. I never said he would win, only that I was working to that end. It was always a long shot. One day maybe some of you fair weather patriots will come to know what a forlorn hope is. I guess you could look it up?