As one who issued numerous warnings about candidate Donald Trump during the Republican primaries, on radio, in writing, and on video, I’m sympathetic to your concerns.
You see him as an incredibly dangerous loose cannon, as someone who could start a world war with his tweets, as a mean-spirited man unfit for the presidency, as a divider not a uniter. You might even see him as a potential dictator, rising up like a new Hitler in an increasingly xenophobic, angry, and fearful America.
How on earth, you wonder, did Donald Trump become the president of the United States? How did this narcissistic, playboy businessman become the most powerful leader in the world?
To repeat: I’m sympathetic to your concerns and I understand why you feel like this, and even as someone who voted for Trump, I never dissed the Never Trumpers.
But now that Donald Trump will be our 45th president – yes, get used to hearing “President Trump” – may I have a word with you?
The first issue is one of attitude.
During the 2008 Democratic primaries, I warned my radio listeners that Barack Obama would be the most radical pro-abortion, pro-gay-agenda president in our nation’s history. Over the subsequent months, I also questioned where he stood with Israel.
More than 8 years later, I’m sad to say – not happy to say – that I was right. (Honestly, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what kind of president he would be.)
During his presidency, I often told my listeners, “I’m praying that he will be the greatest president we’ve ever had, but right now, I don’t see that at all. I have grave concerns.”
So, I’m encouraging you to have a godly attitude towards our new president. I’m encouraging you to pray for him with the heartfelt desire that God will make him into a great president rather than for you to stand on the sidelines, rooting for his fall. According to the Scriptures, the former attitude is godly; the latter is not.
Let your attitude, then, as a past critic be: “I have grave concerns about President Trump, but I’m hoping that I’m wrong about my concerns.”
If you really care about America and are a person of prayer, that should be your mind set.
The second issue is one of expectation.
Could it be that Trump is not quite the man you think he is? Could it be that he has more going for him than you realize? Could it be that many Americans had solid reasons to vote for him and that he could get a lot done for the good of our nation? Could it be that, despite his very rough edges and non-presidential tweets, God is already working in his heart?
From all that we can see, he is very serious about:
- Appointing strong conservatives to the Supreme Court
- Standing for life, beginning in the womb
- Moving our embassy to Jerusalem and standing up to radical Islam
- Fighting for our religious liberties
- Rebuilding our inner cities
- Taking on the political establishment
- Strengthening our security and our economy
- Exposing the biased media
I also believe he really wants to be the president of all Americans, despite his divisive words, and I truly believe he wants to recapture many of the things that have made our nation great over the decades. And, as a biblically-based conservative, I believe he has already made a number of excellent personnel choices, in particular in his cabinet picks, and he continues to keep his door open to evangelical Christian leaders. In my book, these are encouraging signs.
And so, while it is true that we have no guarantee of what will happen once he begins to govern, I believe we have ample reason to expect the best rather than the worst. Perhaps you can find it in your heart to be at least a little positive?
Perhaps you can ask yourself, “What if I was a pro-Trumper rather than an anti-Trumper? What good would I see in him? What potential would I see in him?” Perhaps you can tweak your attitude just a little?
We tend to defend the weaknesses of those we like and attack the weaknesses of those we don’t like, meaning that we use different standards on different people. This is unrighteous and unethical, also obscuring the clarity of our vision.
Why not ask God how He wants you to view President Trump, and then, with full awareness of his potential failings and still-glaring faults, why not pray for him with hope and root for his success than this failure?
Once Donald Trump became the Republican candidate, I said, “I hope I get to eat my negative words about Trump,” rather than, “I can’t wait to say, ‘I told you so!’”
I’m urging you to do the same. After all, four or 8 years from now, wouldn’t it far better to say, “I’m so glad I was wrong about President Trump,” than to say, “I told you he was not fit to be president”?
Please join me in praying for and hoping for the success of our 45th president and new Commander in Chief.
