In the waning days of the 2016 Presidential Election I had a revelation. The news media was dutifully covering both campaigns, albeit with their less-subtle-than-ever-before left wing slant. There was Hillary Clinton on TV with Jay-Z. Hillary with Beyonce. Hillary with Miley Virus…uhhh…Cyrus. Hillary with Springsteen. Hillary with Katy Perry. And then there was Donald Trump…in front of massive crowds…just he & his peeps. That’s when it suddenly dawned on me…the point that most were completely missing. Trump didn’t need to be accompanied by a rock star. Trump IS the rock star.

I still had my concerns heading into election night. God has a sense of humor so He had arranged for me to be at work instead of home, a safe distance away from social media, an arena that has occasionally gotten me into hot water. Fortunately I was able watch the numbers slowly roll in on television. It was a fascinating exercise to channel surf and see just how incongruent the coverage was amongst the various outlets. They all seemed to have differing numbers. Some were VERY reluctant to call states in favor of Trump. But at the end of the day the result could no longer be denied. Donald Trump is going to be the 45th President of the United States.

I found myself feeling…not excited, but more relieved about Trump’s victory. It’s no secret that I never thought he’d receive the Republican nomination. I was a Cruz supporter. As a professing Christian I cannot condone Mr. Trump’s general egotism, his alleged attitude toward & treatment of women, or some of the specific off-the-wall things that he has said. More importantly, I have not been completely convinced that he is on the same page with myself & fellow conservatives in regard to many of our deeply held core beliefs. Having said all that, the alternative was even less appealing. The Clinton family has been a cancer for America. Their level of dishonesty, thirst for political power, & alleged criminal behavior is much more bothersome to me than Trump trying to convince Billy Bush that he’s some kind of studly ladies’ man who can have any woman he wants at the snap of a finger like Fonzie. Trump is my Dad’s age. Sure all three of his wives have been significantly younger and extremely beautiful, but at some point that magic runs out no matter how rich & famous the old man is. Just ask Hugh Hefner. There came a time when it was no longer cool to worship at Hef’s feet in the grotto at the Playboy mansion…it evolved into being kind of sad & gross. Donald Trump is many things but stupid isn’t one of them. He is perfectly aware that Melania is better than anything he has a right to expect at this point. Everything else is meaningless talk. Classless?? Immature?? Offensive?? Okay, I’ll give you that. But don’t feed me a line of bull equating what he refers to as “locker room talk” with sexual assault or rape. It’s a false equivalency, more of the histrionic hyperbole that has become a defining liberal characteristic. And don’t believe any man who says that he has never engaged in such conversation because that is a flat out lie. Some may do it more, some less…but at one time or another every red-blooded American straight male has made lewd & lascivious comments about the fairer sex. You might not like it but that’s the truth. When pondering Donald Trump I can’t help but think of Israel’s King David, an adulterer & murderer that nevertheless was a man after God’s heart. I won’t pretend to know what is in Mr. Trump’s heart, but I do know that The Bible is full of far worse people who God found a way to use for His purposes.

The aftermath of the election has been concurrently fascinating & disheartening. If you look at the electoral map it immediately becomes obvious that the only reason the results were even remotely close is because Mrs. Clinton predictably won in large cities like New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, & Chicago, as well as the biggest part of California. Funnily enough if you look at a map of high crime areas in America it almost overlaps exactly with the electoral map, meaning the Democrats have the amoral thug demographic all sewn up. Of course most of us already understood that, and it has been proven by pathetic attempts at “protesting” by whiny assclowns upset at the result. Yet I’M deplorable?? Social media isn’t any better, with all kinds of negative reaction ranging from sadness, heartbreak, & disbelief to righteous indignation, anger, & calls for assassination (and by the way…those idiots need to be prosecuted). I have been particularly perplexed by those exhibiting some level of fear. Really?? What exactly are people afraid of?? If you’ve done nothing wrong there is no cause for concern. So you’re a Muslim. Okay…as long as you aren’t involved with ISIS or any other terror activity (a 50/50 proposition at best) you’ll be fine. Women?? Don’t worry…you’re still going to be allowed to murder babies at will for the foreseeable future. Roe v. Wade has endured Presidents & Congresses of both parties for over four decades. No matter how one may personally feel about the issue the fact is that the law isn’t going away anytime soon. Immigrants?? Well, as long as you are here legally there is no cause for concern. If you are here illegally I’m not sure what to tell you…maybe you should worry, but don’t look for much sympathy. The “LGBT community”?? This one is especially perplexing. Donald Trump expressed tremendous respect for such individuals during the campaign. He even said that he thought everyone should be able to use whichever bathroom they want. He has conveyed no ambition to reverse laws legalizing same sex marriage. At one point I even thought his opinions on these issues might cost him the nomination. So what exactly are gay folks afraid of?? I suspect you’ll have no better friend in Washington DC than Donald Trump.

Much of this melodrama has been promoted & perpetrated by actors, singers, & athletes who are under the mistaken impression that we give a damn what they think. Let’s be clear about one thing in case anyone hasn’t figured it out yet…just because a person is exceptionally talented at singing, acting, or playing with balls does NOT make them an intelligent person whose sociopolitical opinions actually matter, and a huge takeaway from this election is that the views of such people are NOT representative of the vast majority of America. Do celebrity types have a right to an opinion?? Of course. But I think it’s really ironic that conservatives & Christians are constantly accused of shoving our beliefs down others’ throats while the rich & famous get a free pass on using the bully pulpit of fame to propagate a false notion that their dogma of deviance is normal. This election was not only a rejection of President Obama’s “hope & change” and “fundamental transformation” of America, it was a huge flip of the bird to Rosie O’Donnell, Michael Moore, Cher, Amy Schumer, Stephen Colbert, Chelsea Handler, Barbara Streisand, Madonna, George Lopez, et al. Before the election my friend Slack, the rare raging liberal that I can actually tolerate, posted a thoughtful Facebook status about the lifelong friendship between actors Jimmy Stewart, a diehard Republican, and Henry Fonda, a staunch Democrat. The problem with that comparison is that Hollywood lacks the elegance today that it had back when those gentlemen graced the silver screen. Perhaps that perception of old Hollywood was all smoke & mirrors, and it is undeniable that 24/7/365 television coverage as well as The Internet exposes & magnifies people beyond the boundaries of their profession, but when one sees actors preach the virtue of gun control then star in movies full of violence, or singers criticize Mr. Trump for demeaning women then get up on a concert stage half naked and demean themselves…well, it’s really difficult to take anything they say seriously. Voters tend to frown on hypocrisy.

If Democrats want someone to blame for this crushing defeat they need to look no further than the nearest mirror. To be fair the cult of personality worked out well for them the last two elections. Barack Obama was elected twice mostly because of the color of his skin. Liberals decided that it was time for America to elect our first black President and luckily Obama is charismatic and can deliver a hell of a speech (as long as his teleprompter is functioning properly), which was a marked improvement over Jesse Jackson back in the 80’s, and so the young Senator from Illinois was anointed. They believed that same thought process would allow Hillary Clinton to shatter the vaunted glass ceiling and become America’s first female President, but a funny thing happened on the way to the White House. First of all, Clinton lacks the magnetism possessed by both her husband Slick Willie and Obama. She is about as appealing as Kathy Bates in Misery. Secondly, while Obama’s negligible track record concerned some people eight years ago it also meant that he had few skeletons in his closet and the ones he did have weren’t pounced on by anyone lest they be labeled as racist. Conversely, Mrs. Clinton has been in the public eye for decades…First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State. She tried to hide her history of lies & deceit, and Lord knows the media did its best to give her cover, but the pungent stench of corruption made her an undesirable candidate. Plus, it turns out that she received millions less votes from black folks than Obama, which proves that race is more meaningful than ideology to a big chunk of the electorate…just not the ones you’d assume if you buy into the media’s false portrayal of Republicans as racists.

Ahhhhh yes…the media. Mrs. Clinton probably needs to assign part of the blame for her demise to her friends at many of the major newspapers as well as most of the talking heads on broadcast & cable news. They’ve always exhibited left wing bias, but it used to be so subtle that one really had to pay attention to catch it. Now?? Heck, Helen Keller could’ve felt the prejudice shown in this election cycle. These people pulled off the impossible…they made Donald Trump an underdog for whom people were feeling sympathy!! That’s quite the parlor trick. Their once understated leftist slant has evolved into outright lying & subterfuge, but since the rise of “new media” like conservative talk radio & The Internet they no longer have free rein. The truth…if I may borrow a phrase…is out there for anyone willing to seek it, and the result is a significant paradigm shift. Oh sure there will always be willful ignorance…people whose sole focus is their kids’ soccer game, where they can score their next fix of booze & nicotine, or who received roses on The Bachelor last night. But when elections are decided by razor thin margins the role of the media definitely has an impact, and in 2016 many folks had enough of the dishonesty exhibited on TV & in the papers.

So now we look forward to the next four years of the Trump Administration. I scoff at those who act like this is The End. Personally I have rather modest expectations. I suspect he will surround himself with tremendously smart & capable people. He has already backpedaled on getting rid of ObamaCare, which I find intriguing. How has a law that has only been in effect a couple of years become so indispensable that many believe it’d be nearly impossible to repeal?? Abortion & gay marriage aren’t going away, but then again neither is the right to keep & bear arms. We know that the new President already has a Supreme Court appointment to make, and with a Republican majority in both the House & Senate one can be hopeful that the nominee will be a right-leaning jurist who respects The Constitution. Trump may even get an opportunity to make a few more Court appointments in the next 4-8 years. He is undeniably unproven in the area of foreign policy, so who he chooses for his cabinet and as advisors will be very important. Obviously he doesn’t come across as a particularly spiritual man, but I do hope that the issue of religious freedom is addressed. Where Trump will either earn his keep or insure a one term presidency is economics & job growth. It is likely that he will approach things in a completely different manner than your typical bureaucrat. Will that be a good thing?? We’ll see.

Look, all I am saying is calm down…it’s going to be alright. I am cautiously optimistic. You can be upset that your candidate didn’t win. You can ridicule a President-elect whose politically incorrect pomposity has caused eyebrows to raise. But if you are shaking in fear or rioting in the streets you really need to grow up & seek professional help. Or better yet, how about paying attention and seeking the truth rather than giving any credence to what a bunch of vile, out-of-touch celebrities think. It’s a new dawn…a new day…and we should all be feeling…okay.