On Saturday, July 13, 2024, an assassination attempt was made on Donald Trump. I have no inside information on the attempted assassination. I can’t offer you anything more than opinion.
Donald Trump was shot in the face but miraculously sustained only minor injuries. I say miraculously because I think it was a legitimate miracle. Had Trump not turned his head a fraction of an inch a fraction of a second at the precise moment the shot was fired, he would have been killed.
This reminds me of the book of Esther in the Bible. On the surface level, the plot of this Biblical book is all palace intrigue, political machinations, a planned genocide, secret meetings, and a whole cast of frightened white hats and diabolical black hats. You can read the book as a sort of political thriller, and it would make a good movie just for the plot twists and turns alone. Always and everywhere in Esther, the plot involves a “reversal of fortune.” The good guys are backed into a corner ... until they prevail. The bad buys seem to get the upper hand … until they fall into a trap. One bad guy builds a gallows to hang his arch-enemy but winds up being the hanged man himself. The underlying theological message of Esther is that God is always and everywhere in control. God wins. Sometimes the bad guys get to mess things up and even do harm, but ultimately God gets His way. The message of Esther is that if God wants to protect you as an individual or a nation, He will succeed no matter what else happens.
So I thought about Esther this weekend. The historical Queen Esther was not too crazy about living in a political pressure cooker. Through no fault of her own, she found herself smack-dab in the middle of a bunch of nasty shenanigans she didn’t start and didn’t like. She would have rather done anything else, yet over and over she found herself in a unique position to do the right thing. She was integral to the success of the good guys, even if she was scared out of her mind half of the time.
Esther wanted to run away from the whole mess, but her cousin Mordecai asked her quite pointedly, “How do you know you weren’t put on earth for such a time as this?” In other words, you’re right where you belong. Whether or not it’s comfortable is irrelevant.
And that’s where we are right now. We Conservatives are here for “such a time as this.”
I think the violent act that just transpired should inspire us to come out of the closet. Many Conservatives, MAGA Republicans, Trump fans, Libertarians, half-hearted Conservatives, people who just want to be left alone, and people tired of high taxes, high prices, and crime have too long been silent in the face of liberal hysteria. I know more than one family that struggles to celebrate extended-family events like Thanksgiving or Christmas, because political talk always ends the special day with yelling matches and people shrieking swear words and slamming doors. I know people who have made pacts with each other not to talk politics, because it ends up in fighting. I know people who are keep their mouth shut over politics just to keep a tenuous friendship or a weak relationship on life support. I know people who are intimidated to wear a Trump hat or a Trump shirt or express a positive opinion about Trump because our liberal friends, neighbors, and family can devolve into ugliness that we would rather just avoid. So we shut up.
I have had numerous occasions where talking politics—to an uncle, to friends—ended up in my being insulted using serious swear words. These debates were not substantive. I’ve never had a substantive discussion with a liberal. It eventually just becomes a wild-eyed person shrieking nasty insults with a demonic fury. Plus liberals like to interrupt you. They scream at you for 10 minutes and give you 3 seconds to reply, then they swear at you and call you a moron.
When my high school reunion rolled around recently, I reconnected with a guy I knew way back when. We were not close but we had been friendly. He asked where I was living and when I told him Texas… he responded with a series of angry Facebook posts. He told me, “People in Texas are too stupid to live!” Then he posted that “We must nuke Texas now!” Then he posted a map of Texas and suggested people start building bombs. I stood my ground and he eventually apologized (three months later). But meanwhile I reported him to Facebook since I regarded his attacks as terroristic. Facebook responded his posts did not violate their policy. He was good.
That’s what we’re up against. And, sadly, that crazy guy taught me to just lay low, to keep my mouth shut, to try to avoid conflict since it escalates from a match to a wildfire in 10 seconds flat. (Remember, we had been friends in high school and the offense I committed that caused him to call for my annhiliation by nuclear weapon was … I lived in Texas.) That’s all it takes to send a wild-eyed liberal on the rampage. They’re mentally unwell people, and I started to walk on egg shells around anyone whose political affiliation I did not know. Please don’t think this guy was joking around as he messaged on Facebook repeatedly that Texas should be bombed and everyone in it had to die because we were all stupid. Maybe he thought it was funny, I don’t know, but a person doesn’t joke like this repeatedly over the course of many days if they’re sane.
Hear that ripping sound? That’s the end of my patience.
These lefty lunatics have held us hostage long enough. We have been at their mercy, because we know they are more than willing to end family gatherings, terminate friendships, deride and insult loved ones, and even do physical damage and maybe bodily harm to those who disagree with them—and they don’t even have a position other than that they don’t like Texas or they hate Trump.
This is the time Mordecai meant when he said, “such a time as this.” Mordecai lived in a different historical era, of course, but he meant that he and Esther were enduring a time of crisis in which evil-doers were running free and unfettered to do their worst. Both Mordecai and Esther had people who wanted to destroy them and destroy what they stood for.
That’s the time we’re living in now.
The left’s reign of terror has minimized our presence, trivialized our viewpoints, shut us out from meaningful participation in discourse. We just shut up because we know all too well what they can do. Liberals hold a lot of the levers of power: academia, Hollywood, technology, government. And everything they have tried to control has turned to garbage. They hate Christianity, they despise traditional values, they loathe America, they want to destroy the family, they cannot abide normal sexual identities. They prefer to live in a broken world and wherever the world is intact, they will break it.
They’re coming after us politically now, but the church is well within the scopes of their high-powered demonic rifles. There is a saying in The Art of War that an evil person will burn down his country just to rule over the ashes.
I once was peripherally involved with some groups that advocated for victims of domestic violence, and that’s what I feel Conservatives have become—the battered and black-eyed wives of power-drunk leftist spouses. The advice that one group gave to these beleagured, beat-up, and downtrodden women was this:
It ends when you say it ends.
What a revolutionary thought. It shifts the whole balance of power. That is, the more we keep trying to broker the peace, to not make waves, to ruffle no feathers, to keep our mouths shut, the more they take from us. The more they abuse us. When we say it ends, it ends. They have no power if we say it ends.
And we say it ends.
Donald Trump took a bullet for us. Liberals scream that Trump is in politics solely for himself—but he’s wealthy beyond anything most of us can even imagine. He refused to draw a salary last time he served as President. You might think Trump likes the pomp and ceremony of the White House, but he already owns his own jet (with his name on it, not Air Force 1) and his palatial residences in Florida and New York make the White House a bit of a downgrade. He is in politics, trying to save this country. You may agree with his policies or disagree with them, but you cannot denigrate him anymore. He is a serious figure. He is doing serious work. And unlike the Democrats, he actually has policies.
Liberals need first of all to recognize that they are outnumbered. If we all start wearing Trump apparel or things that message our support of the Conservative agenda, they will start to realize how many in number we are. More than once, I’ve been in meetings or group settings where the liberals automatically assumed everyone agreed with them. They were quite mystified that not everyone in the world hated Trump.
Liberals also need to realize that we are serious people. Todddlers throw tantrums because they have no other means of getting attention. And it used to work. We need to be who we really are: we are serious people. We can use logic, debate, words, articles, podcasts, films, political office. We need to ignore these raging two-year-olds in stinky diapers shrieking for candy and step over them as we get back to running the world. We abdicated too much of the world to the tantrum-throwers. It’s time to leave them to scream themselves hoarse on the floor.
We need to speak up. And if the lefties go into a toddler-like apocalyptic meltdown, we must not negotiate with terrorists. Liberal meltdowns are a form of terrorism, albeit a pitiful and juvenile one. What do we do? We don’t lose our cool, we just walk away. You can’t beat a toddler at a melt-down. Do not engage.
If you have any social media presence, flood it with pro-Trump messages. They don’t have to be overtly political. Say you like school choice. Say you’re getting clobbered by high prices at the grocery store. Say you are afraid of the new selective service registration being proposed (yeah, they’re starting up the draft again…) Say you think it is wasteful for the Biden regime to take $7B and in 3 years build just 7 or 8 car charging stations. That’s $20.47 for every man, woman, and child in the country ($7B divided by 342M people in the USA), just thrown in the garbage.
Math is fun. Liberals can’t keep up.
What should you talk about? You know what gets your goat. Ukraine war, rising antisemitism, crime statistics being phonied up. How about fentanyl deaths? The open border? Dishonesty in media? Nasty ugly liberals cheering the assassination attempt. And if incoming liberal noise greets your posts… well, remember the screaming toddler throwing himself on the floor in Target. That’s all it is. They have no substance. Do not engage.
Of course, in that rare instance you do get substance, engage. But only if the other party is respectful to you (no name calling or swear words) and let’s you talk. If they don’t, just disengage and keep talking. (You won’t get substance from a liberal—they do not know the issues. It’s like asking them what an “assault weapon” is. Or better yet, what a woman is!)
Speak up. Speak up in public, in private, in your family, on social media. There are way more of us than there are of them.
Contact our public servants in Congress. You can call or email them, and if you get good at it, you can do 20 or so of these in a day easily. If a liberal Congress person says something stupid, push back. If a Congress person does something you like, thank them. Follow politics. You can’t follow everything, so pick a lane.
And finally, if you do end up having encounters with liberals (I can’t call them conversations), do not try to convert them. That’s like winning the lottery every day for a million years. It simply will not happen. They are mentally too shut down to think rationally. (Liberals tend to “feel” rather than think and that’s not a good debate position.) But it’s important we speak up, because:
There are other people listening, and you may be able to make inroads with a less virulent type of liberal or a person without firm commitments either way (a lot of these uncomitted types drift liberal because they’re scared to speak against liberals)
It lets these uncommitted people know there are other viewpoints and if you keep your cool, they’ll realize that the crazy people are the liberals
It lets liberals know that not everyone thinks like they do
It bursts the liberal bubble; this is important
Cognitive dissonance is a way out of brainwashing, that is, enough push-back may cause a person to break free of mass formation (a low-level type of brainwashing common among liberal lunatics). In other words, by challenging liberals you may cause them to see the contradictions in their own world-view.
It’s over when we say it’s over, and it’s over now. You’re not in this by accident. It’s not a mistake. True, it’s inconvenient. Yes, it can be annoying. And, for sure, it can be dangerous—look at what Trump puts up with! But you’re here, for such a time as this.
God protect Donald Trump, God bless America, and God help us all to do get our country back. If you are among those already doing this, God bless and protect you as you keep fighting the good fight. For the rest of us, the battle begins.
It ends when you say it ends! Completely agree. Thanks for your efforts and insight. I have enjoyed your wit and humor for years.
This is absolutely the most profound and important article you have written. I too have stifled my opinions. To keep family harmony, friends, etc. I had the very same treatment from the very same uncle.(cousin) I had to disengage. There is no reasoning. I never understood the rage. And since he is no longer with us, I hope his soul is at peace.
But there are other family situations where I silence my opinions. To not offend. Example a family member has since the assassination attempt has made a disgusting comment on social media.(non facebook friend) This is a young, college educated person, who has never struggled for anything. Shelter, food, family love. Never a real job either, still at 33 !!! . (Education money well spent) I just don’t understand the rage. This is a vegan, animal friendly person who has such animosity and hatred and he is sorry Trump survived ??? I am boiling about it. But then there’s my mom. Who would get dragged in. (There was already a rift over Jan 6 ) But mom is almost 85. Do I really want the responsibility of causing her any stress and possibly a familial divide in her final years. Very difficult.
The there are my granddaughters. I am in a precarious position because my daughter (their mother) passed away. So they live with their fathers. I can’t imagine not being able to continue to see them .. could it come to that ???
I have to admit that this piece hits me hard because I too am angry that I have to silence my opinions . (in certain situations) to keep peace. It shouldn’t matter. I don’t hate anyone who has a different opinion or viewpoint. I am glad for a discourse on thoughts. That is how we grow . It’s how it should be. I imagine it was similar to people in Germany sitting silent while people were killed. Well if they spoke up they would be too. How about in Russia, Korea, China ?? In our country you can become subject to the wrath of the IRS., you could lose out on a job or promotion. Over political affiliation.
We are supposed to be a free country. Freedom of speech, assembly, religion..
Now I do have an X and Truth Social account where I post my truths. I also attend The Fox Nation Patriot Awards. I went to DC for Trump’s salute to America on July 4th, back when he was president.( which was a thrill of a lifetime) So I haven’t exactly been silent. But I shy away on facebook and in family and work relationships. Well, it can mean then end of friendships, family relationships, even your job. I am unsure of my next move. But I feel exactly the same way. I believe in God and Jesus as my savior.. I absolutely believe we are witnessing divine intervention here. I wear a cross but don’t otherwise mention religion. We in our family have and proudly wear our Trump regalia. But not everywhere. Most places here in South Carolina are receptive. But we wear it up in Jersey when we visit too. Mostly fine.
I too am tired of being bullied by these loud crybabies. I am ashamed that I have been playing along. I had just figured. I vote for what I believe in. I have made donations and I support my candidates. But quietly. Not sure of my next move. But I couldn’t agree more. Who decided they were the only voice to be acceptable ?
Thank you