I keep waiting for Conservative Americans to awaken from their Star-Spangled stupor, to find the lucidity and sobriety that see him clearly.
I keep waiting for them to stop gaslighting themselves and the truly patriotic people of this nation by telling us we haven’t seen what we’ve seen and heard what we’ve heard.
I keep waiting for the ceremonial tribalism of politics to burn away in the fire of a true love of country that will not be ridiculed.
I keep waiting for them to admit to themselves what he himself has made so very clear throughout his life, during his presidency, and this very week, on the hallowed grounds of our fallen at Arlington National Cemetery:
Donald Trump has contempt for our Military members.
He mocks their service.
He cheapens their sacrifice.
He disrespects their gravesites.
He uses them as political props.
He’s called them losers and suckers.
He’s placed them in harm’s way by threatening world leaders on Twitter.
He’s shown disdain for them in both word and policy.
He’s attacked the character of Gold Star families.
He’s spoken abject nonsense about the Medal of Honor.
He’s ridiculed revered Generals who dared to oppose him.
He’s tried to overturn a free and fair election and threatened to weaponize our troops against the American people.
And yet, tens of millions of our citizens still insist without a hint of irony that he “loves our troops.”
How, exactly?
Specifically, what has he done to earn this blind and breathless loyalty?
What precisely has he done to demonstrate that he cares about our veterans, our service people, our injured and dead?
Because he oddly hugged a flag once in a transparent, pandering photo-op?
Because he continually parrots the phrase America First?
Because he drapes his incoherent, hate-filled, ranting rallies in the Stars and Stripes?
Just how has he in any quantifiable measure shown that he has anything but disdain for our Military?
Where is there any substantive evidence of true reverence, of authentic respect, of real gratitude?
Those fiercely loyal to him, insist without evidence that he loves America in a way his political opponents never would. They speak in the kind of vague, nationalistic platitudes that he has so trafficked in, long on emotion and short on data.
Here’s what I know without a doubt:
Barack Obama would never have said he “liked people who weren’t captured”—and if he had, he’d never have been elected.
Hillary Clinton would never have used our veterans’ burial grounds for a self-serving TikTok video.
Joe Biden would never have exploited grieving families to lift his sagging campaign.
Kamala Harris wouldn’t have instigated a confrontation at a Military gravesite and then questioned the mental health of a worker attempting to enforce its policies.
It is a true national tragedy that we have been and soon could again be helmed by someone so bereft of respect for our Constitution, our rule of Law, our essential personal liberties, and those who have given years and limbs and lives to protect and defend them.
I keep waiting for Republican voters to see finally see and speak about him with clarity and honesty:
Donald Trump is a fraudulent coward who mocks true American valor.
He is a traitor draped in a cheap veneer of patriotism.
He does not deserve to be Commander-In-Chief.
He does not deserve to wield our military.
He has no love for America, only for himself.
It’s time decent people who truly love this nation stopped defending and supporting him; and declared once-and-for-all that this narcissistic prostituting of patriotism will not be tolerated.
I keep waiting.
For the sake of this nation, for those who have served it, suffered for it, and died for it—I hope the wait will be over in November.
John Pavlovitz
John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor, and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina. A 25-year veteran in the trenches of local church ministry, John is committed to equality, diversity, and justice—both inside and outside faith communities. When not actively working for a more compassionate planet, John enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, cooking, and having time in nature. He is the author of A Bigger Table, Hope and Other Superpowers, Low, and Stuff That Needs to Be Said.
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