Did He Change Us....Or Were We Never What We Thought Ourselves To Be

               We were a mixture of just good ole' boys who worked hard and wanted an honest shake.....and evangelicals who wanted to honor God by stopping the slide into hedonism and even barbarism that was going on everywhere....and patriotic men and women who actually knew a lot about our constitution. We had a fair amount of honor and integrity....and fairness....even though we knew the other side did not fight fair. We were often successful in electing good people....and when we would lose....we would not miss a beat in standing for what we knew was right....and then came the 2016 election cycle.
                Our attention was laser-like on Hillary Clinton....and we knew that it was going to be close....and that we really had to win by five to seven points because the other side would always somehow miraculously come up with big percentages in the cities.
                Most of us wanted Ted Cruz....who had a voice that could make you cringe a little bit.....and a vague likeness to some of the Davy Crockett images that exist....but there were others in the primaries....and then out of who knows where really....came this brute force....down an escalator....all choreographed....down to paying for people to cheer. At first it seemed that his presence might help....but he was mean....and vile....and we got a little nervous.
                 I'd like to say....'what we found out about ourselves'....but I can't because to this day we never found out about ourselves....that yes we were simple folk who wanted a fair deal....and we were God-fearing....and we were indeed patriots....but we also had great weaknesses.....ready to be exploited by someone just like Donald Trump.
                 I remember distinctly the convention in Cleveland where Ted Cruz was given his due runner-up speech....and on the split-screen Trump pulled up in a limo....and walked in the convention center. Cruz was getting hammered by....who....who were these people....where they us....or was this a fringe that had taken control? Trump could have waited for Cruz to leave the stage....but he didn't....he came in to the arena so that the crowd would completely humiliate Ted Cruz....which they did....and I knew that there was a sinister force here....but I dutifully backed Trump so that Hillary would be gone forever....and I was one of the few that knew that Trump was going to win...for almost fifty years of observing political campaigns....and a number of automobile trips across Pennsylvania....had told me that there had never been anything like this before.
                 So Trump won....and I celebrated....but I never dropped the vigilance.....and I watched the horror of Ivanka and her husband come into the.....Oval Office. I saw Trump endorse Luther Strange....strange....and Rush Limbaugh remain silent on it....even stranger....and I began to see behind Trump's mask that was beginning to slip. I started reading. I have two new books in front of me which is putting me close to ninety books on Donald Trump....and even some of his own books....which he never wrote but in what I would come to see is true Donald Trump....he says what he wants....in spite of what is true.
                  Four years pass....and I have witnessed one of the greatest collapses of an honorable movement....in history....similar to how the German people were won over by a vile man who promised to make Germany great again.
                  We were once known for our compassion....but that is all gone. We once could at least recognize the dangers of pride....but now we live for it. We certainly retained fairness in a world that was not fair....but now we are will do anything....no matter how unethical or vicious...and destroy anyone....and shout with thumbs down as those did in the Colosseum....if it gets us what we want....and we are greedy....for money and power is what we depend on in this new life of ours.
                  Did Donald Trump change us.....did he just bring out the worst in us....or is this who we were all along? Those of us who could stay outside of the perimeter of what was going on....can see how God gave us what we really wanted. He took His hand off of us....off of His church....to chasten us....maybe to prune us....or to winnow us. We in the once formidable conservative movement are now the blind leading the blind. We are as 'woke' as the other side....only our 'wokeness' looks different....and serves our own purposes.
                  May God open our eyes....for it will surely be a humbling experience....but He is longsuffering....and merciful....to those who truly seek Him.