The e-mail below just came in. I’m not going to use the reader’s name or geographical location, and have altered slightly a couple of lines, to protect the reader’s privacy:
I hardly know why I am writing to you except that I think you’re a good listener. You treat your readers very kindly. And on the internet to boot!
War is coming and Trump is one of the first indicators from our side.
I am 31 years old. My [spouse] and I are teachers. When we started down south nine years ago, our school district proudly provided insurance that cost us $0 a month. We had to move north to find a better situation after 2014 when our district moved to a high-deductible HSA that was going to bankrupt us if we were unfortunate enough to have to use it. The birth of our first daughter, born in 2010, cost roughly $500 in hospital bills. Our youngest, in 2013 and with a much more costly and garbage insurance, cost over $5,000. The difference a few years can make!
[In my new job,] we started the school year off with a foster child student, new to the district, causing mayhem. He assaulted over 10 adults in his first week at school. He cussed, spit, bit, hit, ran, and intimidated every single person in the school. I was called in on the second day of school to help move him from one room to another after a violent outburst. When he attempted to assault me, I restrained him. I was informed not to do that anymore. I told them not to call me anymore to help.
He eventually received a one-on-one teacher who he abused every day, as well as his very own classroom. He was formally disciplined one time, with one day of out-of-school suspension when he harmed another child. This went on for near a month and a half, until he was committed to a psych hospital by an outside doctor. Insanity. All of it!
He was in the first grade.
I would imagine all of Trump’s supporters have similar nasty experiences they can point to. Where the world feels like it is coming to pieces in front of them for no good reason. And then there are the obvious, big picture disasters. Government is broken and openly hates on folks. The Church abuses children and covers it up. The media lies and ruins the lives of decent people. Police are murdered in the street. Jihad is here. The White House is lit up in rainbow colors. We invite the Third World. Vets die waiting for care.
My grand-dad was a prick. But he helped win a world war, raised nine children, walked tall, and got things done. He would have loved Trump.
Here is a man who is talking to us in a language we used to speak ourselves. Since when do men have to wrap their speech and beliefs in velvet? Why can’t a sledgehammer be used when a sledgehammer is needed? After eight years of being put down and told we are what is wrong with America, why can’t we get behind someone like Trump? Someone who is not at all afraid to mix it up!