Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
Trump, the Military, & Our Motives for Voting

Trump, the Military, & Our Motives for Voting

Last updated on: September 11, 2020 at 6:00 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

Trump, the Military, & Our Motives for Voting 2020-09-10T12:44:51-04:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

As election day nears, a torrent of books, articles, and whistleblower accounts is telling us what a bad person President Donald Trump is. One of the most disturbing charges is that the president considers members of the military–particularly those who have been defeated, captured, wounded, killed, or otherwise sacrificed for their country–to be “losers” or “suckers.”

That’s the claim made by Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic in his article Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’. The article cites a number of anecdotes in which the president is quoted using that kind of language and offers speculation that Trump is genuinely incapable of understanding the concept of personal sacrifice.

The story sounds preposterous on its face, and of course the president forcefully denies what it says. And people who were present at some of these incidents–including John Bolton, himself a critic of the president–have contradicted the Atlantic account. The big problem is that the story identifies none of its sources. That breaks a major journalistic rule. As Christopher Bedford points out in his critique of the article, 3 Crucial Breakdowns In Journalistic Standards That Explain The Atlantic’s Trump Political Hit Piece, what you get from unnamed sources and second-hand accounts is not a news story but gossip.

That plays into the impression that these revelations are just another attempt by the media and disaffected officials–previously in the FBI and the Intelligence community, this time in the Pentagon–to get President Trump out of office.

On the other hand, it could be true, or be partially true. We have already heard the president’s dismissal of Sen. John McCain‘s five-and-a-half years in a North Vietnamese POW camp–where he was tortured, resisted his captors, and refusal to be patriated without his comrades: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” That sounds like he only honors the military when they are victorious in battle and is oblivious to the heroism that can be found in suffering and self-sacrifice.

Let me ask you Trump supporters a hypothetical question: If the Atlantic article were proven to be true, would you stop supporting him? Or would you still support him because of the policies he would carry out?

Here is the crucial question in this and any election: Should we vote for the person or for the policies?

To be sure, both are important, but you can’t always have both. In Great Britain, the head of state is the monarch, who is generally greatly revered and looked to in times that call for national unity and leadership. The head of the government is the Prime Minister, who takes care of the hard detail of actually running the country and who takes all of the political flak. In the United States, our president is both the head of state and the head of the government, which accounts for many of our conflicts and the high emotions that accompany them.

Those who focus on the man include both supporters and opponents. Some Americans love Trump no matter what he does. And some Americans hate Trump no matter what he does. For some voters, Trump can do no wrong. For others, Trump can do nothing right.

The other way to approach the election is to emphasize the policies each candidate would pursue.

Trump has many personal faults. But he has advanced the pro-life cause, championed the working class, wants controls on immigration, and supports an “America first” economy. Shouldn’t a person who agrees with those policies vote for him? Or at least try to balance out those policies with those that are more problematic, such as running record deficits?

Biden has much personal appeal. He is empathetic, down-to-earth, and personable. In those things he might be a refreshing change from the volatile fury and egotism of the current president. But is he such a nice guy that he would be unable to control his party’s energetic leftists? Biden supports abortion on demand, despite wearing his Catholicism on his sleeve. He promises expensive and intrusive programs of environmentalism, health care, epidemic restrictions, taxation, and controls on the economy. Those policies sound good to some Americans and not-so-good to others, but shouldn’t those be the basis of voting for him or not?

I do recognize the importance of the personal dimension. Maybe that’s more important than the policies, at least sometimes. Ideally, a candidate can fulfill both roles, which I think has defined our greatest presidents. And some, I’m sure, think Trump and Biden are strong on both fronts.

But when the candidates’ personal appeal and policy appeal are in conflict, what should we do? How should we balance and prioritize these two factors in choosing how to cast our votes?

Image by Annalise Batista from Pixabay

Government

Politics

2020 Presidential Campaign

media bias

President Donald Trump

Trump and the military

voting motivations

Previous Post

September 10, 2020

The Futility of Coercing or Punishing Belief

Next Post

September 14, 2020 Donald Trump and the Nobel Peace Prize

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"While she worked for Trump she was a tool's tool!"

reg

Luther on Tools

"I know wired earbuds are making a comeback (I never stopped using them as I ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

"VCRs, tape decks, and cassette players are all having a revival among a segment of ..."

Tom Hering

Luther on Tools

"As a (retired) lawyer I see potential liability from sharing things like power or sharp ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said: "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John Peter Jude Paul

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »