The doves are back.
Walking over to world headquarters this morning, I saw a dove swoop down and land on a sagebrush. They’ve been gone for a couple months, so seeing this graceful bird was a warm reminder that warmer days are just around the corner. It also reminded me of a poem I wrote, many moons ago, when I was 15 years old:
The Dove
Looking down from far up above
Soars the eloquent, white, mysterious dove
Is stands for courage and is knowingly proud
Of the way that it glides, touching the clouds
So beautifully smooth, its flight so free
My eyes fell upon it and I wished it were me
Above all worries I’d fly all day
Capturing minds in my beautiful way
The beauty within shone out abroad
I’d soar over people and their hearts would throb
They’d wish they were free and could be up above
Touching the sky with the wings of a dove.
—
I’ve always been enamored and mesmerized by nature. I love watching birds and wildlife. I deeply enjoy just looking at trees and plants and grass and shrubs. The mysterious inner workings of these living things beckon me to deeper contemplation. Nature draws me into the Great Mystery, the eternal enigma, the magic of life.
I have been a prolific writer from the time I was young. My aunt once gave me a stack of notebooks and box full of pens for a birthday—perhaps my 13th—and my gift for scribble quickly filled up the pages. To this day, I cherish this personal record of sorts, the reams of pages that have captured the most intimate moments of my 42 years.
Having my thoughts scrawled out on paper has giving me a tool with which to reflect upon my own foolishness, to identify the patterns of self-induced suffering, and even to deduce from life experience some semblance, some skosh of wit and wisdom. From all the wild adventures and my many shortsighted endeavors, I learned temperance. From the immense pain and suffering—most often caused by my stubborn pride and fool-hearty arrogance—I learned humility, patience, tenacity, and grace.
From the smallest joys to the grandest days, I’ve learned gratitude. I have a deep and abiding appreciation for all of it—the good, the bad, and even the ugly. If it were not for the messiness of life, it would be mundane. If not for the sting of reality, the hard lessons would never have sunk in. If I hadn’t have suffered so much, I would almost undoubtedly be an unbearable, unmitigated ass. I am grateful for all of this.
I am grateful for the struggles that gave birth to my dreams, which reminds me of another poem, written around the same time as the last:
He Without
He without a dream
Is one who can’t live
He without a heart
Is one who can’t give
Unfaithful to God
Unable to cope
He without a prayer
Is one with no hope
Not living life
To its fullest extent
Is destroying the dream
And life’s main intent.
—
“Not living life to its fullest extent, is destroying the dream and life’s main intent.”
Wanna know how this relates to Donald J. Trump? I bet you do!
But, before I spill the beans and explain my perspective on the “cold hard truth” about Donald Trump, before we dive into a serious heart-to-heart, have a look at this:
The picture should speak for itself. I was, we were, all in for Trump in 2016 and 2020.
But let’s zoom out.
That picture was taken in Idaho, back before any of us had ever heard of COVID-19. When the pandemic was sprung upon us, they were talking about shutting down borders and quarantining states. That was unacceptable. Most of our family lives in Washington, so after a rapid reconsideration of priorities, we up and moved.
We moved from a deep red state to a deep blue state, and many of our friends thought we were crazy. Maybe just a little bit. But nevertheless, we embraced the change and embarked on our homesteading journey that has ultimately led me to the here and now. In the world as a whole, so much has changed so fast, especially over the last three years, it is difficult to really wrap the head around all that’s gone on.
I believe that is true for all of us, not just me and my family, and here’s why that matters: Because we cannot go back to the way things were, not now, not ever.
Besides being utterly impossible from a logical standpoint, this truth that we cannot go back comes to bare on a highly contentious topic—namely Donald J. Trump.
It is true that we cannot rewind history and capture the nostalgic energy of his last two presidential campaigns—whether we want to accept that fact or not. Donald Trump is an incredibly inspiring man. He knows how to fire up a crowd and he always seemed to call it like it was, not pulling punches when it came to defending America.
During the 2020 campaign I had half-a-mind to write a short book called “The Pocket Guide to Pro-Trump Politics,” though it never came to fruition because my focus was elsewhere at the time. Make America Great Again? You bet your ass! Sign me up!! I’ll work toward achieving that most worthy goal, I’m all in!
And, after his historically successful first term—despite the endless media driven tripe and scandals—I was fully energized to battle against the establishment and make damn sure Americans knew EXACTLY who the best presidential candidate was in the 2020 election. Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden? No freaking contest!!
But I was bewildered by the number of “educated” idiots who could not see past their party lines, who couldn’t let go of the platform, who couldn’t see this for what it was. There was a great deal of intellectual dishonesty, of seemingly willful ignorance, that had somehow gripped the public psyche. What the hell was wrong with people?
How could any self-respecting person honestly say to themselves: “Joe Biden is the best person America has to offer.” How absurd. Here’s an “old white guy”—who happens to have a 40 year track record as a notoriously corrupt politician; who had clearly gotten rich off the backs of middle-class citizens; who had an undeniable propensity for being a bumbling fool, a gaffe machine, a man whom Obama mocked by saying, “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f*ck things up!”—and this was the guy that educated and progressive Americans felt was the best the Left had to offer?
What a F*CKING JOKE.
But it wasn’t meant to be funny, because they were dead serious. I thought, “Holy sh!t, this can’t be happening. Look, there’s not even anyone at his rallies. They’re barely even letting him out of the basement—and look what Trump is doing! BOOM! We’ve got this in the bag. We’re going to drain the swamp. We really are going to Make America Great Again!” I was pumped. This time, this time all these liberal idiots are going to get put in the corner where they belong, good old fashioned red-blooded Americans were going to take the reins and get our country back on track, FINALLY.
But that’s not what happened. That’s not what happened at all.
Watching the 2020 election results roll in—and then stop—and then seeing Biden suddenly jump into the lead in key swing states was a surreal experience. What the hell is going on here? The election is being stolen in broad daylight! WTF?!! How can this be happening? Why isn’t anyone doing anything about this? This is highway robbery! This was blatant corruption on a scale that literally shocked the senses.
Just like COVID shocked the senses. That’s right, now there was COVID—and all of life before COVID quite suddenly became completely obsolete, at least for a moment.
Laws? Constitutional restraints? These were replaced by emergency powers.
Basic human rights? These were displaced by emergency mandates.
Logic and commonsense? These were relegated to a fringe minority of the population.
But something struck me.
Those who were falling in line with the covid narrative had also bought into Biden hook-line-and-sinker. These people were clearly not thinking clearly. It was only later that I learned about Communist Mind Control—a clinically documented and congressionally investigated phenomenon—and began to connect the dots with the fact that all these liberals had been targeted with collectivist propaganda for decades.
That’s when I realized their minds had been hacked. They were, and still are, quite literally incapable of seeing beyond the illusions of a skillfully crafted narrative.
All that said, these people are just humans too, so let’s have a little grace shall we?
Isn’t it true that we’re all susceptible to being hacked? Can’t all of our minds be hijacked by slick trickery of politicians and used car salesmen? Isn’t this just part of being human? And shouldn’t we acknowledge this fact with a fair dose of humility?
Having spent countless hours in meditation and reflection, if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that I know very few things for sure. I’ve learned that language creates an illusion. It creates a degree of distortion through which we must interpret reality. As such, our mind is constantly getting swept up into stories, one story after another, in an endless cycle of making sense of things, often just by making sh!t up.
We have to have an explanation. We have to make sense of things. We have to have a story that fleshes out the meaning of life in any given moment. This too is just the way that it is. It may seem deep coming from an ignorant peasant, but these are truths, simple yet powerful, buried under the busyness of our constant mental chatter.
AND HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS:
Because we are being manipulated. Every single one of us, every single day.
It is not just the useful idiots who fall prey to the wicked schemes of the political wizards. Very many well-meaning, good-hearted, honest, intelligent, and sincere individuals of all different persuasions succumb to the fact we are hackable animals.
It does no one any good to try and deny this. Instead, we must take a look in the mirror and ask ourselves: Am I being deceived? Where did this thought come from? Where does it go? If I allow my intelligent mind to logically follow where this thought leads, what conclusions will I find? Does my emotion interfere with thinking this through? Do I lose sight of thought and begin to feel instead of think?
When I hear people talking about Donald Trump today, I hear people feeling, not thinking. I hear emotion, not logic. When I say that, how does it make you feel?
Don’t forget my exposition and praise of Donald Trump. Go back and look at the picture and remember that I was all in. Remember that that was then and this is now. Logically speaking, we cannot go back, we can only look forward and plan accordingly.
Are you excited that Trump might square off with Biden again in 2024? I’m not. I don’t care who the Democrats prop up against him, that is not a match up I want to see. Would I vote for Trump again? Sure, but not in the primaries, because I do not believe that another four years of Donald Trump is what we really need.
I’m just being honest. You don’t have to agree. But think about it: What would happen if Trump was re-elected? Would the deep state and democrat operatives simply go home? No. Would all of those radical lefties suddenly become pacifists and accept political defeat? No. If Donald Trump was re-elected all hell would break loose. The media spin-meisters would be unrelenting in their assault. The corrupt political establishment would undermine and obstruct him on every single issue. Independent voters would scoff at the mockery of our once great institutions.
The result is that Americans, particularly liberty loving Americans, would be more divided than ever before. Democrats would be galvanized in their united hatred of Donald Trump. Republicans would be ripped apart by the arguments for and against Donald Trump. And while all of this political theater plays out, the invisible hand of the global cabal will continue to manipulate and deceive us all.
Would all of this lead to a hung election and civil war like Bill Gates predicted?
Do you really think that Donald Trump has any chance of getting re-elected and actually cleaning house? Do you realize how many Republicans will be working against him? Can you see how this cripples his ability to be effective as a president and further stokes divisions within the ranks?
Can you see how that’s not good for our country?
Is Donald Trump really the best idea we can come up with?
I used to would have said yes, undoubtedly and unabashedly. But now?
I believe the cold, hard truth is that it’s time to find a better solution.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below—and don’t forget to share!
TR 291 - The Hard Truth about Donald Trump