Although I knew the name Donald Trump for decades, I did not have any admiration for the man. He always appeared to be a brash, loud-mouthed personality drawing attention to himself with his funny hair and opulence. His prenuptial agreement with his second wife Marla Maples whereby she got only one million dollars upon divorce when he was worth billions showed that he was not a generous man.

Everyone watched in awe as the Trump empire grew with hotels, casinos and golf courses popping up all over the world. Trump seemed to be an exhibitionist displaying his wealth in the most public manner.

Rosie O’Donnell mentioned Trump’s bankruptcy during a TV show but failed to clarify that it was a bankruptcy of his Atlantic City casino, not a personal bankruptcy. The way Trump made this point and attacked Rosie publicly in every possible way showed his vindictive nature.

Trump drew my attention with his “birther” movement against Barack Obama. It was probably good that he vigorously pushed the issue and forced Obama to reveal his official birth certificate because it put any question about Obamas birthplace to rest.

Trump considered a presidential run in 2012 but changed his mind. I never paid attention to his TV show “The Apprentice” during this period but always considered him to be a showman. When he said that he was contemplating running for presidency in the 2016 election I did not take it seriously.

When I heard his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” for the first time I thought this guy may have a chance. Although the liberals kept saying that America has always been great and there was no reason to make it great again, I felt otherwise. I believed that the USA was undergoing a slow but steady decline in every aspect of life for a couple of decades.

I was not a fan of Trump’s performance in the 2016 Republican primary debates. He created a circus-like environment with his comments and theatrics. His strategy seemed to be to take any potential enemy down before they had a chance to stand up against him. He engaged in relentless attacks on Jeb Bush at every opportunity during the 2016 primaries. He later did the same with Ted Cruz. His actions and messages often defied decency but they worked. His recent desanctimonious comment shows that he would follow the same strategy in a 2024 primary fight with Ron DeSantis.

Instead of debates I started to watch his live speeches in variouscampaign rallies. All these speeches were spontaneous. I gradually realized that he was speaking my own mind: need for controlling illegal immigration, need to get out of trade deals which killed manufacturing jobs, reducing government regulations stifling businesses, need for tax reform including reduction of corporate taxes so more jobs would be created, making the military stronger and taking actions to keep radical Muslim terrorists away.

Many of Trump’s flaws were also apparent. He is not an articulate person and often distorts what he is really trying to say. He started with almost a suicidal comment about Mexicans being rapists and murderers. He meant illegal immigrants but did not spell it out.

The same thing happened when he talked about a “Muslim ban”. He was trying to curb the inflow of potential terrorists and Syrian refugees and could have phrased the proposal differently by temporarily banning people from certain countries.

His egotistical behaviour and low tolerance towards any criticism were apparent from his numerous tweets.

The comment that really resonated with me was his repeated assertion that he was financing his own campaign and therefore no outside lobby could control him. This was a refreshing change. It seems that regardless of which party is in power all the political candidates say and do exactly what their donors want them to say and do. I concluded that, like him or not, only someone like Trump could change our political system which was in a hopeless state of dysfunctionality.

Trump’s ability to energize his base impressed me. I know the “silent majority” of this country. It is not the liberal intellectuals on the two coasts, it is not the Hollywood celebrities, it is not the combined Hispanic and African American population, it is not the media pundits; it is the hard-working honest people who were born here, fought for this country and are proud of it. The so-called political correctness had indeed drowned their voices and concerns about the necessities to live a decent life security, good job, good education, and freedom to practice their religion. Trump hit on all these points, and I knew that a new leader was taking shape.

Many of his comments about women, which infuriated them, were indeed disgusting. Two points are to be made here, though. First, Trump was not running to be the moral leader of the country. Many past and present leaders of other countries have been guilty of moral failures.

Secondly, all of Trump’s improper behaviour, actions and comments took place while he was a private person and long before he ran for president. This is in sharp contrast to Bill Clinton’s escapades with a multitude of women while he was the governor of Arkansas and later as the president. The same was true for JFK.

In any event, Trump seemed to be a CEO type business leader who could make quick and objective business decisions based on facts and clear objectives. Furthermore, Trump was not running to accumulate more wealth. He could have remained in private life and lived an enviable life. The fact that he decided to run and the insults and ridicule he endured in the process showed me the extent of his love for the country.

Trump has often been described by the mainstream media and his opponents as an unpredictable, impulsive person who is too dumb to have a clue about what is going on in the world. I started to believe that he is not only smart in an academic sense from his education at an Ivy league school but has the necessary “street smarts” to succeed in a political career.

I started to like his personal traits. He is a doer and not a talker, he speaks bluntly about what is on his mind without sophistication and political correctness. He does not smoke, take drugs or drink alcohol. He has raised wonderful kids. Most importantly, he loves this country and would like to
make it great again.

I do not know if the 2020 election was stolen from him. However, allowance of mail-in ballots over a long period of time because of concerns about corona virus and manual counting certainly opened the door for error and fraud. While I do not support the January 6 capitol riot, I felt that Trump’s allegations were not adequately investigated except for recounting. It is also a fact that the mainstream media and hightech companies colluded with the Democratic party to help Joe Biden win by suppressing Hunter Biden’s laptop story.

It is a shame that he has antagonized so many people by his unnecessary offensive comments and the media have ignored many wonderful things he did during his presidency.

I do not see a good candidate to vote for in 2024 other than Trump. I chuckle when I hear names of Trump’s potential GOP rivals like Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, and Mike Pompeo because all of them are enjoying national name recognition because of Trump’s backing.

I believe that he will win the GOP nomination, especially if he picks a woman as a running mate such as Kristi Noem of S. Dakota. At this point, no potential democratic candidate seems strong enough to be able to defeat him in the general election. Many Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track; perhaps Trump can put it back on the right track.