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While the Trump campaign is announcing his re-election as the result of “the greatest political movement of all time,” the popular vote tells an unusual story that, if anything, undermines this narrative. I am not here to squeeze sour grapes into wine, rather I am deeply intrigued by how the recent election unfolded. In 2020 Trump lost the election after receiving 74.2 million votes. This year, he won the election with about 73 million votes. In 2020, a little over 155 million people voted, whereas this year, only about 141 million people voted in the election. So, less people voted, and Trump won with about the same number of votes he received in his previous loss.

I concede that Trump has manifested an incredible victory and has even earned a mandate from the electorate for his term of office. Vote totals notwithstanding, Trump increased his share of the votes with nearly every demographic. He has previously stacked the supreme court with judges who have already proved invaluable to his agenda, and now he has been given the White House with both houses of congress. By virtue of the electorate, Trump has been granted immeasurable and unprecedented power to do whatever he wishes. His first 100 Days in office will be the most significant of any presidency in the last 100 years.

Yet, with all of this in mind, what really happened on Tuesday? Why did both Republicans and Democrats, and no doubt many independents, stay home, or not vote for the top of the ticket? I do not presume to have the answer, but I can at least wonder aloud. I consider Joe Biden to be the worst Democratic candidate since John Kerry, and the only reason both received significant vote totals, with the former winning in 2020, is due to the heightened political climate in both elections. Kamala Harris, while she should be applauded for energizing a campaign on the fly, was never popular within her own party, and was never able to overcome the sting of inflation or the tinge of woke politics. On the Republican side of things, and with all due respect to his supporters, Trump ramped up his controversial, vulgar, and profane rhetoric as the campaign entered October. I can reasonably imagine that some voters were turned off by this. Then, there is also the loss of some Republican support due to the events surrounding January 6 (whatever one may make of that day). Both Harris and Trump held baggage that seems to have manifested in a resoundingly depressed voter turnout, such that Trump was able to secure a victory with approximately the same vote count he received in 2020.

All of this may sound like inside baseball, so now let’s consider what to think of the results of the 2024 election. First, the opposition. For some reason Trump faced very little opposition from the electorate. Even those who stayed home have provided their tacit approval. America, like many other western democracies, has taken a major swing to the right, openly flirting with authoritarianism and fascism. But it is important not to lose oneself in vapid speculation about what Trump will actually do. The proof will be in the pudding, and the pudding is in the oven. Our founders offered a republic if we could keep it. Let us now wait and see and offer our judgment over facts and policies rather than rhetoric and bloviating.

Second, as an idealist believer in the American experiment, I will not seek conspiracy theories to undermine the president, nor will I look to pundits with biases against him, nor will I disrespect his office. He is my president. Although I am a non-voter, I am an American and he will be the sitting president. I may disagree with some of his proposals and polices as I disagreed with some that were put forward by Bush and Obama, both of whom I voted for (I did not vote for Biden or Trump, or even Harris for that matter). I may also applaud some things, even as I did with Bush and Obama. I prefer to judge politicians by their actions, although, I am prone (and I think justified) to judge their rhetoric, especially when it is spoken by officials at the highest levels of the most powerful government in the world.

Third, we consider the support for the Trump presidency. Admittedly, I find it hard to believe that the American electorate has come to the place where they could possibly support someone who has actively undermined our democratic process, refused to concede an election loss, and resisted the peaceful transfer of power. Be that as it may, here we are, and I will respect the will of the people who have placed him back in office. However, I am concerned that much of his support seems extraordinarily uncritical in nature. I am not sure why “Trumpers” view the president as above criticism, but I think most would agree that counter points of view and reasoned criticism are healthy, even necessary, for leadership at any level.

Let me now wonder aloud about why I believe “Trumpers” support him regardless of his rhetoric or behavior, which in past generations would have disqualified him with most conservative voters. Over the last 30 years or so, Right-wing pundits have increasingly vilified their opponents across the aisle as evil. The political battle lines have been framed as a conflict between good versus evil, rather than a debate of values, ideals, and opinions. There is also probably a correlation between the evangelical support of the Republican party with the openness to viewing political conflict as a spiritual battle, and political opponents as enemies of righteousness. Bolstered by talk radio and Fox News, the Tea Party escalated this volatile political fervor, and the Trump presidency spurred on by the unprecedented power of social media has certainly brought it to a crescendo. Once the argument is painted as us versus them and good versus evil, one can say goodbye to an old-fashioned exchange of ideas, sharp debate, and political compromise. In fact, in the modern era, the whole notion of our motto e pluribus unum seems to be as foreign as Latin is to English.

The second coming of Trump is upon us. He has promised healing and unity, saying, “I'm asking every citizen all across our land to join me in this noble and righteous endeavor. That's what it is. It's time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us. It's time to unite…Success will bring us together. Success is going to bring us together and we are going to start by all putting America first.” We may hear different things when we hear these words. But I for one, as I always have, am willing to support the president of the United States of America and hope that he resides over a successful term. In the end I may not support everything he does, I may be critical of certain policies, and I may be dismayed by some of the things he says. But I felt the same way about George W. Bush and Barak Obama (minus the vulgarity and profanity, of course). Yet, I am hopeful. Though Trump’s past words and actions have violated my conscience as an American, a Christian, and a parent, I am indeed hopeful for him, that he might rise to the dignity of the office and truly embark on a “noble and righteous endeavor.” He has asked “every citizen” to join him. Well, here I am. After nearly a decade of Trump, I am not naïve about who he is, but as for me, I am a patriot.