GORDON SONDLAND: I was wrong about Trump and Democrats can’t stand it

Things could, and did, get worse for America after Jan. 6. I served in the Trump administration, but I withdrew my support from the president after that dark day. Four years later, I’m back. And here’s why. The Biden-Harris administration weakened our power, our pocketbooks and our values. After living under this reality for nearly four years, there is no choice: We need former President Donald J. Trump back in the White House. 

I’ve explained my change of heart across the national media from MSNBC to CNN to NPR. Yet instead of considering the content of my argument, most journalists have gone apoplectic about my decision that supporting Republican policies is more important than punishing a former president they loathe. If Vice President Kamala Harris can “change her mind” to soften border enforcement, why can’t someone on the other side of the aisle change his perspective? 

I can’t excuse Jan. 6 or the former president’s lackluster response to that dark day. But our system stood, the riot quelled, and the transfer of power completed. 

Skeptics wonder if there’s some sort of insidious reason behind my stance today. 

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They ask: Has he offered me a job? No. Did he blackmail me? No. Do you think he won the 2020 election? No (sadly). Have you lost your moral compass? No. In fact, my moral compass heads due north toward what’s best for our country. 

As the twentieth U.S. ambassador to the European Union, I know and worked closely with Trump. He’s a showman who likes to shock. That’s obvious. What might be less obvious is that he’s also a swift and thoughtful decision maker. He doesn’t hem and haw or, like his opponent, need a script to stay on message.  And unlike the other side, Trump cares about fostering our country’s meritocracy, not mediocrity. He believes competition, not socialism, is best for our society. 

Harris represents a party at odds with this perspective. Indeed, Democrats are staging a strategic assault on our two-party democratic system and pushing policies that will further erode American prestige, pocketbooks and families. Harris has vowed to pack the Supreme Court, eliminate the filibuster, dramatically loosen voter regulations and empower unelected government employees to decide which cars we drive and on which stoves we cook. She wants to police what our children study and how we speak. She says she wouldn’t do anything different from President Joe Biden. That’s troubling at best. 

It means Harris agrees it was smart to withdraw U.S. military forces before civilians from Afghanistan. I guess she’s too young to recall Saigon or wasn’t moved when desperate innocents fell to their deaths from a U.S. aircraft escaping Kabul. It means she believes Biden was right to say that Washington wouldn’t react if Moscow made only a “minor incursion” into Ukraine. Talk about giving green lights to dictators. 

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While Trump flatters bad guys in public as a counterintuitive and strategic tactic, no world leader doubts his resolve for America. We need that sort of leadership on the international stage because, thanks to the disastrous Biden-Harris foreign policy, allies and adversaries alike doubt America’s convictions and are confused about our positions. This would be problematic in any era, but especially worrisome in the shadows of a rising China and expansionist Russia. 

Former President Trump waves goodbye after a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

At home, Harris turns a blind eye to foreign influence that’s radicalizing our students to hate America. She never discusses the similarities to radicalized Iranian students who installed a fundamentalist government in Tehran that chants “death to America” and sponsors 13 terrorist groups, including Hamas. 

Harris says she “understands the emotions” driving college students who wear keffiyeh and call for the destruction of Jews. Would Harris be so sanguine if Blacks were targeted the way Jews were targeted? While I doubt Harris is truly antisemitic or wants to see the destruction of the State of Israel, her actions don’t live up to that of a strong supporter of Israel or an ally. Her ambition for votes (especially among Arab Americans in Michigan) has moved her dangerously close to Hamas’ agenda.   

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Harris’ economic stance is equally appalling. She cares more about distributing handouts to illegal immigrants than supporting people like my parents, Holocaust survivors who legally immigrated to the U.S. and opened a dry cleaner where they worked for decades. 

She thinks race should be a qualification for jobs and advantages. Moreover, Harris is part of the administration that used COVID-19 as an excuse to needlessly pump an extra $2 trillion into the economy, thereby ensuring inflation and, in essence, buying votes.

Despite the White House’s denials, anyone who grocery shops knows the cost of living has skyrocketed. Not only among poor people, but among everyone. One friend, a college-educated divorced mother with an enviable white-collar job, forgoes meat herself to buy protein-rich steak for her teenage son. This isn’t the America our families need or want. 

Of course, the Democratic Party decries the importance of family. Harris reflects this demise. She supports old-fashioned entitlement programs and tax codes that encourage men to abandon their families. She opposes religious groups that wish to align business practices with their morals. She encourages immature young people to explore gender-affirming treatments that can’t be reversed in adulthood. 

She routinely supports teachers’ unions that drive anti-student, pro-employee political agendas. In a Harris world, teachers that can’t dispense aspirin without parental consent are punished for telling parents their child is changing sex. 

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Taken collectively, the Harris agenda and her alignment with the Democratic base is an order of magnitude more frightening than Trump’s agenda or behavior. This is not a conspiracy theory or fearmongering. 

That’s why, even with all of Trump’s idiosyncrasies and inflammatory style, he is the best option for America. His policies are right. The team will be great. And given the choice, there is no other choice. 

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