By John J. Duncan Jr.
I am still very grateful to the people of East Tennessee for giving me the privilege of serving them for 30 years in the U.S. House. During each of those years, I attended the State of the Union Address by the president.
I also have attended the ones by President Trump since I left office, and was there for his most recent one on Feb. 24. I must say I have never enjoyed one quite as much as this last one.
Some of the others have been dull or boring in comparison. Love him or hate him, one thing you can say about Trump is that he is definitely not boring.
- D. Vance said in a speech in North Carolina last week that he had a special vantage point sitting right behind the president, looking at all the Democrats who were there.
He said when Trump asked everyone to stand who believed the first obligation of Congress was to the American people and not illegal immigrants, the Democrats were looking around with worried faces, trying to figure out what to do. Most remained in their seats.
Many years ago, Richard Nixon was often described as the most hated man in American politics. But the hatred for Nixon pales in comparison to the hatred for Trump all over the world.
And Nixon never had to deal with the 24-hour news cycle, the large number of stations and channels, the internet, and the constant drumbeat of hatred that Trump faces every day.
Every once in a while, there will be some psychiatrist or psychologist, or even an unqualified but partisan lay person, who will say in a holier-than-thou way that Trump is a narcissist. Well, he would have to have some narcissism to be able to withstand all the hatred.
And after the way Trump’s political opponents misused the legal system against him and his family, I couldn’t blame him (and I had a big laugh) when he looked over at the Congressional Democrats and said: “You people are crazy.” They have said things just as bad or worse about him.
There is an old saying that the truth hurts, and some of the big city Democrats had to be squirming when Trump looked at them and said, “The only way you win is by cheating.”
That is why the Democrats are so strongly opposed to the Save America Act, which would require voting rules that over 80% of the American people are in favor of, like picture IDs to vote and proof of citizenship to register to vote for the first time.
Also, the Democrats have been losing more and more among native born Americans, so they know they have to depend more on foreign-born voters. Thus they have to oppose anything that makes it even a tiny bit harder to get immigrants, legal or illegal, registered to vote.
President Trump has been speaking out on an almost daily basis against the use of mail-in ballots, and he is right. In 2005, former President Jimmy Carter co-chaired a commission on federal election reform with former Secretary of State James Baker.
The Carter-Baker Commission said “Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud” and that voting by mail is “likely to increase the risks of fraud and of contested elections.”
Democrats in some cities have made an art form of what is called “ harvesting votes.” Also, they have many of what Rush Limbaugh called “low-information voters.” It is simply too easy for them to take loads of ballots to union halls, senior centers and churches or other places with large numbers of immigrants and make sure that only votes for Democrats are actually mailed.
While I got a kick out of Trump’s State of the Union message, I did not think I should handle my job in the same way. I remember one day when a member of my Washington staff said a caller had said I needed to forget being a judge (as I was before coming to Congress), and be more of a prosecutor.
I know it disappointed some that I was not always on the attack. I expressed my conservative views often in committees and on the floor of the House. I also wrote many articles and newsletters and made thousands of speeches in Tennessee and even around the country.
But I always felt I could express my views without being hateful or personally attacking anyone. The Democrats controlled the House during 16 of my 30 years there, and I knew I could get more done for my district and my constituents by trying to get along with everyone.
While I agree with President Trump on almost all the big issues, our styles are very different. And I do think he made a big mistake in allowing this country to be led into war in Iran. Rapidly rising gas prices and a rapidly falling stock market are proving that, and the sooner we get back to America First, the better.
