By John J. Duncan Jr.
In 2016 I became one of the earliest members of Congress to endorse Donald Trump for president. I did this because I believed he was the least hawkish and the least likely to get us into another unnecessary war.
I had voted against going to war in Iraq and had spoken out and voted to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan many years before we did.
I really think that endorsements in presidential races are almost meaningless because I believe people make up their own minds about whom to vote for in races for higher offices like president, governor and U.S. Congress.
Probably the only races in which endorsements can really make a difference are in campaigns for local offices when candidates may not be well known.
But in 2015 and even all the way up to the election in November of 2016, most people thought Donald Trump had little chance to win the Republican nomination and had almost no chance to win the election.
I seldom watched TV in my offices in Washington, D.C., but I happened to have the television on there in 2015 as news cameras showed Trump coming down the escalator at Trump Tower and then making a long speech announcing his run for president and telling many of his views on the big issues.
I was so impressed that I told Bob Griffitts, my chief of staff, to see if he could get Trump on the phone and that I would tell him if he gave that same speech all over the country, he could be elected president.
Bob thought that was a bad idea because there were 17 people running for the nomination at that point. Bob had good political instincts, and I decided he was right about that call.
A few months later I was invited along with four other members of the House and one Senator to go to the Mayflower Hotel in Washington to hear Trump’s first major foreign policy speech. Once again, I was impressed.
That was the first time I met him. He was very kind, and he did not ask for my endorsement. However, the staff and supporters of all the candidates kept seeking endorsements from all the members of the House and Senate.
Later on, I decided to endorse Trump and did so one Friday night at a Republican dinner in Blount County. Because I had told his staff I was going to do that, Mr. Trump called me at home the next morning to thank me, and I told the story of that lengthy phone call in my book.
In late April of this year, Vickie and I were invited to a small dinner in Nashville with Trump and his top campaign people, and Tennessee’s two senators and four current congressmen with their spouses.
Mr. Trump spent over three hours with us, and we all agreed to endorse him. Now, nine of the ten Republicans in the Tennessee Congressional delegation have endorsed him.
Two of my closest friends and two close family members have told me Trump is the only Republican Biden can defeat. Maybe they are right.
But I am sticking with Trump until it becomes obvious that he cannot win for these reasons and many more:
- He did a very good job as president.
- He made over 300 conservative appointments to the Supreme Court and lower federal courts and would do so again.
- He did not let other countries take advantage of us and would be strong again.
- He would stand up to the deep state and politically correct elitists.
- He would not have spent $113 billion on the war in Ukraine and would bring that war to an end.
- He will make us energy-independent again.
- He would not have allowed a disaster like the Afghanistan withdrawal.
- Everything – inflation, gas prices, the economy, the border – was better when he was in office and could be again.
- The 2020 election was stolen by using millions of mail-in and unsecured ballots.
- He has been very kind to me, and I believe the cases against him are all fueled by partisan political hatred.
They may get him in the end, but it will not be without one heck of a fight.
