“An Aggie doesn’t lie, cheat or steal. Or tolerate those who do.”
That’s what they taught me in 1989 when I joined the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M.
It wasn’t too new. All my life, when my dad had a few drinks in him and I was nearby, he’d preach to me about the “values of being a man.”
Honor. Integrity. Hard work. Decency. And above all, truth.
I listened to all of it. Took it all in. Made those values my own.
As a young man, fresh out of Texas A&M, raised in a conservative military family, I was no genteel liberal. I was ready to fight, quick to cuss, slow to accept and often with a drink in my hand. But I had my values.
I was a newspaper copy editor for 17 years. I edited stories. Yes, I read for a living. I got paid to learn. I saw a lot of conniving politicians in those stories. Men and women who said one thing and did another. People who worked to create a veneer of respectability even as they worked to do wrong.
So I was stunned in 2016 when Donald Trump won the presidency. The man who mocked the disabled, who bragged about grabbing pussies. The liar, the cheater, the man who didn’t pay his bills.
I was dismayed by 2017 when Republicans didn’t disavow the white supremacist, the racist, the man who was clearly unfit to be president. They had their values. Well, their value: power.
When Trump was defeated in 2020 and after his treasonous performance on Jan. 6, 2021, it never occurred to me that he could return to power. After he became a convicted felon, I didn’t believe he could return to power.
But he was back on the campaign trail. This time, not bothering to hide the lies, the racism, the hatred.
People have said they were voting for economic change. That they were better off when Trump was president. Hell, I’m fully aware of inflation. Feeding three kids, you don’t even want to know how much of my paycheck I give to H-E-B.
I don’t understand how those people believe that Trump is going to help them, that he’s going to bring down inflation. He’s never helped anyone but himself.
But even if he does. It never mattered to me.
My values weren’t for sale.
I don’t believe this was about the economy.
What I have come to understand is that people voted for Trump because they liked what he was saying. They like the racism. They like the hatred. They like the man who said it’d be OK with him to shoot journalists. They like the white supremacist. They like the man who would be dictator. They like their golden idol.
Some of my friends are saying it’s just four years. My first thought is, “well, maybe.” But my second thought is that, as a country, we’re not really coming back from this. The Trump effect – the emboldening of people who hold hate in their hearts – will be amplified by a second term.
I hope I’m wrong.
My dad voted for Trump in 2016. It broke my heart every day until he died in 2021. Maybe still.
This loss cuts me deeply. But I’m not going to California or Canada or across the sea. I ain’t even leaving Texas. I’m going to hold onto my values and stay right here.
Trump won. All of you who support him won.
I’m going to be the voice of what you lost.