GRAVITAS

Gravitas is defined as dignity, seriousness, or solemnity of manner. "a post for which he has the expertise and the gravitas"

 When Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1980 I still considered myself a Democrat. Personally, I liked Reagan. He had been one of my favorite actors as a child. I especially liked his portrayal of the famous baseball pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander. Reagan, like Trump, was very well known as a celebrity before he ran for political office. Besides being a movie star he had also made a name for himself at GE and as a television actor. Beyond that I knew very little about him. I was still drinking the Democrat Kool-Aid when he ran for president. I believed all the media fear mongering about Reagan. They said that he was a war mongering cowboy that was not qualified to be president. He would get us into a war with the Soviet Union and we were all going to die if he was elected. Not only that he was too old to be president. America had no Fox News, Conservative talk radio, or social media to counter their propaganda at that time. I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1980. Although I didn't cry or break out into an angry tirade like the snowflakes did in 2016 I must admit I had a hard time sleeping that night after Reagan was elected.

  It didn't take long for my attitude to change about Reagan once he took office. Reagan's political ads during the campaign were announcing that it was "Morning in America". We were going through the worst recession since the great depression when Reagan took office but almost immediately you could detect a more hopeful spirit in America. The 1970's were chaotic years. We had watched as America exited Vietnam under less than honorable circumstances. Nixon was forced to resign from office amid the Watergate scandal. There had been two gas shortages during the 1970's where we had to line up in long lines just to get gas and gas prices spiked to unprecedented highs. In 1975 we watched with dismay as the North Vietnamese forces overran South Vietnam and our few remaining troops had to be airlifted off of a rooftop while fighting off panic stricken former allies trying to flee the Communist onslaught. The combination of inflation, and high gas prices virtually shut down our heavy industries. Such as the steel and car industry which were forced to lay off thousands of workers. Interest rates went sky high which virtually shut down home buying. America was in a spiritual funk. Carter, like Obama would do later after the 2008 recession, called life in America the new normal. He was telling us that our best days were behind us. These were words that I never wanted to hear coming from the lips of an American president. On top of this we were seeing a huge rise in drug use during the 1970's, along with a rise in criminal and social problems. Finally, we watched as the terrorist nation of Iran humiliated us by storming our embassy and held Americans hostage for a year. America was no longer respected in the world.

The myth about Reagan being too old was put to rest almost immediately after he was nearly killed in an assassination attempt. He survived a situation that might have killed a younger man and bounced back pretty quickly for his age. As time went on his words and actions helped to restore my faith in America. Reagan defeated his adversaries with his humor. The whole time Reagan was president I felt like America was in good hands. The same way I feel about Trump today. I liked the fact that he stood up to the Soviets and America was feared again by our adversaries. Pride in our military was restored. By early 1983 our economy was booming again and Reagan's economic policies were responsible for the longest period of economic growth in American history. Lasting from 1983 until the housing bubble crash of 2007. Reagan's leadership was proving his detractors wrong everyday. By the time he ran for reelection in 1984 I was solidly in the Reagan camp and considered myself a Conservative. The Democrats confirmed what I had been refusing to admit since 1972 when I cast my first ever presidential vote. The America hating, atheistic radical political left had taken over the Democrat Party and they would never again be the Democrat Party of my youth. Although I have never really identified as a Republican as far as voting they became my only option. We forget today how much Reagan was hated and mistreated by the left but he exposed them for what they really were and he was usually always right. Just like Trump.

 Although I was a solid Conservative when Trump ran for president in 2016, I was not on the Trump train. Like Reagan I was familiar with Trump due to his celebrity status on the Apprentice and being in the news a lot over the years. I liked Trump personally and during the debates he made me laugh, much like Reagan did. My problem with Trump was that I didn't think that he was Conservative enough. My fear was that he was posing as a Conservative but if elected he would rule like a leftist. I was fed up with milk toast Republican candidates like Lamar Alexander, Bob Corker, Bob Dole, John McCain, the Bush's and Mitt Romney. My first choice was Carly Fiorina and after she dropped out I supported Ted Cruz. After Trump was nominated I voted for him not because I wanted him but because the prospect of a president Hillary Clinton was too horrible to contemplate. Once I saw Trump in action as president it didn't take long for me to board the Trump train. The economy took off like a rocket from the very start of his presidency. Over the last three years I have seen him fulfill, or attempt to fulfill, every single promise that he made during his campaign. America is a much more hopeful, certain, and stable country than it was during the chaotic years of Obama. He honors our friends and our enemies are in retreat. Our military is restored, and our borders are much more secured. 

  Trumps enemies have tried to portray him as a narcissistic, irrational, racist, anti-semitic, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic, and Islamophobic pig. Yet Trump always proves his detractors wrong and exposes them for what they are. He always appears as the only adult in the room. Reasonable and level headed. Whether he is speaking to the UN, a news conference, or to the American people during a State of the Union address. I once wondered if Trump was even capable of giving a memorable speech and he has surprised me by giving many over the last three years. No president since Lincoln has been hated more than Donald Trump. Even hated worse than Reagan. The Democrats have thrown everything at him including the kitchen sink and he has survived it all. When the COVID 19 virus hysteria began to take hold a few days ago I thought that the economic impact of this disease might just be Trumps undoing but I was wrong. Trump is showing real leadership in this crisis and again I feel that the country is in good hands. Polls are showing that the American people have for the most part rallied around him. These same polls are showing that they do not like the medias handling of the crisis. Could you imagine how Obama, Hillary Clinton or Biden would have handled this? Besides, who better to be at the helm when it is time to restore our economy after all is said and done. Trump is the embodiment of the term gravitas. As a country we have been blessed to have the right man for the job in place during our hours of maximum danger. Trump is the man of the hour.