It was a surreal time in Washington D.C..
My wife and I spent three days in the city. We attended the welcome concert, the Inauguration of President Trump, and much more.
After standing on the platform of the Lincoln Memorial singing God Bless The USA with Lee Greenwood, President-elect Trump and tens of thousands of patriotic Americans, I thought I had found my all-time highlight of the event. I was wrong.
You see, amid the many women and men we met and spoke to, from the pink-knit cap adorned protesters to the rain poncho covered attendees of the Inauguration, I saw one action that to me defines us “deplorables” better than any other.
It happened when we were getting on the Metro at the Crystal City station sometime between 5:00 AM and 5:30 AM on January 20th on our way to the Inauguration.
As we were coming out the side door from our hotel to the top of the escalator at the station, I heard a male voice meekly say, “Excuse me. Can you tie my shoe?”
My wife and I both stutter stepped and turned to see who had said this, thinking the voice was speaking to us.
To our right and just behind us was a young man with pleading eyes looking toward a couple dressed in Trump “Make America Great Again” gear, obviously heading out to the Inauguration, just as we were.
The laces of the young man’s sneaker were untied, and it was clear to anyone who looked that a disability was preventing him from tying the laces himself. He put his foot forward to show the couple the problem.
The couple stopped and the woman handed off the items she was carrying to the man. She then turned, got down on one knee, and tied the young man’s sneaker.
I watched for a moment before moving on down the escalator. I was proud, not because this was a shocking occurrence, or a rare moment in history. I was simply proud because this moment right here represented the values of hundreds of millions of Trump supporters from all across our nation.
Despite the mainstream media’s dishonest spin about us and Hillary Clinton’s declaration that we are a ‘basket of deplorables’, here was a woman, a supporter of Donald J. Trump stopping to live the true values of conservatives, even as she was rushing off to witness the historic transfer of power of the most powerful position in the land.
She could have easily ignored the voice, and told herself she was late for a good spot to a once in a lifetime moment in history. She could have justified her decision by saying she didn’t want to get her pants or hands dirty. But she didn’t. She helped, and she helped even though she had no other reason to help than her own beliefs.
Now, I’m not writing about this to attack liberals or the women who showed up in the pink knit caps the day after Inauguration to protest. I’m sure that among those protesters there were many women who would have done the same thing given the opportunity.
I do, want to point out, however, that at the same time this woman, in her Trump gear, was down on one knee at the Metro Station tying the laces of a young man in need, a group of protesters were in a hotel room somewhere, unpacking their black clothes and masks and packing up their gear to set fire to a limousine and smash store windows at the corner of K Street and 12th.
Here is our American Reality: Those of us who support President Trump are largely kind, caring, community-minded Americans. Hillary Clinton’s supporters are the same. WE are the majority.
America First isn’t just about national security or trade policy or the national debt or healthcare policy. It’s also about how we treat one another.
Our nation, the greatest in the world, is governed by a Constitution hand-written on parchment, signed by men 230 years ago and executed by the oaths of elected officials with their hand on a Bible or other book representing allegiance to their faith or duty.
We are governed by faith, trust and the solemn promises of those we elect to office.
Their power is our power, their actions are our actions. It’s time we all started recognizing that as one American nation and one American people, we are a lot more like that lady down on one knee at the Metro Station than any of the angry, destructive protesters making headlines.