By RWBC Member Lisa Unger
I have been a staunch Trump supporter since he came down the escalator in 2015. However in the last week I have come to the firm conclusion that he shouldn’t run again.
Trump’s fatal flaw is his need to win and be acknowledged for it. In 2020 he believed he won but never got the recognition for having done it. I believe for the past two years he has been ruminating and obsessing about this, which has led to his own personal Trump Derangement Syndrome. As a result he is not thinking clearly.
After what happened this week when he attacked Ron DeSantis and Glenn Youngkin, two of our up and coming stars, I realized that the game has changed for him, but not for the other Republican Americans.
Decades ago Oprah asked him if he would ever run for President. His answer was “I don’t want to, but I will if I have to”. When he came down the escalator in 2015, his motivation for running was to save the country he loved, and he thought he had the unique experience and skills to do it. Although he has a huge ego, his motivation for running was NOT that it would be an ego-trip to be President.
It turns out he was right… he was the right man at the right time. He started a populist movement, accomplished for the country what perhaps no one else could have done, and took slings and arrows that perhaps no one else could have withstood.
We cannot win in 2024 unless we unite around the same candidate and protect our own. The Republican party cannot tolerate or survive being fractured and torn apart from within.
His family and trusted friends whom he knows have his best interests at heart need to communicate this to him lovingly, gently, with compassion, and in a manner that protects his ego. Perhaps they could use the analogy of an athlete who retires at the top of his game and is remembered as a great hero who was larger than life, instead of staying in the game until he is cut and remembered as a has-been who ended up being a detriment to the team. Trump would not want the latter for himself, nor would his supporters.
Trump made great personal sacrifices for his country and accomplished unimaginable things for which millions of Americans have tremendous gratitude and respect. He needs to be reminded of why he came down the escalator in the first place. His goal was saving America, not self-aggrandizement. He never intended it to be about him.
Now there are others who can continue the work he started on the trail he blazed. Now is the time for him to enjoy the hard-earned and well-deserved fruits of a lifetime of labor. Now is the time for him to step aside and let these others take up the torch and continue what he started.
And he needs to know that millions of Americans thank him for his service to our country and think he is one of the great patriots and heroes of our time.
To me, he will always be my beloved President Donald J. Trump.
