'The authors are Catholic, one of
us Mexican American and the other Irish American, and we believe racism to be a
sin.' page 91
I have read this book and must say I was surprised, I thought that the only reason to Vote Trump was because, like him or not he does Pro-Life stuff. But there's more. Here follow a few notes that I've made in the book. In-spite of John spelling his surname correctly and them both quoting GKC and Belloc I don't agree with everything they have written. For example on page 147 under the heading 'Israel' they say, 'To
some extent, without minimising the vast human suffering that has occurred on
both sides, it matters not how we got to this point. Here we are. What are we
going to do about it?' Sorry, but it matters.But here are some interesting points on Trump and racism;
'Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels since the US began collecting such data.' page 220
'African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American unemployment is at an all-time low.' page 224
Fr Pavone in the forward to the book says, "If [Trump] were not where he is we
would not be where we are”. I pause for a moment to let that sink in, and then
I explain further that under the Obama administration, Priests for Life was one
of the religious groups that had to fight all the way to the Supreme Court to
avoid crippling fines for our refusal to include abortion in the health
insurance plan that we offer our employees. The Supreme Court, in the end,
didn’t technically decide the case. Donald Trump did. The court had asked that
we work out a solution with the administration, and the Obama administration
was simply unwilling to honour our religious objections.
President Trump did, and we were
forever set free from the oppressive mandate that, had it been enforced under a
President Hillary Clinton, would not have allowed our ministry and countless
others to function.
If President Trump were not where
he is, we would not be where we are.
Many voters, whose faith means
something to them, realise this, and it’s time that the rest did as well.
That’s why this book is so important and so timely. page ix
If you don't have time to read the book, like I don't have time to write a proper review here are a few other points of interest;
'Under the previous
administration, one would have to be blind not to have noticed a creeping
totalitarianism in opposition to traditional Christian values, so much so that
it increasingly seemed we were allowed to let those beliefs and values inform
the way in which we live our lives, organise our parochial schools, and conduct
our charitable activates only to the extent that they, “the tolerance police,”
saw fit. Under Trump we have a fighting chance to be allowed to raise our
children and carry out our charitable works as we see fit.' pages 15-16
"Let’s be clear on one thing: the
corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism. Their a
political, special interest no different than any lobbyist or other financial
entity, with a total political agenda, and the agenda is not for you; it’s for
themselves." Trump 2016 page 19
'If you, as a self-described
Catholic Democrat, are rabidly pro-abortion or if the promotion of the LGBTQ
agenda and the normalisation of things like drag queen story hour loom large in
your list of vital issues to support, you probably don’t care that much about
all of the above. You will never vote for Trump or anyone like him as long as
the Democrats continue to trot our candidates like this year’s roster of
radicals in their primary.
'But if you are an old-fashioned
Catholic Labour or Hispanic Democrat, not particularly enthused about the
Democratic Party platform with respect to that stuff, if you are a Catholic
Democrat because your parents were and their parents before them and because
the Democrats were once the party of the union and the working man, well then,
what do you disagree with in this chapter? Donald Trump is your man. He is
fighting for you and your family. The economic results of his first term speak
for themselves.' page 40'Investor’s Business Daily which
noted that “85 of the 154 private interests who met with Clinton during her
tenure at state were Clinton Foundation donors.” But its most shocking
revelation was how donations to the foundation plummeted after Hillary Clinton
lost the 2016 election to Trump. “Now, fresh financial documents show that
contributions and grants to the Clinton Foundation plunged since Hillary lost
her election bid. They dropped from $216 million in 2016 to just $26.5 million
in 2017 a stunning 88% fall.
'The editors went on to ask the
right questions. They did their jobs. “If the Clinton Foundation was as good as
defenders claimed, why did all its big-time donors suddenly lose interest? The
only reasonable explanation is that donors weren’t interested in what the
foundation supposedly did for humanity. They were interested in the political
favours they knew their money would buy.”' page 46
'A viciousness and single
mindedness of purpose in destroying the man and his presidency is easily
discernible. Nobody can deny that Trump has achieved much, or at the very least
done things in terms of policy, that would normally be considered praiseworthy,
to say nothing of “news worthy.” But, more often than not, channels such as CNN
or MSNBC, during this first term of his presidency, have been far more likely
to run stories on the Mueller probe or exposes of Trump’s alleged infidelities
from the past, or stories of how he is racist, or sexist, or a fledgling
Hitler, rather than any mention, let alone focus, on the remarkable gains in
the stock market, foreign policy breakthroughs, unemployment numbers, details
of the highly successful trade deals negotiated, hostages returned, et cetera.
And it would be too much to ask, of course, for any positive reporting on what
Trump has accomplished for the pro-life cause, for that constitutes and assault
on personal freedom in the minds of the media elite.' pages 71-72
'Would we have voted for the
Donald Trump of New York “scene” thirty years ago? We doubt it. But he seems to
be very happily married now’ his children reflect very well on him. As
Catholics, our support for Donald Trump means neither that we think he is without
sin though most of the negative things that have been said and written about
him for the last few years are false nor that we should have to defend every
one of his actions. And, yes, what is more, as Catholics, we will leave the
lies, slander, and detraction to others.' page 75
"We must reject the perennial
prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse. They are the heirs of
yesterday’s foolish fortune tellers and I have them and you have them and we
all have them, and they want us to do badly, but we don’t let that happen. They
predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 1960s, mass starvation in the 70’s
and an end of oil in the 90’s. These alarmists always demand the same thing:
absolute power to dominate, transform, and control every aspect of our lives.” page 107 Trump to The World Economic Forum 21st January 2020
'Unfortunately, many of the
baptized are uniformed Catholics who don’t read the Catechism or the Bible.
Therefore, they get caught up in the leftist political causes because they
listen to the left wing propaganda from the Spanish language media and are led
by the nose by their neighbours and that media, a classic case of the blind
leading the blind as Our Lord Jesus Christ stated (cf. Mt 15:14)' page 126
'But our opinion is that, in the
wake of the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has been more sinned against that
sinning vis-à-vis the West. Please don’t stop reading. Remember Belloc’s
admonition to read widely, even, perhaps especially, views with which you may
not agree.' page 142
“It’s not that we don’t have
enough scoundrels to curse; it’s that we don’t have enough good men to curse
them.” GK Chesterton
'President Trump signed the
Prevention Maternal Deaths Act which was written by a Republican law maker that
provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality review committees to
better understand maternal complications and identify solutions and largely
focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans.
In 2018, President Trump signed the ground
breaking First Step Act, a criminal justice bill which enacted reforms that
make our justice system fairer and help former inmates successfully return to
society. The First Step Act’s reforms addressed inequities in sentencing laws
that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums
that created unfair outcomes. Over 90 percent of those benefiting from the
retroactive sentencing reductions in the First Step Act are Black Americans.
The First Step Act expanded judicial discretion in sentencing of non-violent
crimes. The First Step Act provides rehabilitative programs to inmates, helping
them successfully rejoin society and not return to crimes.' page 219
