How do you define a true patriot?
First, standing for The Pledge of Allegiance and holding a hand over your heart does not make you a patriot. Did you know that it was written in 1892 by Francis Julius Bellamy (1855 – 1931), an American Christian socialist minister and author, and it was formally adopted by the U.S Congress in 1945. The words “under God” were added in 1954.
The “Always Trump” basket of deplorable loyalists will probably define a patriot as someone who is loyal to President Trump, because most if not all of them think “their” (false) god sent Trump to them to Make America Great Again, whatever that means because Trump has never been clear about that. Since he’s making a profit off of each hat sold, I suspect he doesn’t want to come up with a definition. According to one estimate, Trump’s profit for the MAGA hat is about $16 million.
The Bible has a lot to say about greed, and here are the most helpful passages according to Open Bible.info.
Timothy 6:9 and 6:10: But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Proverbs 28:25: A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched.
In Mark 7:21-22, Jesus Christ mentions a long list of sins, including “deeds of coveting,” which He says come from our hearts. Greed is not primarily concerned with amount, but rather with attitude and motives.
The Never Trump Patriots includes some Republicans. According to Gallup, 10 percent of registered Republicans such as George Conway probably define patriotism by the Oath of Office that doesn’t mention loyalty of any kind to any U.S. president.
What do you think Trump meant when “A week exactly after his inauguration, seated for dinner at a small, oval table in the Green Room of the White House, Donald Trump said to the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation what might end up being the six most consequential words of his presidency.”
“I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”
You may also find this quote in Trump’s book, Think BIG and Kick Ass in Business and Life. “I value loyalty above everything else—more than brains, more than drive and more than energy.”
How many Never Trump Patriots are there in the United States?
Well, according to the Center for Politics, 10-percent of Republicans (3.26 million), 67-percent of independents (21.1 million), and 91-percent of Democrats (40.3 million) belong to the Never Trump patriots.
The Center for Politics based its numbers on 108.35 million registered voters who are Democrats, Republicans, and Independent voters. As of May 12, 2019, the Never Trump Patriots are ahead of the Always Trump Loyalists by more than 21-million registered voters. That gap is way bigger than I thought it was. Up to now, my estimates have been running between 10 – 14 million.
The true measure of a U.S. patriot is anchored in The Oath of Office that was originally written by the Founding Fathers in the late 18th century as part of the U.S. Constitution. The Oath, as stated in Article II, Section I, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution, is as follows: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The same oath is taken by every officer in the military and all other federal employees such as the FBI, the CIA, the Secret Service, Postal Inspectors, et al. The only oath that is different is for military troops that are not officers. The oath non-officers take includes obeying the “president and their officers”.
What will happen if Trump orders the troops to do something but their officers disagree and countermand the order because they consider it to be unconstitutional?
The first president to take The Oath was George Washington. Donald Trump pretended to take the Oath and it is obvious he lied. The evidence he lied is overwhelming from his tweets and his hate-filled rants at his rallies attended by mostly his Basket of Deplorable Loyalists.
Donald Trump has clearly defined treason as anyone that is not one-hundred percent blindly loyal to him.
To Trump and his Basket of Deplorable Loyalists, the Oath of Office is also an example of treason since it does not support blind loyalty to President Donald Trump.
Defeating Trump, an alleged stable genius according to him, and taking power away from the ignorant, hate-filled, racist, Basket of Deplorable Loyalists means that all of the Never Trump Patriots must vote in 2020.
The only way Trump will “honestly” win is if too many of the Never Trump patriots do not vote, like they did in 2016 when they allowed themselves to be misled by Russia and/or how James Comey broke the FBI’s norms and reported on the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s e-mail issue before the investigation was concluded.
I think America’s 2nd Civil War will be between Constitutional Patriots and Trump Loyalists. Did you know that during the American Revolution against the British Empire, any colonist that supported King George was a loyalist? In fact, in 1968 historian Paul H. Smith estimated there were about 400,000 Loyalists or 16% of the white population of 2.25 million in 1780.
In 2020, your vote will be a choice between the U.S. Constitution or Donald Trump.
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Lloyd Lofthouse is a former U.S. Marine and Vietnam combat veteran with a BA in journalism and an MFA in writing, who taught in the public schools for thirty years (1975 – 2005).
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