Donald Trump picked up a major, early endorsement from an increasingly competitive Republican field earlier this week when former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee put himself firmly in the 45th president’s camp.
“[N]o president, no president, helped this country get steered away from the insanity of socialist economics and insane policies on energy, the military, and the proper role of the courts,” Huckabee said of Trump on the show he hosts for TBN.
“When people ask, how could I support him? I say, well, it’s like choosing a doctor to do surgery on a member of my family. If my choice was between a kind, loving, praying surgeon, who had the bedside manner of a pastor, but who had never successfully done that particular surgery…” he offered.
Wisdom and clarity are almost impossible to find, but Huckabee can still deliver the goods. Indeed, when thinking about a pilot, lawyer, or doctor, few people would hesitate to prefer the most qualified one – regardless of other personal factors. If an emergency-room surgeon were divorced, would he be less competent to save your life?
Huckabee continued: “Or I could pick a surgeon who was gruff, bombastic, and impatient, and who had the bedside manner of a schoolyard bully, but he had successfully done that surgery hundreds of times. I’d pick the guy with the questionable personality, but with the skillful, experienced surgical hands.”
Setting aside whatever personal styles or baggage Trump carries with him – and admittedly all humans are fallen and flawed – Huckabee said the former president earned his support because he delivered more on the America First promise than any other president in his lifetime, including the vaunted two-term Republican Ronald Reagan.
“There were presidents who were more articulate and had a more engaging sense of humor, such as Kennedy and Reagan,” Huckabee said. “There were some who had great legislative savvy, such as Lyndon Johnson. Some were truly decent and kind human beings — Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush. But no president, no president, helped this country get steered away from the insanity of socialist economics and insane policies on energy, the military, and the proper role of the courts.”
It stood to reason, then, that voters should look past their minor hangups and impossible standards to select a man who puts them and their country first.
“Donald Trump is far from perfect, but then, so am I,” said Huckabee. “And so are you. But I love my country, and I don’t want it to be in second place or third place. I want it to be first.”
Donald Trump’s own announcement for the 2024 nomination began with a similar plea. Neither he nor his voters belong to any rigid leftist checklist; instead, they are all people with similar ideas about what they want from and for their country.
Trump said this past October when he declared his candidacy:
“Together we will be taking on the most corrupt forces and entrenched interests imaginable. Our country is in a horrible state,” he said. “We’re in grave trouble. This is not a task for a politician or a conventional candidate is a task for a great movement that embodies the courage confidence and the spirit of the American. This is a movement this is not for any one individual. This is a job for 10s of millions of proud people working together from all across the land and from all walks of life young and old, black and white, Hispanic and Asian, many of whom were brought together for the very, very first time.”
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