Caveat Emptor

A few days ago, Iran launched approximately 200 ballistic missiles at Israel. Some of Iran's missiles were hypersonic missiles traveling 10,000 miles an hour. Israel, the United States and other allies were mostly able to stop the missiles. A few days before, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Iran was within weeks of producing enough uranium for a nuclear bomb.

Iran showed itself capable of reaching any target in the Middle East and will, within the year, be able to launch nuclear warheads. Iran is undoubtedly being helped by Russia and North Korea. Inexplicably, President Joe Biden declared, after Iran's show of force, he is opposed to Israel destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities. This is another reason to vote for Donald Trump for President.

Additionally, while North Carolina and the Southeast United States are suffering the effects of Hurricane Helene, the dockworkers have announced a strike. The head of their union announced his intentions to cripple the economy at a time supplies are critical to relief and recovery efforts in the Southeast. Vice President Kamala Harris is standing with the union and against the suffering souls in North Carolina. This too is a reason to vote for Trump.

On top of all of that, it turns out the Biden-Harris administration has knowingly allowed criminals to cross into the United States. The Biden-Harris administration has seemingly engaged in a massive coverup to avoid publicly revealing how many illegal aliens it has allowed into this country who had known criminal records in their countries of origin. According to Fox News reporter Bill Melugin, "[T]he data shows there are tens of thousands of illegal aliens convicted of homicide, rapes, and other violent felonies currently roaming in the US." Again, this is a reason to vote for Trump.

But what are we getting with a second term?

I have donated to the former President's reelection campaign and intend to vote for him. The last person I supported in a Republican primary who went on to be the nominee was George W. Bush in 2000. By 2004, writing at RedState.com, I regularly criticized Bush's growth of government. His war effort was paid for. His domestic initiatives kept growing the national debt.

I opposed both John McCain and Mitt Romney in their primaries. They were too willing to grow government, too unwilling to unwind the federal bureaucracy. They lost, despite my vote, in the general election. Though I did not support Trump in his first run for office, I appreciated much of what he did. His foreign policy and much of his domestic policy was run-of-the-mill Republican with a conservative bent. It just got overshadowed by the tweets and drama.

But on Tuesday night, Sen. JD Vance articulated a vision of what MAGA stands for that was not much different than what his debate counterpart, Tim Walz, offered. Instead of seeking to rein in the size and scope of the federal government, Vance advocated for more government spending, more government programs, more government mandates on businesses and more control over our lives. Essentially, we had two New Deal Democrats arguing over who should control the power and how much more they should grow it. One just happened to be mostly pro-life and the other explicitly pro-choice.

I could criticize Bush, McCain and Romney and their teams would take it in good faith, without outrage. To speak against Trump is to be denounced as a RINO, even though what I want is actual Republican policies. He and his supporters' intolerance of Republican dissent suggests they are not confident of their control on the party.

I am a conservative because I am a Christian. I know we are all sinners, so I want as few in charge of me as possible. Instead, the Trump-Vance vision is more sinners in charge of all of us with more power to structure our economy and lives. Eventually, Democrats will take over and use that power against us. Neither side wants to end Washington's power.

The Trump agenda has much more to offer conservatives and people of faith than the Harris agenda. But buyer beware. The future of the GOP looks too much like Walter Mondale's vision for America, and Americans rejected that in a landslide once.

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To find out more about Erick Erickson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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