It had to happen. I knew it would, and now I've experienced it firsthand.
I'm traveling on a cruise ship from Tahiti to Los Angeles, before the presidential debate occured. I'm speaking on board discussing various topics related to work-life balance. One afternoon, I'm sitting in the Piazza, which is the center of the ship on Deck 5, and the hub of activities for this particular vessel. Next to me is a quite senior aged woman.
We converse a bit and it turns out she's originally from New York, but now lives in Miami Beach. Her nuclear family made a small fortune buying and selling jewelry and precious metals, including gold, silver, and even platinum. As minutes pass, we turn to a variety of subjects and she reveals some personal details.
Considerable Concern
Her family immigrated from Russia more than 100 years ago. She is concerned about the state of our nation and the rising level of antisemitism. She is Jewish. Without revealing my hand, I probe further. She says that it seems like everything is coming off the rails. I nonchalantly toss her the all-time open-ended political question, “So, who do you think you might vote for in November?
Now comes the response that I hope multi-millions of others will offer in conversation with friends and acquaintances. Or, they'll simply hold their thoughts and vote GOP, but either way, I'm ready to have this become the norm. She says to me, “Well, I don't have to like him. I wouldn’t want him as a dinner guest, and some of his behaviors seem outrageous to me, but I think Trump will be better for the country.”
Bingo!
To keep the conversation rolling, I commiserate with her, not telling her that in no way on God's earth I would ever vote for a Democrat at this juncture in our nation's history. So, I say that I, too, believe that Trump will be better for the country.
Once A Democrat, Not Always
I ask what her voting history has been and now she is opening up to me without reservation or hesitation. She says her family has always been staunch Democrats, starting from the time of Roosevelt and Truman, and moving forward.
Today, however, she doesn't believe that Biden or any of his advisors have the capability to effectively lead the country. She sees what's happening in the streets. She knows too well about the violent protests on campuses against Israel and against Jews in general. She hasn't experienced it first-hand, but she has read reports of crime in city after city, and she feels as if the social fabric is breaking down.
All the while, I am careful not to lead the conversation because I want to hear her views precisely, she being a long-time Democrat voter, an American Jew, and a former New York City resident, and coming from a family of entrepreneurs.
May There Be Legions
I reason that if she's come to such conclusions, legions of others must exist. So I ask about her family and her friends. She's not quite so sure how everyone else will be voting, but she believes that many of the people in her world have come to the same conclusion: Joe Biden must go, he has no leadership capability, he's running the country into the ground, and more years of Joe will be a national disaster. Mind you, this conversation was before the debate in late June.
I tell her that I find her views to be interesting and that I've concluded much of the same. I don't reveal that I write conservative commentary, or that I could offer endless observations about the ways that the Biden administration has weakened the country.
With her leading the conversation, it heads in another direction, away from politics, but that’s fine. I heard what I needed to hear. I learned what I needed to learn: people on the Right and Left are arriving at the same basic conclusion. It is heartening to know.
I am gleeful. I am sitting next to a never-Trumper who has changed her tune. Are there millions like her? I so fervently hope so.
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