<p>First Niece Mary Trump has followed up her anti-Uncle-Donald book with the release of tapes in which she secretly taped her elderly Aunt Maryanne Trump Barry in phone conversations about the President. The tapes are in stark contrast to the kind words and support Trump’s sister – a retired federal judge &#8212; has expressed in the past.</p>
<p>I have two problems with the tapes. The first is what sort of nasty person secretly tapes family conversations? I mean really. In private conversations, we all say things that may seem intemperate if given wide publicity. And if you are saying to yourself, “not me,” you are either a liar or hopelessly stupid.</p>
<p>People often tell others what they think they want to hear. Did Mary Trump encourage negative talk? And more importantly, do the snippets the niece-from-Hell reflect all their conversations – or did she take what she wanted out of context? We can probably guess the answer to that one correctly.</p>
<p>But then there is the matter of the content. Trump’s sister – with whom he has been reported to have a close relationship – did have some harsh words in describing her sibling. “No principles,” “liar” and “thinks only of himself.”</p>
<p>Those comments make Trump sound like he is not a very nice person. Well, guess what. He is not – at least not in the opinion of people like me. I have been a constant critic of his public persona and pugnacious style. I have written commentaries about Trump’s ineffectiveness as a communicator. Of the 16 Republicans running for the presidential nomination in 2016, Trump was my 17<sup>th</sup> choice. While I voted for him in 2016 – and will again in 2020 – it has nothing to do with his personality. It is the ISSUES stupid.</p>
<p>Oh, I do wish that Trump were more like an “Honest” Abe Lincoln, “I like Ike” Eisenhower, or the “ Great Communicator” Reagan. But I had to make a binary choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton and all the folks she would put into positions of power – and more importantly what they would do with that power. It was not a happy choice, but an easy one.</p>
<p>I voted for the conservative principles of limited government, lower taxes, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, a strong military, free-market capitalism, de-regulation, a strong economy, cuts in federal spending, legal immigration, law and order, school choice, and federal judges who adhere to the constitution. And I get none of that from the left-wing big government Democrats no matter who is on top of their ticket &#8212; and this time, it is worse than ever.</p>
<p>Shocking as this may be to those locked in perma-hatred for Trump, I voted for him in the past – and will again – because I honestly and deeply believe that he &#8212; and his people and policies &#8212; are better for the country than the radical left agenda of the Democrats. In fact, I think the current Democrat party is even a greater threat to the values I value than were the old Clinton establishmentarians. So once again, I need to trump the Trump personality in favor of the far more important issues.</p>
<p>The left has assembled around former Vice President Joe Biden as the personification of their get-Trump-at-all-costs strategy. And once again, they are focusing on the personality – those things that Mary Trump wrote about in her book and surreptitiously recorded in conversations with her aunt.</p>
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<p>Mary Trump’s book and tapes do not change my opinion of the President. He is what he is. It also does not change my devotion to core conservative principles that are at risk with a Democrat administration. It does not change my vote. It does, however, reaffirm my earlier opinion that Mary Trump is a pathetically nasty individual. She is not a nice gal.</p>
<p>The President may be her primary target because of his prominence, but we should not forget that Niece Trump has demonstrated a visceral hatred for most of the Trump family in her book &#8212; her grandfather, her recently deceased Uncle, her Aunt Maryanne and even her own father. And it all has to do with money that she apparently thought she deserved but did not get.</p>
<p>Oh … and by the way … despite the image-polishing work of the biased news media, Biden is no Mother Theresa. He has his own anger management issues. You will recall how he called a young female student a “lying pony soldier” and how he threatened to duke it out with a voter who asked about Hunter Biden’s activities in Ukraine. Before he was re-invented, Biden had a reputation for being hot-headed.</p>
<p>Biden has had a long history of being incapable of distinguishing his own words from those of others – with several episodes of plagiarism. In a display of monumental ego, he paraphrased Christ’s “I am the light” language to describe himself. And as far as corruption and inappropriate behavior are concerned, there are lingering issues regarding his son’s foreign entanglements (including Papa Biden’s role) and those complaints from several women – including one sexual assault accusation &#8212; are still hanging out there. Biden’s personal claim to all the achievements of the Obama administration is a misrepresentation tantamount to a lie.</p>
<p>Any differences we may judge in the characters of Trump and Biden are not as stark as the Democrats and the collaborative Fourth Estate would have us believe. On the other hand, the differences in policy, programs, legislation are stark. And that is what gets my vote.</p>
<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>
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