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In 2015, I began working as a high school teacher in a Catholic school. This was also when the transgender mania began to take off, and we were witnessing it in the lives of our students. I distinctly remember standing in the staff room conversing with colleagues—colleagues who were decidedly liberal (virtually every colleague was liberal)—lamenting the infiltration of gender insanity in the student body. It was the beginning of the school year, and we had all received news that the administration was trying to figure out how to manage the bathroom issue and what to do about girls who said they were guys and guys who said they were girls when it came to things like school plays and which names we were required to use on report cards.
Even among my liberal colleagues, the general opinion was that the poor kids were confused, and we hoped that it would be a passing fad. I recounted to my colleagues that I had recently listened to something from Fulton Sheen wherein he relayed his experience of bringing the Holy Eucharist into mental institutions and how the patients—many of them may have been possessed or afflicted by demons—reacted in strange ways. The patients would disrobe, the women would start making masculine sounds, and other strange things would occur. To my delight, my colleagues found it interesting and asked me to share the information with them so they could better understand what was going on, thinking there might be a spiritual solution to help the confused students.
I left the encounter believing that even my liberal colleagues had their heads screwed on straight about the fundamental and basic reality that boys are boys and girls are girls. Throughout the 2015-16 academic year, the opinion remained consistent, and we were able to speak freely about the issue without reprisal or antagonism. Then, Donald Trump was elected in the fall of 2016, and it was like all Hell—literally—broke loose.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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At the time, I was relatively isolated from politics, happily so, and I didn’t have much of an opinion one way or the other about The Donald. Mind you, I live in Canada, so the proximate effect of American elections on my life is remote, and I obviously pay more attention to my own national and provincial politics than those of foreign countries. However, it was clear that virtually everyone I worked with had very strong feelings about Trump; he was Hitler, he was Darth Vader, he was Satan incarnate, and he wanted to rape women and kill Mexicans.
I remember thinking to myself, “Are we talking about the reality TV guy who makes funny cameos in movies?” In a word, people had gone insane.
Well, it was clear that one was required to “pick a side” in the debate, even in a foreign country. On one side was virulent irrational hatred for Trump and a de facto allegiance to BLM, the Rainbow movement in toto, hatred of men, love of abortion, and a general disdain for the entirety of human history involving European culture; on the other side was the opposite of that. Of course, I chose the latter.
Things came to a head for me one day after school in the staff room as colleagues were kicking and screaming about Trump’s “Muslim ban.” Do you remember that? That was when the first Trump administration put a travel ban on a number of countries experiencing civil conflicts, many of which happened to be Muslim majority, but the list also included Venezuela.
Not realizing the extent of the diabolical disorientation that had afflicted my colleagues, I piped up and remarked that about 85 percent of the Muslim world was under no travel ban, and the list included a Latin American nation that wasn’t Muslim at all, so it could not have been a “Muslim ban.” As could be expected, I was met with thoughtful responses from my colleagues who accused me of being a bigot, a racist, and an Islamophobe.
I should note that I am not an Islamophobe—a phobia is an irrational fear; my fear of encroaching Islamic extremism into the West is quite rational.
In any event, these were the same colleagues who, just months before, could commiserate about the diabolical element of the trans agenda. Now they were screaming at dissident confreres who didn’t commit to the new orthodoxy that was allergic to math, reason, and being sane.
Things only got worse when Covid—formerly pronounced as “Communism”—arrived from China. The same people who believed Trump was a mass murderer were now sharing memes and news stories poking fun at unvaccinated people who they thought should die as a result of their “anti-science” idiocy.
Quite frankly, I dreaded another Trump campaign not because I did not want him to win—I did—but because the first round was hard enough to deal with on a professional and personal level that the prospect of people losing their minds even further was dreadful. I dreaded another Trump campaign not because I did not want him to win, but because the first round was hard enough to deal with on a professional and personal level that the prospect of people losing their minds even further was dreadful.Tweet This
However, to my absolute amazement, it seems like the opposite has happened. Of course, there are still hordes of deranged weirdos who want to annihilate the universe in protest of Trump, but it is not like it was in 2016 or 2020.
Trump is becoming a pop-culture phenomenon, with his YMCA dance going viral to the point that sports leagues wherein athletes previously knelt during the anthem—ostensibly in support of BLM, but we all know it was against Trump—are filled with athletes doing the Trump dance when they score, get a sack, hit a home run, etc.
Even more astonishing has been the seeming humility of left-wing commentators who have demonstrated a willingness to admit the avant-garde idea that maybe your Trump-voting neighbor who dislikes inflation, global conflicts, poisonous food, and women being assaulted by men in sports may not, in fact, be a Nazi.
I have even noticed this in my own life North of the Border. I never bring up Trump in mixed company unless I am with my friends from Church, who all think the same; but sometimes I find myself trapped in a Trump-centered discussion in hostile territory. Recently, this happened, or so I thought.
The Trumpster was brought up, and I prepared for the usual feeling of a rising heart rate while I kept my mouth shut. But, to my surprise, nothing negative was said. I couldn’t believe it. Not only was nothing negative uttered, but the opposite happened; he was complimented. All I did was nod and smile. I said, “Yeah, maybe,” or something to that effect. To be honest, I was in a state of shock. I didn’t want to push the envelope by saying something too supportive because I still can’t be sure how strong the realignment has been.
In any event, this is not to say that Trump is going to save the universe or the human race—that is a role reserved for Christ—but the change in conversation and the relief in tension is palpable, at least from my vantage point.
I do believe that the last decade has been so insane that people are tired of insanity and are ready for sanity or something proximate. People will still get heated about politics, which is only natural and normal, but maybe the age of Trump the Antichrist is passing, and liberals will go back to allowing conservatives to be conservative without relentlessly accusing them of being genocidal maniacs who want to blot out the sun.
[Image Credit: BBC Sport]
Excellent read, Mr. Hall. Thank you. I pray the nuttiness really has subsided. I hope it is not a calm before a storm. I pray people are truly coming to their senses. Praise God.