By Jack Mandaville

I’m pro-choice. I believe in the legalization of marijuana. I don’t believe in God.

I think the Global War on Terrorism was not only mishandled over two presidential administrations, but I also think the invasion of Iraq was one of the worst foreign policy disasters in American history—an invasion I was there for in one of the first American units to cross the border under James Mattis’s 1st Marine Division.

I don’t know what technically makes you an “ally,” but if simply supporting the rights of gay-Americans to love each other and marry qualifies then I’m an ally too. I think building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico is ridiculous. I loathe things which I refer to as Wal-Mart Patriotism. I roll my eyes at Lee Greenwood’s song, “I’m Proud To Be An American.” I refuse to stand at sporting events when announcers ask “All veterans in the crowd to stand up and be recognized for your service.” I don’t think it should be mandatory or expected of politicians or public figures to wear American flag lapel pins. I despise the Tea Party and how they hijacked the Don’t Tread On Me flag. I wasn’t a fan of former President Barack Obama’s administration, but I wholeheartedly believe that he was often the target of unfair treatment and paranoia by the right.

With all that said, I want to make one thing clear: I’m really excited about Donald J. Trump being President of the United States of America. Why? Because what started out as showing a slight interest in his previous candidacy turned into all-out backing the more I was told by a significant number of people in our country that I was a monster for supporting him.

They made it easy for me. They made it easy when I continuously watched Trump supporters fall victim to numerous violent assaults that were rationalized by the far left—the most notable being a mentally handicapped teenager in Chicago who was kidnapped and tortured for his support.

They made it easy for me when I watched a number of people shamefully call African-Americans “Tom” for openly supporting the now President. They acted as slave masters, taking away another American’s fundamental right to openly support the candidate they choose. But instead of the whip they used unjust social pressure.

They made it easy for me when an openly gay acquaintance was kicked out of a gay bar for expressing his support of Donald Trump. There are a number of gay-Americans who are allowed to be openly gay with their families and within the Republican Party itself, but are in a situation where they are being forced into a political closet by other gay people. Equality is not about controlling someone’s mind.

They made it easy for me when I was flippantly told that I don’t support women or women’s equality because of my support for Donald Trump. They tried to strip me of my love for my mother, sister, girlfriend, and others. They tried to sum up my attitude about 50% of the people on this planet because I went to a couple of campaign rallies for him.

They made it easy for me when I was walking past a group of protestors with an older woman on my arm and the protestor said, “I’ma break me off this white bitch,” then proceeded to spit on the man walking behind me. And there next to him stood a man with a camera, waiting for me to react so he could film me and publicly brand me a racist.

I could go on and on. But the one point I really want to make is how the left let themselves become so consumed by unabridged fear that they managed to demonize and alienate the rest of us. They stripped us of our dignity. They stripped white, black, Hispanic, Asian, and indigenous people of their dignity. They did it to straight and LGBTQ people. They did it to men and women. They did it to Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, etc. Because whether the left wants to admit it or not, Donald Trump didn’t secure his place solely because of the white straight male.

They looked at me, a white straight male in his early thirties, and tried to sum up my entire life and opinions because I showed the slightest bit of interest in Donald Trump.

It was hate and intolerance from the very people who build their platform on opposing hate and intolerance: the political left.

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