As we have seen, Trump did much better in the November 2020 election than he was expected to do. More people voted for him than many polls indicated would be the case. When asked why they like Trump, many Trump supporters have said that they don’t like the way that Democrats want to take away their freedom, and that Trump and the GOP grant them “freedom.” They often claim that Trump and the GOP love “freedom” and that Democrats do not.
This assertion puzzles me. Here are some examples illustrating why:
Currently, gay people have the freedom to marry in the United States. Citizens gained that freedom nationally during the Obama administration. President Obama is a Democrat.
Marriage
However, if Trump and the GOP love “freedom,” as its members claimed during the run-up to the November 2020 election, then its members would not be trying to take away freedom to marry from others.
Many politicians and opinion and community leaders in the GOP want to take that freedom to legally marry from gay people. They want to do so by reversing/overturning the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision.
If you do not like gay marriage, and you do not want to infringe on the freedom of others, you can simply say “thank you, but no thank you,” if someone of the same sex proposes to you.
Pregnancy
Here is another example: Currently, women have the right to safe and legal abortion in the United States.
Many politicians, as well as opinion and community leaders, in the GOP want to take the freedom to obtain safe and legal abortion from women. They want to do so by reversing/overturning the Supreme Court’s Roe decision. Trump explicitly said he would nominate to SCOTUS judges who would seek to overturn Roe.
However, if Trump and the GOP love “freedom,” as its members claim, then its members would not be trying to take away freedom to obtain safe and legal abortion from others.
If you are pregnant and you do not want an abortion, and you do not want to infringe on the freedoms of others, you can simply say “Thank you, but no thank you,” if someone asks whether or not you would like an abortion.
Arms
Many Trump supporters have also insisted that the Democrats want to take away their freedom to own guns, and this is why they voted for Trump.
They said that Democrats were going to try to take away their right to own guns — over and over again — during the eight years that Democrat Barack Obama was president. No one tried to take their guns away during the Obama administration. No Democrats have tried to take their guns away during the 4 years of the Trump administration.
Thinking that Democrats are suddenly going to move to revoke the Second Amendment when they have not during the last 12 years is a truly perverse and unrealistic form of paranoia.
Clearly, the Democrats are not the ones hell-bent on eliminating freedoms.