To the editor:
Ingrained in the American spirit is to fight. Fighting for our country, fighting for our
values, fighting to leave our home better than we found it.
Last Saturday was another typical weekend during an election year. I went straight
from speaking at an event in Burlington and sped over to Mount Pleasant to address
another gathering of local Republicans. When I arrived, I was quickly met with
someone showing me their phone, live streaming the news about the assassination
attempt against President Trump. There were emotional reactions from folks in the
room, and murmurs from groups just trying to figure out if he was alive or dead.
When I got home, like many Americans, I turned on the news and watched the
replay over and over and over again of the few minutes that could have changed
the trajectory of American history. The most striking moment was not seeing the
assassin’s bullet pierce President Trump’s ear, but his instinct — fight.
You have to think that most people who are shot or who are in the cross hairs of
multiple rounds of gunfire would crawl their way off the stage in whatever fashion
they could. Not Trump. Defiantly telling his secret service detail to stop, squeezing
his way out of the agents body shield, and visibly shaking his fist to the whole world
the words that have stuck with many — fight.
Since the age of Trump, myself, along with other Republicans, have at times
questioned his unorthodox style of leadership, at times enjoying every bit of it as he
dresses down members of the legacy media and on occasion wishing he could
show some discretion on social media. However, I have come to see something in
President Trump I never have before: the fighter we need at this moment in
American history.
As we look across the world, we see utter chaos on Joe Biden’s watch. A war that
should have never started in Europe, Hamas terrorists brazenly killing innocent
Israeli citizens and a Chinese Communist Party that has openly advertised their
intent to invade Taiwan. Our adversaries who once stood down to President Trump
are now empowered under President Biden.
Weakness emboldens our enemies, but strength keeps them at bay. This November
we have a choice between a weak and feeble leader who not only fails to display
strength abroad but can’t even carry himself up the steps of Air Force One. On the
other hand, we have a leader who stood to his feet with blood dripping down his
face, to tell America’s enemies that we will not fall and reminded Americans of the
strength we still have.
Iowa Rep. Taylor Collins
Mediapolis
