From today’s email newsletter (subscribe here or send me your email address to [email protected]):
Good morning! It’s been way longer between newsletters than I anticipated! Unfortunately I did not dodge the chest cold/cough/fever bug that has been visiting our house since before Thanksgiving. I thought I had, but found out I was unsuccessful and now will deal with this horrible-sounding cough for a couple weeks. But I am hoping to turn the corner here in the next couple days as it relates to the other symptoms.
It’s been hard to be “silent” over the last week or so because a lot has happened I would have liked to have written about, but it turns out tracking this stuff and writing about it takes more energy than one would think!
I have been wanting to write about this for a while, though, so I’m going to hit on it today. Never, ever feel like you can’t or shouldn’t question me. Please. Or anyone else involved in politics. Ever.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again, one of my favorite journalism professors drilled this quote into our head…
“If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out.”
One of our society’s biggest problems is we don’t ask enough questions. We are too eager and willing to accept an answer if it is the answer we hoped to receive or we like the person who gives us the answer.
When I say this, I mean it. And I want you to apply it across the board. I do not believe there is anyone in politics who you shouldn’t question — yes, this would even include President Donald J. Trump.
I say all of this in response to a tweet from Laura Loomer. Loomer is a social media personality. She has done some good work in uncovering big stories, but there are some concerns I would also have about her work.
Many people would dislike her style. I try not to get too caught up on “style” because, to quote a great pastor, “I like my way of doing something better than your way of doing nothing.”
But Loomer also refers to herself as an investigative journalist. And to me, that term or title has to have a meaning for it to matter. And this is what bothers me about her. This tweet from earlier this month:
“You’re either loyal to Trump or you’re not. Loyalty is black and white…Loyalty is easy. Those who say it’s cult like are generally disloyal. It’s not hard to fulfill a mandate if you are genuinely loyal.”
First, a journalist — let alone an investigative journalist — would never and should never be calling for “loyalty” to a politician. Ever. We should always be curious and questioning. Always. Especially as it relates to those in power. And by those in power, I mean those we don’t like and those we like.
This form of “loyalty” isn’t easy, it’s lazy. Loyalty shouldn’t mean not being questioned and, perhaps, not even not being disagreed with. I would argue, in fact, those most loyal should and would challenge the “MAGA” way of thinking because it is important to know where the other side may be coming from.
I kind of look at it like a sports team. A head coach certainly expects loyalty from his assistant coaches, but if the assistant coaches think the head coach is “off” on something or not seeing something that they should, it would actually be incredibly disloyal to not call the head coach’s attention to it.
Because loyalty first and foremost should be to the team, then the coach. Just as here, loyalty should be first and foremost to the country, and then to President Trump.
It is impossible to find anyone you’ll agree with 100 percent. And there may even be times you really disagree. That’s OK. A disagreement doesn’t reflect a lack of loyalty. In fact, I would argue it actually displays something more important than loyalty — it displays respect.
Now, ironically, shortly after Loomer tweeted this, she publicly questioned some of Trump’s statements and some of his decisions regarding who he is surrounding himself with.
Last week, Loomer got into a nasty Twitter spat with Elon Musk. At one point, Loomer wrote:
“You can’t call yourself MAGA and then block me of all people. I’m the litmus test for what it means to be MAGA. If you block me, you aren’t MAGA.”
Aye, aye, aye. What a statement. That isn’t exactly a healthy perspective.
There is a lot that needs to be defined in terms of what “MAGA” means — but at no point have I thought about that question and come up with the answer of Laura Loomer. I don’t mean that to offend her, either. As I said, I think she’s done some great things.
But MAGA — well, every American — would benefit from understanding we should question things, we should question elected officials and we should have loyalties that are more important than loyalty to a politician.
Grace is super important in a lot of areas of life, politics is no different. We’re not going to agree 100 percent on everything with anybody. That’s fine. We should offer some leeway for disagreement. But when things get to a certain point — and there gets to be a number of fundamental disagreement on foundational issues, then yes, have the debate.
But nobody should expect an unhealthy version of loyalty. A version that comes without questioning. A version that comes without room for debate. A version that demands conformity to one singular person.
That isn’t healthy. Nor is it the mindset that will help “Save America.”
I appreciate the many notes and responses I get from my readers. I also really appreciate the questions. Sometimes because I do a poor job of communicating what I’m trying to communicate. Other times because I assume we all have a basic knowledge of something that we don’t have because even though I maybe have been talking about an issue for a day or two, it doesn’t mean everyone who follows me has been paying attention to it.
But there’s even a rare time or two where I realize I may be wrong after being asked a question. There’s also times where I give an answer to an honest question rooted in disagreement and we still disagree after I answer but we’re better off for having the conversation.
That is called conversation and it makes us better for having it.
My advice — be skeptical of any movement or any person who thinks you should have blind loyalty to anyone. Don’t let them insult your intelligence.
We should expected to be challenged. We should want to be challenged. If we truly believe what we believe, we’ll have no problem defending ourselves.
Iron sharpens iron. Blind loyalty doesn’t.
Healthy skepticism and healthy questioning aren’t just OK in politics — they are necessary.
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