By John Lee Hurt. 

A few years ago, I made a very public statement that I voted for our current president. In some ways it was bold. Other ways not so much. I mean, what’s bold about a conservative voting Republican? Not much.

In 2016 I was sold a half-baked king cake. I bought a ticket to the Trump Train. Since then I haven’t been as pleased as I thought I would be. He has done a lot of good, but he’s also ran his mouth a lot. Overall if I were to grade him he’d be a B- and for reference I gave Obama a C and Bush before a D on the best of days.

Economically, we’re doing better. The government is taking less from us in terms of taxes. Unemployment is at its lowest historically. Stock markets reached record highs each day for several months. I would call that winning. He pressured companies into staying here and investing in us, the people.

On the flip side, he has hurt us in some ways. We still have political swamps. The government shutdown was an example of that. Both sides were at fault. I’m a believer in tighter borders, but I’m a bigger believer in feeding our own citizens. We had thousands waiting in line for food. It looked like a socialist nation for a minute.

Another major positive is the brokering of peace on the Korean Peninsula. It’s not settled yet, but it’s getting there. It may seem like we’re crawling our way to peace, but crawling is still moving forward. No other U.S. President has been able to do what he did over there. That’s an accomplishment for the history books.

One final contrast is his ego. Yes, he’s successful, but he doesn’t seem to know when to hush. I feel like we can all agree on that, right? That has hurt his reputation in my eyes. He needs to learn to be still sometimes and let things work.

Would I vote for him again? Right now, it depends on who is running. Hopefully we won’t have to pick “the lesser of two evils” again.

No matter who you vote for, remember that ultimately this your country. Vote often and vote wisely.