A while back, the Rhino Times suggested in print that it was inadvisable for Donald Trump to continue using highly abusive language to refer to Kamala Harris, Chris Christie and many others – and, instead, advised that, during the campaign, Trump would have a better chance of winning by sticking to talking about the economy and other policy issues, rather than going on wild tangents and using abrasive language against everyone who disagrees with him.

After that, a few – but certainly not most – Rhino Times readers took offense and began referring to the “Woke Rhino,” or the “New Liberal Rhino,” which was humorous to me because one can still believe that a president should be, well, presidential, and also believe that biological men playing in women’s sports is a crazy idea, that having taxpayer money pay for prison sex change operations is completely nuts, and that letting millions upon millions of unknown illegal immigrants stroll across the border is a danger to citizens and a major national security threat.

The same person can believe it’s a massively terrible idea to allow young kids to have their bodies permanently altered because at that time they are still forming who they are as a person. Kids have no idea what they will want to be when they are 20. (As a former Republican Guilford County commissioner told me, “When you’re a kid you say all sorts of things: ‘I want to be an astronaut; I want to be a fireman’ – but, when you’re a kid, you have no idea what you really want to be.”)

So, like I said, you can believe all that and still believe that the president of the United States should not be harsh and divisive and talk freely about retribution and going after his enemies.

And here’s the other thing: One can be conservative to the core – and even MAGA to the core – and still acknowledge that it just might be possible that former and soon-to-be future president Donald Trump could make a mistake from time to time.

However, for some Trump supporters and some Rhino readers, even the mere suggestion that Trump could possibly make a mistake is absolutely pure heresy; and, for them, anyone who would dare suggest Trump might make a mistake is an ultra-left-wing nut who wants to ban all guns and give free sex change operations to incarcerated illegal immigrants at taxpayer expense.

So, when I suggested during the campaign that Trump would do himself, conservatives, and, really, the entire country a favor by not calling Kamala Harris “retarded,” I angered some readers and got some pushback and even a few readers who instantly jumped to the conclusion that the Rhino Times was now “woke.”

Apparently, for some, a conservative newspaper should never suggest that Trump could ever do anything wrong.

I always smile when someone accuses me of being a far-left wing-liberal. That’s because, to me, almost every reader of the Rhino Times is waaaaay too far left on the political spectrum.

Many people don’t know this about me but, in 1996, I was the Libertarian candidate for governor of the State of North Carolina.  I ran against Robin Hayes and Jim Hunt. As a Libertarian, I see most Republicans as way too far to the left and as people who want government much too involved in everyone’s lives. As a Libertarian, I look at Republican policies and I’m constantly astonished at all this huge government they’re pushing for.

Just to take one of ten million examples that I could give, most conservative Republicans I know want to continue this senseless and ridiculous War on Drugs – even though it hasn’t worked, it’s cost billions and billions of dollars, it explodes jail and prison populations, it hurts minorities more than others – and, most importantly, it is just a perfect instance of big government depriving people of the right to do whatever they want with their own bodies.

It makes 1,000 times more sense to treat addiction as a medical problem than – as most conservative Republicans want – to arrest these people and throw them in jail, where I then have to pay for their existence with my hard-earned money.

To continue my point, cigarettes are still legal and available at just about any store, but smoking has gone down tremendously due to information campaigns and helpful anti-smoking programs – and that’s one of the most addictive substances there is.  However, illicit drugs are illegal and they seem to be as popular and deadly as ever.

In North Carolina, the Republican-dominated legislature is still, even in 2024, telling people that they don’t even have a right to smoke marijuana in their own home.  How in the world is that not big government intruding violently into our lives and our houses?

Where do these huge government Republicans get the right to tell me what I can do in the privacy of my own home?

Will the conservative majority in the North Carolina legislature let me gamble with my friends or open a casino in the state?  No, they will not. Absolutely they will not.  They will let the state government run a wide-scale highly promoted gambling/lottery operation – but can you and I, supposedly free Americans, do so?

No.

I could go on and on.

So, it’s funny to me, as a Libertarian who believes government should be drastically reduced, when “conservative Republicans” – who think government should be somewhat reduced – think that someone is “woke” because they believe things would be better all-around if people were civil to each other and if the president was presidential.

Take, for instance, the uproar regarding Trump’s cabinet picks, which have set many liberals’ hair on fire – and, frankly, have set a lot of Trump’s Republican supporters in the US Senate’s hair on fire as well.

Matt Gaetz for Attorney General is a good example.  Trump said earlier this week that anyone who votes against Gaetz would be primaried and Elon Musk’s money would be funding their opponents. Trump finally was forced to pull the nomination but only because he couldn’t ram Gaetz through.

However, is it really such a grave sin for, as some Senate Republicans have suggested that, perhaps Gaetz might not have been the absolute best choice to head up the Justice Department of the United States of America?

Does that make someone “woke” and a left-wing nut if they think it’s at least possible that there might be someone else out there who better exemplifies the qualities of someone we want to have leading the Justice Department – even if Trump thinks otherwise?

I don’t care how much you love Trump or his policies – I am sorry to tell you, Gaetz was a terrible idea to head up the justice department, and the US Senate did a wise thing by not letting him do it.

Some say, yes, to even remotely question Trump is a cardinal and unforgivable sin.

But I am saying, no it’s not.

So, in the case of Matt Gaetz, I think Trump made a mistake.

There, I said it.

I also think that, somewhere deep inside you, you know that’s true as well.

Does that make me woke?  No.

Does that mean that I want violent illegal aliens roaming freely across the country raping and killing Americans? No, it does not.

Does it mean that I think government should ban plastic straws or incandescent lightbulbs? Nope.

It just means that I believe that, like you, and like me – and like all human beings on the planet Earth – Trump can make a mistake from time to time.

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