Up and Down Politics…..and Trump

Politics is no longer a battle between left and right. It’s about Up and Down. It’s about the elites—quietly and covertly in control—and the everyday people who live their lives with trust, hard work, and good intentions, raising families and contributing positively to the world in fair exchange.

I used to be caught up in the left-right divide. My views were often shaped by rigid ideas I had constructed to make sense of the world. I believed in “Ra Ra America”—that the government was mostly made up of good people with good intentions, that others knew what needed to be known, and that, overall, things were in good hands.

I saw disagreements in simplistic terms—those on “the other side” were anti-American. Hanoi Jane and war protesters who fled to Canada were simply “bad.” I rarely looked beyond the neo-conservative narratives. My father was an Air Force officer, and the belief was simple: you fought for your government, by God, or you died.

I was taught that the right were Nazis and the left were communists. I placed myself in that so-called “perfect” middle ground, though if you had asked me to define it, I would have struggled.

But time passed, and I changed.

It started with a single moment on Facebook. I was discussing 9/11, and someone asked me—a structural engineer—if I had any thoughts on how the buildings collapsed. I reflexively repeated the government’s explanation. He offered an alternative view. I immediately rejected it. Then, he called me—politely—a coward.

That stopped me in my tracks.

I began looking into 9/11—not politically, but as an engineer. I won’t go into my findings here, but suffice it to say, it cracked the door open just a little. That was my first encounter with the “red pill” (for those unfamiliar with the term, look it up in the context of The Matrix).

Years passed, and I kept looking.

I realized that the left-right divide was an illusion. It was nothing more than different approaches to the same fundamental desires. The people on either side weren’t my enemies—they, like me, loved America. They wanted good lives for their families.

The real divide wasn’t between left and right. It was between Up and Down. It was between the ruling class—the elites—and the regular people just trying to live.

Race, gender, wealth, sexual orientation—none of these truly divide us in ways that matter. The only real divide is between those in control and those being controlled. And even “Up” and “Down” aren’t the right words. The so-called “Up” aren’t superior in any way. They are simply those who have maneuvered into positions of power, harnessing the complexities of law, finance, and bureaucracy to build themselves palaces of unearned wealth and influence.

And how did they do it? Because the rest of us—busy living our lives, uninterested in controlling others—let them.

We allowed them to take control of our money, printing it out of thin air. We let them manipulate our elections through ever-more-complex systems of digital trickery and backroom deals. We let them funnel billions through shadowy NGOs, enriching themselves while pretending to serve the public.

The true battle isn’t left vs. right—it’s between these self-appointed rulers and ordinary people.

And here’s another lie we’ve been sold: that politics exists on a linear spectrum, with Nazis on one end and communists on the other. That’s nonsense. True political control is a different spectrum entirely. On one end is total government control. On the other? No government at all—pure anarchy. Nazis and communists are both on the authoritarian side of that spectrum; they just differ slightly in their methods of control.

We’ve been played.

The old political disagreements between decent Americans—those with more liberal or more conservative views—are nothing more than a whisper in the hurricane of real political forces.

And people—liberals and conservatives alike—are just starting to see it.

That brings me to Trump.

Many see him as an enemy to liberal thinking. Others see him as an enemy to traditional conservatism. I—and many others—see him as a warrior against the true battle: Up vs. Down.

I used to think JFK and RFK were the enemy simply because they were Democrats. Man, was I wrong.

By today’s standards, they were conservatives. Though flawed, as were MLK and Trump, they were mostly right. And, above all, they were men of goodwill.

And that’s the real question.

Are our political leaders people of goodwill? Do they build, or do they destroy? Do they live cleanly and ethically, or do they operate in shadows, unable to ever reveal their true intentions?

That’s been my biggest shift in thinking.

And that’s why I see Trump the way I do. From the start, I liked him—not because he was perfect, but because he was a man of action, a builder, someone who had accomplished much despite relentless opposition. Over time, I’ve come to see that he is a man of goodwill, with remarkably few serious transgressions against our society.

Real power comes from a clean heart and hands.

And today, we are witnessing true power at work—through Trump and his movement.

And those, most nervous, and loud, are those that know their own, dark souls.