Do Not Assume my Veteran Husband is MAGA
Why would MAGA think a career military veteran would support a president who does not believe in the Constitution he risked his life to defend?
Assumptions. Making assumptions is natural. Our brains want to see patterns in things, but as my father said, “to assume is to make an a-s-s out of you-and-me”.
When I am out with my husband, many assume we are MAGA Republicans. You see, my husband is a gun toting, camo-wearing, 4X4 F150 driving, die-hard deer hunting, gray-bearded retired military veteran. We seem to draw the MAGA Right like moths to a flame. Total strangers feel free to comment, with a head tilt and knowing look, that they are glad to have people “like us” in the neighborhood.
The implication is clear. Once someone even said “I can’t wait to see our guy back in the White House.” They looked confused when I responded “our guy is already in the White House.”
To be clear, these assumptions are generally about my husband, based on his appearance. He and his truck are covered with military and hunting symbols, whereas I am not so easy to identify, except by proximity. For some reason, the MAGA crowd assumes military and hunting people are in their camp. It turns my stomach.
My husband loves both the military and hunting because he was born poor. He learned to hunt and fish and trap very early because he was hungry. At 13 he started logging in the summer to support himself, and at 17 he joined the Marines to provide himself and his family with more than just food. Because he was from the wrong side of the tracks, he was bullied. He says he decided at 8 to become a Marine to protect himself and others from bullies. (It never occurred to him at 17, when he was 5'6" and 117 lbs, that he might not succeed in combat; he eventually became a Marine Corps Drill Instructor.)
Why would the MAGA crowd think a dedicated career veteran would support a president who does not believe in the Constitution he risked his life to defend? To say nothing of the fact that my husband, like everyone who serves, knows a bully when he sees one.
Most veterans come from poor families. They know what it is to be considered less than. Why would they support politicians who cut taxes for the rich and big business, while cutting services to the poor and calling enlisted soldiers “losers”? (Some do, but it is baffling to me.)
When a stranger sees my husband and assumes we support Trump, we set them straight. We support our trans daughter and her equal rights at all costs.
—M.R.
