Turning the World Right Side Up
The shock and awe changes the Trump administration is bringing to the USA/world is nothing less than breathtaking. Donald Trump has accomplished more in a month than most presidents accomplish in four-to-eight years.
I’ve never seen anything like it in 54 years as a voter.
The American people are behind him 50-55% in most polls (much higher than he polled in term one) and Rasmussen Reports that their Presidential Approval Roundup shows a majority of Americans believe the country is now on the “right track” for the first time in two decades.
President Trump believes he has been spared by God to renew the American nation.
That belief is turning the world right side up.
Turning the World Right Side Up
At the dawn of the 21st century, I feared that America and the Western World were committing civilizational suicide–descending into unbelief and increasing tyranny. Millions of voters agreed in 2024 that if secular-progressives stayed in power, the American dream and global influence for good could be lost–never to return.
They voted for Donald Trump to help right the ship of state.
What we’ve seen is what Bill O’Reilly calls a blitzkrieg, (If you need some humor, read the entire column.) The new administration is quickly turning the world right side up.
If that’s true, I better explain what “up” and “down” mean.
Let’s keep it simple for brevity’s sake. “Up” is “Heaven” where righteousness–God’s will–reigns. In this fallen world, Jesus said we were to pray that “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Our goal on earth, in our personal lives, families, and nations, is to be godly.
What’s “Down” in our sinful world is “Hell”–the domain of the devil and his angels. God’s laws for living are not practiced in that self-centered realm. It is a narcissistic nightmare filled with all aspects of being ungodly.
For centuries, Christian Europe and the USA stood out as “godly” nations with many biblical principles enshrined in the hearts of the people and laws of the land. We believed in God-given rights to life, liberty, and property, economic freedom, compassion toward the needy, secure borders, and peace through strength (among other virtues).
But in past decades, Europe greatly eroded its faith foundations, followed by the secular backsliding of the United States. Whereas righteousness once exalted these nations, sin became an ugly and destructive reproach (Proverbs 14:34).
Then God raised up a Samson (yes, with all his faults) to deliver us from the Philistines.
Millions of us were wrong about Donald Trump. Some still are. David Strom in Hot Air speaks for many when he says I Was Wrong About Trump:
There are two vital things about him which I got completely, totally, and without question wrong.
I was absolutely certain that Trump was too immature, too narcissistic, and too lacking in self-awareness to put his ego in check and hire the best people and support them…He has shrugged it all off and pushed his collaborators to the front, empowered them, and backed them every step along the way despite the Democrats and the Pravda Media baiting him hourly on how weak he appears. Musk. Kennedy. Gabbard. Rather than disposing of his allies like used tissues, he went to bat for them, pushed them to the forefront, and made himself bigger not by crowding them out but by adding their charisma to his.
I was also wrong about his competence to take on the Deep State and win. During his first term, I came to the conclusion that Trump didn’t understand government well enough and that by the end of his term, he hadn’t destroyed the Deep State, but rather they destroyed him…I worried that this term would be a repeat of the first–a missed opportunity to destroy the Deep State. Trump took the lumps, took the lesson, and came into his second term with a shock and awe plan that has the transnational elite reeling, the Deep State terrified and flailing, and doubters taking a second and third look. I was wrong. Trump might still be stopped, but it won’t be due to his inherent weaknesses. He is performing masterfully.
I agree.
Here are a few areas where the Trump Administration is turning the world right side up:
- Faith – Encouraging the biblical worldview of “In God We Trust” in American life and practice. The administration has established a first-ever Faith Office in the White House to promote religious liberty for everyone.
- Freedom – Re-enshrining free speech in our national discourse. No more censorship–a subject upon which Vice President J.D. Vance recently and rightly chastised the European Union.
- Economy – A U.S. president is finally tackling America’s monstrous 36 trillion dollar debt through the new advisory Department of Government Efficiency, slashing regulations and taxes, and giving back more money to the American people.
- Justice – lawfare is being squashed at the Justice Department, FBI, and other departments. No more favored or persecuted groups, but a renewal of “liberty and justice for all.”
- Secure Borders – Illegal crossings from Mexico plummeted to 229 encounters February 9-15, after averaging 11,000 per week under Pres. Biden. Secure borders (like homes and neighborhoods) are God’s idea (Acts 17:26).
- Peace Through Strength – The Hamas hostages are coming home and the end of the Russian invasion of Ukraine appears imminent. There is competent leadership in America again that is good news for the world.
I have never witnessed such amazing change in a nation/world this quickly.
But why now? Michael Barone has a theory in Why Were Hopes of the 1990s Dashed?
My conclusion in 1993 and, tentatively, now is that nationalism is the glue that holds parties and nations together. The republican nationalism of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the democratic nationalism of Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, and the nationalism of the two Roosevelt presidents, who remain vivid figures 116 and 80 years after leaving office.
The problem we have encountered over the last 30 years is that other countries’ nationalisms are not like America’s. It turns out that neither the leaders nor the masses in [other] nations have much interest in electoral democracy, market capitalism or the rule of law. One lesson seems to be that national character matters and that it is more a product of deep-seated history than of recent American policy initiatives.
Yes, freedom is the result of biblical truths lived out in nations.
That’s living “right side up.”
Roger Kimball adds this vital element to the current American renaissance in Restoring American Culture:
Throughout Civilization, Kenneth Clark hailed “energy” and “confidence” as hallmarks of a vibrant civilization. In his last episode, he identified “lack of confidence, more than anything else,” as that which “kills a civilization.” The spectacle of Donald Trump’s boundless energy, and the energy he calls forth from others, is heartening. Among other things, it makes us appreciate how his “revolution of common sense” might not only spark a political restoration, but also a new cultural golden age.
Gary Randall agrees: “I personally believe our country is turning in the right direction. Patrick Henry once said, “It is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains.” The chains are being broken, and our nation is being politically set free.”
There are many battles ahead. But let’s take a moment to rejoice and thank God.
And continue to pray: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
You listed “giving back more money to the American people”. More means there once was some given which I don’t recall ever receiving. Furthermore, I haven’t seen a dime currently.
The $5000/person check suggested is a shocking insult. I divided one recovered amount claimed by Musk by the number of registered voters in America. The figure totalled $640,543 per voter and that is only one department!
I would definitely want a big chunk given to eliminate our national debt, along with the destructive notion that we need to carry debt! I have yet to hear the words SAVE money expressed. It’s rare in the American mindset.
I saw my son, David, today who reminded me he grew to like President Trump in his first term because during his first administration he received a $3 an hour pay hike due to the Trump tax cuts. Only time in his life that a pay increase was over 50 cents.
That should come again when Congress passes the big reconciliation bill soon.
Let’s use all the savings to pay down the debt–which could bury 90% of the population in poverty if we aren’t serious. We need two trillion a year through cutting waste, and another trillion a year in financial growth. Even then, it will take 36 years to pay back the monstrous debt.
God bless all that they’re able to do.
You choose Trump’s lies and deniers over the truth . He’s only a Christian when it suits his needs. He’s a con man
And you just eat it up. He hasn’t done anything thing yet but setting this country into a tailspin. When mid terms he’ll ramp up his lies with false promises and you will follow like all good little lambs
He won’t differentiate between his supporters or non supporters as long as he is, in his own glory, lord Jesus Trump , king of kings.
Thanks for commenting, Chris. I don’t know how you can “know” the president’s heart (you called him a “con man”), but Jesus said the proof was in the fruit–how a person lives.
In this case, it’s how a leader GOVERNS–with the vast majority of the Trump policies being solidly lined up with biblical norms from our 224 year history. (I mention some of those categories in the post.)
I don’t like Trump’s style, but neither did many of Martin Luther’s critics in the 16th century (he was known as “the angry monk”).
But Luther’s biblical faith orientation “turned the world right side up” in his time also. And that’s happening again in ours through Donald Trump.
Amazing the people God can use for his purposes on earth.