A Divine Bargain

When I joined the Army in 1980 many of my NCOs were Vietnam veterans.

I heard stories from them of what amounted to divine bargains with God. They had heard the same stories from Korean War and WWII vets. It goes a bit like this.

A guy is in a firefight or hitting a beach. As bullets whiz by, he makes a deal with the Almighty. "If you get me through this Lord, I'll change." Then the story veers, as guys promise to go to church, be faithful to their wives, or generally stop being agnostic screwups.

After living through the experience most of the men do change. At least for a while. Many reported drastic positive reforms of their lives, as they realize they may have been spared for a reason. Perhaps to be a better husband and father. Perhaps to be a better man. And that brings us to a recent Saturday afternoon in Pennsylvania and Donald Trump.

If you watched this week's Republican Convention as I did, you saw a new Trump. Could this be the exclusive result of political calculation? Sure. But, I was a political consultant for three decades and I'm a pretty good judge of candidate character. This guy seems legitimately changed.

He may think he's just lucky and thus he's very thankful. He could give most of the credit to the secret service agents who shielded him, as he did at the convention and feel like an even more valuable political commodity. Or, he may, as he also did in Milwaukee, credit something substantially providential. I certainly do.

I am no holy roller. But for this man to go through what he's been through and then to take a bullet on top of it, and still remain defiant and standing tall, says something about his character and also something about fate.Is his mellow, almost serene, demeanor at the convention due to a divine bargain? Has he internalized, "Okay Lord, you spared me by a hair. I owe you. I can change," and perhaps part of that debt is dropping much of the bombast and buffoonery that has characterized some of his former behavior?

The guy I saw on that stage last night with his wife and family had nothing to prove, no axe to grind, no grudge to pursue. Maybe it's the Grinch scenario and his heart grew upon nearly getting his face shot off in Whoville.

That, and the record of his administration, is a potent mix to challenge whatever Marxist nitwit the Dems sub for Biden. There certainly is no guarantee that Trump will win in November. However, Butler may have changed him to the point that he personally, aside from the stark contrast to Biden and the Dems, really deserves to win. Bully for him.