by Suzanne Bowdey
Suzanne Bowdey is editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.
While it isn’t what every American wanted, the election did deliver something every American needed: clarity.
The results that handed Donald Trump his second term supplied exactly what this weary and fractured country had to have to move forward—an unambiguous winner. A straightforward path. A fresh chance to be the nation its people, and the world, deserve. But none of that will matter, some are pointing out, if we don’t seize the reprieve God has granted.
“We can’t squander this moment,” former Rep. Jody Hice said emotionally. “Underneath all of this, God is giving America a window of mercy. This has to be a moment that the body of Christ responds with gratitude and repentance. We cannot throw away this time of grace that God has given us.” Yes, there were tremendous victories that took place, he acknowledged, “but may we respond humbly and steward this moment appropriately going forward—and in greater reliance upon Him.”
What happened Tuesday was incredibly significant, he underscored. “It does restore hope in the American people that they realize the direction our country was going—and they rejected it. They don’t want the woke policies. They don’t want all this misunderstanding of gender and of loss of parental rights and a horrible economy and an open border and on and on and on. … [T]hey want more commonsense government. They want authentic leadership around the world, as well as right here in our own country. And I believe that message came through loud and clear.”
But to those conservatives who think they can just sit back and coast for four years now that Republicans have a firm grip on key levers of power, think again.
“Regardless of how this election goes,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins wanted people to know, “our work has just begun.”
We shouldn’t think that Trump’s election means game over in the political arena, Family Research Council’s Owen Strachan insisted. “No, it means game on.”
Obviously, there’s enormous relief at this opportunity to close our borders, restore biological sanity, make life affordable again, and become a respected voice on the global stage—and that’s worth celebrating. But if the disappointments of the GOP platform are any indication, there will be some uncomfortable times ahead. And those times must be met with our unbendable conviction that biblical principles matter—regardless of their political expedience.