It is not always good to be completely honest
The fact that President Trump has had significant policy wins over the last nine months does not justify his often-unhinged rantings.
He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. -- Proverbs 25:28
When I criticized President Trump for bragging that he “hates” his political opponents, Trump apologists squealed that he is “honest” and “that’s why we voted for him.” We finally have someone who “fights back” after decades of compromising. (Somehow, Trump’s morally bankrupt compromising on abortion in 2024 and weakening the Republican platform - something conservatives would never have tolerated from Mitt Romney or John McCain - is never factored in by the people who squeal with delight that Trump “fights” the Democrats.)
But it is not always good to be honest. If someone makes you angry, you might have terrible thoughts in your head, yet if you are a disciplined adult you restrain yourself and do not say terrible things. Instead, you express your disagreement in a more civilized and reasonable manner. Are you insincere in the moment? Yes. In a day, or a week, or a year, will you be glad you responded with civility? Are you glad you did not end a friendship or damage a familial relationship?
Most people, when faced with hindsight, will be thankful they showed restraint. When you are honest and say what you are really feeling, you often regret it a day or a week or even ten minutes later, because you know you were needlessly cruel. So no, it is not good to be “honest” when your emotions are running high. This does not mean you openly lie or say things that are not true, but that you restrain yourself.
This does not mean you cannot “fight back” in the realm of public policy or politics. When the Democrats running county government vote to give Planned Parenthood money forcibly taken from taxpayers for “gender affirming hormones,” that will be a wicked act and we should say so. When the Democrats running city government allow crime to run rampant, innocent people to be endangered and businesses to close because of some sort of perverse sense of “compassion,” that is a wicked act and we should say so. When a thoroughly corrupt so-called “judge” releases a violent career criminal so he can viciously murder a 23-year-old woman on a train, that is a wicked, depraved and perverted act and we should say so. We should support political candidates who will do exactly the opposite of those things, and support legislation banning this abuse of the public trust.
No, the fact that Trump has had significant policy wins over the last nine months does not justify his often-unhinged rantings, especially on social media. One of the big reasons Trump lost in 2020 was his needless rantings on Twitter. Tormenting the widower of a woman who died tragically of an undiagnosed medical condition was especially heinous. I was saying the same things about Trump then that I am saying now, and at the time I was a Trump supporter. I voted for Trump in 2020. The reason I criticized his total lack of restraint, discipline and professionalism is because I wanted him to be re-elected and I wanted his policy agenda to succeed. His unhinged rantings are a distraction from and often a boat anchor around his success.
So, yes, fight and fight hard. Fight to win. Expose wickedness and push a policy agenda that defends the innocent and protects their rights. Discipline corrupt actors in government and eliminate wasteful government programs. Enforce immigration law. Cut taxes. Protect private property rights. Do all of that aggressively. But there is absolutely no legitimate reason you cannot do that with professionalism, restraint and self-discipline. The people claiming otherwise do not support President Trump and never have. They just love cruelty for its own sake.