Your grandmother must be so proud!
We should respect the office of the President and not shriek obscenities at the President. This applies to both Republicans and Democrats.
When a Twitter user posted an image of a Trump fanboy in an obscene shirt a few years ago, I quoted the post with this comment: "His grandma must be so proud." If my grandma saw me wearing a shirt like that, I would be devastated - even if she never said a word or even shot a look of disapproval. I would rather walk into church wearing that shirt every Sunday for a year than have my grandma see me wearing it once.
The shirt contained 3 uses of the F word in 13 words, making up 23% of the total words on the shirt. If your contribution to the political culture consists of using the F word every 4 words, might I suggest you broaden your horizons, buy a thesaurus and expand your vocabulary? Also, you should be a lot more mature and respectful of the President's office. Furthermore, there were children at the state fair who read this man's obscene shirt. Conservatives who are concerned about the culture's poisonous influence on children should be opposed to this kind of obscene garment.
"But Scott, Democrats said so many terrible things about President Trump for years before that!"
I do not care. Joe Biden, whatever you think of his personal character or his policy agenda, was the President of these United States. Whether or not you respect the man holding the office, you should respect the office itself and not unleash a torrent of obscenities at the President.
The same applies both ways. Democrats would have certainly agreed with my post about respecting President Biden in 2022. When I said the same thing about President Trump on Meta Threads, there were over four thousand replies to my post, with a large number of the replies filled with obscenities and unhinged rage. Unfortunately, we have reached the point where the only time we respect the office of the President (or any other civil authority) is if someone we like holds the office.
But this is not what Scripture teaches. The Apostle Paul instructs us to honor the civil authority in Romans 13, and the Apostle Peter tells is in 1 Peter 2:13-17 that we are to "honor the king." Civil authority was established by God, and we should be respectful of that authority as we are respectful of God.
This does not mean and has never meant that it is wrong to criticize the President, his character, or his policies. I firmly disagree with President Trump about free trade, for example. I thought Governor Ron DeSantis and Vice President Mike Pence were both far more suitable to be the Republican Party's nominee in both personal character and their proposed policy agendas. I have criticized President Trump's unprofessional and often childish behavior. I disagreed with and criticized President Obama, President Biden and President Clinton on a wide variety of issues, and I criticized President Bush on a number of occasions. Pretending that I am demanding total subservience to "dear leader" is a fraud and a hoax.
But what about free speech? People have the right to say the F word and be disrespectful of any elected official! This is a concept that is foreign in our libertine culture: Just because you have the right to do something does not mean it is the right thing to do, or that you should do it. There are a great many things that we have the legal right to do that we refrain from doing out of decorum or basic manners. Society has always been filled with social norms that, while they are not (and in many cases should not be) enforced by the law, are indeed good boundaries for respectable adults. Shrieking "FREE SPEECH!" in response for an argument for civility is how a spoiled child would react.
But we also need to recognize something else: President Trump brings much of this hatred and vitriol on himself with his nasty language and filthy mouth. If Trump were to behave professionally and treat the office with respect, it would be more difficult to justify the amount of disrespect shown toward him and the office of the President. It also does not help that "MAGA" trolls spent the last four years shrieking obscenities at President Biden and disrespecting his authority as well. You do not get to spend four years screeching the F word at the President of the United States and then clutch your pearls the second your guy gets back into office and the same behavior is directed at him.
Keep in mind that I did not vote for President Trump in 2016 or 2024. I voted against him in all three primary elections. I do not regret, repent or apologize for any of the five times I voted against Trump. The fantasy that I am just some sort of Trump sycophant who is standing up for "dear leader" is just that - a fantasy. Given the tone of responses to my very white bread post on Threads, it may be a psychological delusion.
We live in a constitutional republic, and our First Amendment rights are critically important in holding our government accountable. We should not hesitate to disagree with our political leaders on any number of issues, from income tax policy to the spending priorities of the local county council, public transit policy of the city council, disclosure of money collected via civil asset forfeiture by local police, or the lack of transparency by township government. But it does not advance your policy agenda or help your favored candidates win elections to use the F word every fourth word, whether you are cursing at a Democratic or Republican President. All that does is show you need to grow up.