North Carolinians are smart people, but as President Ronald Reagan said “we should trust, but verify” when someone tells us something.
We are continually asked to trust former President Trump, but he never offers verification. When Trump is challenged, he responds with anger or boasts, but he does not back it up.
He says he is smart, however, he blocks his college grades from being released. He brags about how good a businessman he is, but will not release his tax returns as promised. According to him, there was massive voter fraud in the 2020 election, but the 62 lawsuits he filed around the country found zero evidence of fraud.
This behavior is not new for the former president. When former cabinet members of his left his administration they all described him in unflattering terms. His first Secretary of State said he is a “moron.” His Chief of Staff and a former four-star Marine general called him “the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people.” Former Vice President Mike Pence is not supporting Trump and says: “I believe anyone that puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
Again, these are Trump’s vice president, his secretary of state, and his chief of staff. The three highest ranking officials who served side by side with him. Trump says they are “losers” and “bad hires.” But, who hired them?
Vice President Harris is a fighter and an advocate. She has spent her life fighting for justice and helping others as a prosecutor, an attorney general, a senator, and now vice president. As a former high school teacher and football coach Gov. Tim Walz is the poorest person ever to be on a modern, major political ticket. The facts show that they have spent a lifetime in service to others and making their communities better, not just trying to see how much money they could make because we know that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10)
I support Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz for two very simple reasons: they are kind and they are smart. These qualities are the bare minimum of what we should expect for candidates for the highest office in the land.
The late professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University Maya Angelou has a great quote that we all should take to heart as we head to the polls to vote this election season: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
America is a great nation. The largest economy in the world. We are a nation of innovators. We are a nation of workers. We are a nation of helping neighbors as Stanly County and the nation are now doing in western North Carolina. We are a kind nation. Let us vote for kindness.
In North Carolina, please register to vote by the Oct. 11 deadline here: https://www.ncsbe.gov/registering/how-register.

John Earnhardt
Woodside, California