It's a complicated thing to analyze my Father. He was the epitome of the immigrant who came over and made it. He also was a very staunch Libertarian. He was a live and let live guy all the way but don't ask him to pay for your mistakes. You own them. It's not that he wasn't compassionate because he was on a human level; one on one. I know he helped many people including Cuban refugees who he brought into our home for a night's sleep and guidance on making their way to Miami. He was almost an underground railroad kind of guy in that regard (much to my mother's chagrin; she would joke about how he trusted them because they were Cuban which was the exact reason she didn't trust them! Ha).
He was known as a kick you in the tail kind of a coach because all the men who played for him when they were in little league have told me so. No crying, you know. Get up there and compete or get off the field. Practice hard and practice at home. That was life to him and though he suffered discrimination in his time (remember, we were in Tallahassee during the 60's. George Wallace country. Confederate flags everywhere and the N word used liberally by children who heard it at home) he continue onward and upward. That was my upbringing. So what kind of politics comes out of that? Well I was a Conservative for a very long time primarily because of him and his absolute distrust of an all powerful central government; but add in the fact that he wholeheartedly believed in the separation of church and state and that's why I think my bias has settled in as a very moderate Democrat.
My Dad was no fan of Che Guevara or Castro and was a Bay of Pigs kind of a guy. He also supported Argentina during the Falklands Island "war." He said they were really known as Las Malvinas and that the American public sided with England because we had an emotional, unconditional love for England and not for Argentina, meaning if the American people knew the truth they would have had a different opinion. He mocked college students who would wear a shirt with that famous picture of Che as idiots. He didn't have much sympathy for Che's arguments about Bautista's corruption or the effects United Fruit had on Latin America because he said Che was a murderer. So it negated everything. But my Dad knew about ALL that stuff. He knew Bautista was corrupt to the core and he (my Dad) supported the revolution; UNTIL Castro turned against the very things he preached in his famous, "History Will Absolve Me" speech made in court after he was captured trying to overthrow Bautista back in 1954 (I believe). I read the entire speech. He liberally quoted from our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. He made a brilliant case for a coup because it was for the people. Well, what happened to that guy? He seemed to forget what he said but my Father didn't. He said they had spies everywhere and their freedoms were locked away. He hated Castro and never forgave him. He took that to his grave. I grew up with that story as a child ringing in my ears. I'm not really making a point here, but relaying the different points of view to which I was exposed.
I don't know what he would have thought of Trump to be perfectly honest. I've been thinking about it a long time. I believe he approved of Antonin Scalia so that tells you about his beliefs. He was a Machiavellian in many ways and I believe in the end he would have held his nose and possibly supported Trump in order to avoid another Sotomayor or Ginsberg on SCOTUS. I don't think he would have ever expected Trump to have won. I never expected him to win. I get what he is doing with his agenda because it's from the right. I can predict his every move as probably each of you can. But his personal style is unprecedented as President is it not? This sh*t-hole stuff is being over-blown in my view but at the same time I don't like hearing that from him. There is no need for it. I'm sticking to the agenda and not the impeachment talk. All it will do is make Pence President. He's classier by far but he is a Christian, possibly a Dominionist.
My Dad was about law and order and a strict Constructionist. Would he have been offended by Trump? It's hard to say. Maybe. He had thin skin at times but it didn't affect his motivation to succeed. It would just piss him off and make him want to do greater things. I may have mentioned it before; he was 5' 5" tall and admitted to having hang-ups about his height. Well, that little man represented Cuba in gymnastics three times in the Olympics, won a gold medal in the Pan American games and received a full-ride to Florida State University. They had a world-class team back then. And he was a world-class Father who told me to do my best and not be stupid. The rest of it I guess was just talk over cigars and scotch.
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Last edited: Jan 15, 2018