Here’s a fun exercise: Imagine that your sister is running for office in your community.
You love your sister, you watch her kids often, you would move mountains for her if asked, perhaps even dive in front of a truck to save her life.
But the policies she wants to enact as an officeholder are the exact opposite of all of the things you believe in, every single one. And you know that if she’s elected she’ll have a major impact on significantly changing policy.
Her opponent is a little sharp around the edges and you don’t really like his personality but has a track record of getting things done, and you agree with him on everything politically. Who do you vote for?
Remember what politics is about and why it’s different than sports or entertainment. It’s about what politicians eventually are able to do. It’s not the speeches or baby kissing or debates or press conferences…it’s ultimately about policy. Do you want your taxes to go down? Do you want serious border security? Do you want the economy to grow? Do you want government policies to facilitate job growth where you live?
Kris Bryant or Angelina Jolie are rich and powerful and famous, but they can’t do any of those things. A politician, or group of them, can. And when a politician comes along and sweeps you off your feet with his charm or wit or story or personality, it’s easy to get caught up in the swoon and lose sight of the whole reason you’re following or supporting that politician – to change policy.

If the politician is good at all of the other things but they can’t affect real-world changes in laws and policy, what’s the point?
When people ask me why I voted for President Trump despite all of the unsavory things he’s said both in public and private, that’s always my response. It’s about the policy. I want the economy to grow. I want Obamacare repealed. I want a secure border. I don’t want my tax dollars going to organizations that perform abortions. And about 20 other issues. Trump fought for these things, Clinton for the opposite. The choice was quite easy for me and I’m sure millions of others.
The Justice Department this past week announced that a special counsel will look into the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russia before the election to determine if any “collusion” occurred during the campaign, and if any laws were broken during or since. Talking heads on TV (almost exclusively from the “left”) are throwing terms around such as “obstruction of justice” and “Watergate 2.0” at a fever pitch.
If you’re a Trump supporter, you might find yourself wanting to defend the president no matter what. If you’re a Trump detractor, you might believe every accusation under the sun, no matter what, and call for his head (impeachment).
I’m going to treat the whole thing as I do the politician vs. policy question – my feelings for the politician should not color the determination of “guilt” as far as the Constitution goes. In other words, if Trump did nothing wrong, I will defend him. If he did, I will say as much. I hope that Trump detractors can do the same.
What I’m concerned most about regarding the special counsel is that it will become a huge distraction to the agenda of what the country just voted for. If “high crimes and misdemeanors” are revealed about Donald Trump himself, we have a process for dealing with that. It might get ugly and disruptive for a time, but our republic will survive.
If this all winds up being nothing more than a political witch hunt (what the president characterized it as on Thursday) and what I indeed expect it will be revealed to be – an investigation is search of a crime – a lot of people calling for his head right now are going to have a lot to answer to.
Either way — and this is key — the policy prescriptions we voted for must still be enacted. Policies should always be paramount over politicians.
Sorry, sister.

Michael Koolidge lives in Rochelle and hosts the regionally syndicated radio program The Michael Koolidge Show (www.koolidge.com) heard daily on ten radio stations statewide, including Rockford’s 1440 WROK from 9 to 11 a.m. live every weekday morning. Public officials and citizens can reach the show anytime at radio@koolidge.com or 815-561-7130.