The New York Times has always expressed a positive interest in my husband because of the good work he has done for veterans and their families. They were also very interested and excited to write about our wedding: It was one of the first gay weddings in New York City after the law was passed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Because we had the attention of the Times, we used our wedding to help bring attention to passing the law nationally by creating a very exciting well-attended party.
So seven years later, when Sarah Maslin Nir — a reporter who wrote on our wedding — reached out, we had little hesitation in agreeing to sit down with her to discuss our support for President Trump.
I’m tired of being in the closet as a Trump supporter. During our six-hour interview, I mentioned that coming out of the closet in college felt very similar to coming out today as a Trump supporter. Because there are so many articles about policy and politics, Sarah’s objective for the article was to talk about our personal transition from supporting Hillary Clinton to supporting Donald Trump, and how our family and friends reacted to it.
Unfortunately, the end result — published Nov. 26 — came across as very superficial, and the timeline of events didn’t come across genuine. I wouldn’t normally care about semantics, but the feedback from Times readers has been overwhelmingly negative. They think we are “social climbing trash” because we have the president’s sons number on “speed dial.”
Speed dial? Does an iPhone have speed dial? We didn’t stop supporting Hillary Clinton because of a refused photo or unanswered phone call. The reason we brought up personal stories was to demonstrate how the Clinton camp had an air of arrogance from day one. However, to this day, the Trump camp is an inclusive welcoming group that is sincerely grateful for support from anyone who offers it.
Anyway, here’s the story — and the timeline behind — our transition.
New York has always been known for its diversity, and therefore, its tolerance. These days, that’s only true if you’re not a Republican or Trump supporter. The most baffling thing about that is our president of the United States is a New Yorker. He is someone that truly defines the New York that I love and miss.
Being a New Yorker used to mean you were successful, tough, loving, passionate, relentless, and authentic. Today, I feel like progressive agendas have weakened the spirit of New York City.
The good news is President Trump has moved from Trump Tower to Pennsylvania Avenue. He is the ultimate fighter, and he’s fighting for all of Americans. Making America great again isn’t about taking away rights of minorities — it’s about getting our country back to what you knew as a kid, where you expected to grow up, have a great career, a beautiful home, and realize the dreams you grew up with.
People have lost their way. The government shouldn’t be looked at as handout-central. It’s there to protect us and provide the opportunity for us to succeed, but you still have to work for it. “America first” means just that — not “America only.” President Trump has never said we need to turn our back on the world. He’s saying we need to focus on our needs first, then help the world (while keeping our budget in consideration).
Speaking of the budget, the world should pay its fair share when it comes to NATO and trade agreements. Every word and phrase gets twisted in this 24/7 cable-social media news cycle. To the media, America first means white nationalism. To the pundits, MAGA means taking away gay marriage, black rights, women’s rights and so on.
Do people actually believe this? It’s just so ridiculous. But after the article about is in the Times, we are have learned that people actually believe this garbage.
My husband, Bill White, worked with Donald Trump on helping fund the Veteran’s Day Parade and launching Celebrity Apprentice off the flight deck of the Intrepid in 2008. That year, Piers Morgan won the show. The charity was the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund; Billy was the president of the foundation at that time.
I mention this to set the stage that we knew Donald J. Trump and have always admired and connected with him on our mutual love for our military and our country. We never expected him to run for president — until we were way down the road with helping Hillary. Through the Intrepid, Bill supported Reagan, Both Bushes, Clinton and Obama — because each was president and commander in chief. When Trump won, it was only natural for us to gravitate toward him — not only because Bill had worked with him in the past, but because as Americans, we get behind our president.
But this is something we thought would need explaining 18 months ago. What is shocking to us is that two years into a very successful presidency, we are still being shunned by “never Trumpers” and “resisters” and having to argue our support for the president, even as the numbers and results speak for themselves. So many people have become completely unhinged — if you’re still dwelling on Hillary’s loss two years later, it may be time to lay down on a couch.
Hillary announced she was running for president basically since she was running for senator of New York. That’s how long we’ve been hearing about it and helping her fundraise and get support from New Yorkers and retired veterans. Hillary lost to Obama. I voted for John McCain in 2008. (I’ve always voted Republican, except when it came to Hillary.) Billy voted for Hillary that year as a write-in candidate.
When Obama was a lame duck, we hosted a fundraiser for him with the Democratic National Committee. Hillary ran against Bernie and 16 Republicans. Trump won. We could have bailed on Hillary before the election at any time, but that would be disloyal in our minds. Whats not disloyal in our minds, but apparently to a lot of sore losing Democrats, is that once Trump won, we moved on over to support our actual president. We started tweeting support and had a lot of friends in the administration. I’m sorry if that appears like a “craven turncoat” or an “opportunist,” but to me and Bill, it’s American. I never voted for or supported Obama, but did I attack people and lose my mind? No. I never ended a decades-long friendship because they supported an opposing candidate. I feel sorry people that are that shallow that would do that, and I feel sorry for all the time I spent with people that shallow and unforgiving. But you live and learn and you gravitate toward more like-minded people with hopes that has time passes, people calm down.
The part of the Times that was very disappointing is we sat down for six hours, but very little was quoted. Don Jr. also gave a massive quote about us and gays and his father — I think the Times only used five words from him. They were words the LGBT community needs to hear.
We also talked about how great President Trump has been since day one: not taking a salary, renegotiating government contracts, rolling back regulations to jumpstart the economy, getting GDP above a number that our last president said would require a magic wand and nominating two dear friends of ours, Georgette Mosbacher as ambassador to Poland and Ric Grenell as ambassador to Germany. Ric is the highest-ranking openly gay official of any presidency. He was, by the way, completely stalled and rejected by many Democratic senators because they hated Trump more than they wanted to help gay rights.
We are so proud of the job that Georgette and Ric are both doing to help our president. Especially as gay men, we are so proud of Ric and so proud of our president for appointing Ric to this post. He was not appointed because he was gay, he was appointed because he is the best person for the job. That’s what I absolutely love.
I got a lot of heat for my “I hate identity politics” quote in the Times. Well, I do — we shouldn’t lead with, “Vote for me I’m a woman or I’m gay or I’m black.”
I’m 39-years-old. I grew up in the new world — where we were all in school together and there was no true discrimination. We all need to stop expecting things because we are this or that, but because we did this or that — because we actually earned it. President Trump is helping to get rid of this political correctness that has hindered the right people from getting the right jobs.
It is so frustrating to me that so many people claim Trump is anti-gay when Ric is sitting in Germany right now. When we threw Ric and his partner, Matt Lashey, a going away party in New York, we had the opportunity to meet Donald Trump, Jr. He really is a class act and a true patriot. He does not get proper credit for all he does to help his father, and more importantly, help this country. He had the best line — one that made me realize that he and his father have no agenda against gays.
Don Jr. said, “I wish every man was gay so I don’t have any competition.” It’s a joke of course, but it’s funny and something we can all relate to and laugh at. But if someone hated gays, would they make that joke? No!
The president has become a role model for me. He’s a fighter with a cause. He is truly turning around the corruptness at every level of our government, while causing the world to treat us more respectfully.
I love that. I’ve never seen so much hate and resistance towards any person, and it just doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t care what party you are, you have to admit that president Trump’s results are good for the country. I say this to adamant resisters: Take a deep breath — having this vitriolic hatred toward people is so exhausting and terrible for your health.
Everyone needs to take a break and study Trump’s results. Read a different news source if you’re just nuts about hating Trump. Maybe you need a fresh perspective.
Trump is going to be re-elected in 2020, and we are going to do everything we can to help convince those that aren’t on the Trump Train to ride it with us — at least for a few stops — before trying to throw themselves in front of it. Like I said, it’s not healthy to get hit by a train that will be roaring full steam ahead for the next six years.
Written by Bryan Eure (@JBryaneure) on behalf of him and his husband, Bill White. Eure is a senior vice president of Willis Towers Watson, the world’s third largest global insurance brokerage. Eure represents some of the top companies and families in New York real estate and business and is one of the top producers at the firm.
Bill White (@BillWhiteNY) is the CEO of Constellations Group and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost advocates for military, veterans, first responders, and their families. White has raised over $1.5 billion for these heroes and is a respected businessman and philanthropist.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.