CAMERON: Redoubt - Court trumps it all

You would assume that our survivalist neighbors are downright jubilant over the election of Donald Trump.

But apparently even these Second Amendment defenders have a few niggling doubts about what’s in the oft-changing mind of the president-elect.

Don Bradway never presumes to speak for the entire sprawling community of Redoubtians in North Idaho — given their independent natures and differing views on various issues.

But Bradway is connected enough to a pretty large collection of like-minded neighbors that he wasn’t afraid to speak at length to the Washington Post. Yes, he was offering opinions mostly on behalf of his own family, but it was clear his voice was an echo coming from plenty of friends and acquaintances.

So, bottom line, to get a sense of how Trump has been received in the Redoubt, Bradway was a pretty logical man to ask.

AS YOU would expect, Bradway and his fellow Redoubtians were delighted by the election-night shock of Trump’s victory.

“Two reasons, two huge reasons,” Bradway said. “First of all, it meant that Hillary Clinton lost, and there aren’t enough awful things in the language to describe how I feel about her.

“Don’t even get me started on that. But not having Clinton in that office was a cause for celebration, believe me.”

And the second reason for satisfaction?

“The Supreme Court,” Bradway said. “I would bet that millions of people — literally millions when you take in the whole country — voted for Trump simply because of the vacancy on the Supreme Court and the fact there will be more vacancies to come.

“We will get conservative judges, and most of all to a lot of us, that means the Second Amendment will be protected.

“Clinton would have appointed liberal judges, and they would have begun chipping away at our rights. That’s an absolute fact.”

ANY MORE obvious reasons to be riding the victorious Trump bandwagon?

Surprisingly, Bradway became a bit more cautious.

“I want to be optimistic,” he said, “so let’s wait until the guy is inaugurated and see what happens.”

The problem with that plan, of course, is Trump already has made plenty of waves as president-elect, apparently not content to wait until Jan. 20 to let the world know what he thinks.

“I just wish he’d close that Twitter account,” Bradway said. “Having Trump popping off, saying things off the top of his head, probably isn’t the wisest way to go about business right now.”

Specifically, Bradway isn’t thrilled with Trump’s tweets that have angered the Chinese government.

“These are people that we have to deal with,” Bradway said. “I’m not saying bow down to them, but there is too much at stake with trade and money involved [the United States owes various Chinese interests $1.25 trillion, or 7 percent of our entire national debt.]

“Look, I’m not interested in a trade war with China. I don’t want to pay a thousand dollars for my cellphone.”

Bradway, though, still thinks back on the possibility of Clinton in the White House, breathes a sigh of relief over the Supreme Court, and he’s happy to give Trump a fighting chance.

“He’s a billionaire and probably a pretty smart guy,” Bradway concluded. “Let’s see if he can learn to listen to good advice, see the big picture and handle the job.

“We’ve got to hope, right?”

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Steve Cameron is a special assignment reporter for The Press. Reach Steve at [email protected].