Dan Jones: Time to Look In The Mirror

Every Wednesday night, I play poker with a group of friends — something we have done for more than 40 years. The nucleus of the group has changed as players moved away or succumbed to the fate that awaits us all. Our current membership is mostly old and mostly Republican. We generally avoid divisive topics — especially politics — because our friendships trump our personal opinions. Four members supported Donald Trump in the past three elections. Two of us did not. A seventh, an alternate, has never shared his views.

I cast my first vote in 1968 and was a Republican from Ricard Nixon through George W. Bush, voting a straight ticket. As I entered my senior years, I became more fiscally conservative and more socially liberal. Today, I am a registered independent. Still a Republican in 2016, I grew increasingly disenchanted with the party. Knowing little about its presidential nominee, Donald Trump, I read investigative journalist David Cay Johnston’s "The Making of Donald Trump." (I challenge any Trump supporter to read it.)