Gene Ho - Trumpography: How Biblical Principles Paved the Way to the American Presidency

TRUMPography

How Biblical Principles Paved the Way
to the American Presidency

Gene Ho

TRUMPography

HOW BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES PAVED THE WAY TO THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY

Copyright 2018 Gene Ho.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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*NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

*NIV

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

*New Jerusalem Bible

Scripture quotations marked NJB are from The New Jerusalem Bible, copyright 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted by Permission.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-5138-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-5139-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018907438

iUniverse rev. date: 06/27/2018

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Pole n Ho

For being the voice inside my head, pushing me always.

Emily Massin gill

For your wordsmithery and patience.

Gerald Brueh lman

For courage & confidence.

Arlene Ja skot

For standing with me against the giant.

Donald T rump

For being the catalyst of conversation.

Nadea n Ho

For being my best friend, my true north, my Esther.

This all started with a wish,

a product of opportunities

after putting myself in the position to receive them.

But things dont always work out like you plan.

Perhaps thats becausesometimesthe plan is much bigger than you are.

After two years of following the man who would become the president of the United States of America

on his homegrown campaign,

my wish was to become the White House photographer.

As a small-business owner and father of four, I prepared myself for the real possibility of what might lie ahead when

I submitted my rsum and awaited the call.

That call never came.

What followed was the worst year of my life.

Between a frivolous lawsuit and a yearlong IRS tax audit,

I was brought to my knees.

It was only then, in the darkness, that things started to become clear.

I awoke.

A lucidity washed over me;

the frantic panic and fear of the year gone by started to make sense.

My legs had been broken.

My spirit stalled.

And in that time, He carried me.

[Psalm 23]

As I sat and unraveled the map of my trodden path, it became clear why

I wasnt offered the position as White House photographer.

There was something else I was called to do,

and it led me here to you.

Remember yourself as a child,

collecting dandelion wishes

The seeds started as a beautiful, delicate orb in your still-perfect hands.

Pouring breath from your lungs, youd blow.

The seeds would scatter to the wind, floating to their places on the earth.

You believed, the unpolluted innocence of a child.

With faith unshaken,

those tiny seeds would carry your wish to become true.

- Still other seed fell on good soil where it produced a crop

He who has ears, let him hear.

Matthew 13:89

****

With the faith of His child, my wish is no longer for me but for all o f us.

I hope you may consider this book a pocket full of seeds,

an opportunity.

Lets talk again. Lets pray again. Lets believe again.

Chapter 1
AbsalomThe Humble Charmer

Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you. And Absalom would add, If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.

Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel.

2 Samuel 15:36

January 19, 2015A door opened; I walked through. This day began a two-year adventure that put miles on my car and revolutions on my cameras shutter count. This was my inaugural date as campaign photographer for the man who would become the president of the United States of America.

I never could have known the road that lay ahead and how it would forever change my life. We, the people, had no idea the gravity of our situation. We, the voting people, never could have imagined the pushback we would receive for supporting a candidate who didnt fall in line with the status quo.

Donald Trump wasnt always the easiest boss to work for. Mr. Trump wasnt always the easiest candidate to love. Mr. Donald J. Trump is a man. He is riddled with flaws, capable of sin and regret. Still he lives with great bravery. All the same can be said for the first man, Adam. As can be said for Moses. As can be said for King David. As can be said for you.

I took a detour from my regular life to chase this campaign. I was exhausted, overwhelmed, and sometimes out of my element. When it was all said and done, my parting gift from presidential politics was somewhat ironic, I suppose:

A faith renewed.

What follows is in part personal experiences and memories, another part biblical truth that I felt paralleled the underlying biblical principles:

A foot in the sea, a foot on land.

****

In my time on the 201516 campaign trail, I had the unique privilege of taking photos of Mr. Donald J. Trump. One could certainly argue there were more qualified photojournalists available. However, I dont believe it was an accident that a seasoned wedding photographer happened into the position. More on that later.

I wiggled my way into a front-row seat early on and grabbed my popcorn as the show began. Mr. Trump has never been one to disappoint his audiences, and the first days (long before hed declared his candidacy) were no different. Since I wasnt shooting these events with the classic newsprint objective, my signature wide-angle fish-eye shots became a unique staple in the Trump marketing engine. However, I spent most of my time with Mr. Trump behind the scenes in the click line, which was my primary duty.