Where I Stand
You can read the many warnings and comments I have made about President Trump in his first term of office and his current term. My feelings haven't changed. The tariffs have been an unmitigated disaster. His America first policies have alienated the rest of the world. His signature championed tax legislation along with his war against suspected drug smuggling boats and with Iran will end up raising the national debt even higher. His attacks on both legal and illegal immigrants has been wrong. No Republican should ever criticize a Democrat about a weaponized DOJ.
He seems fascinated with building projects like gilded ball rooms and triumphal arches when the people are suffering and there's a war on. And apart from tangible issues, he's continually posting things on his social media that every Christian should be up in arms over and which should make everyone rightly be concerned about his mental health as no politician should be projecting themselves as divine. Even a politician who wouldn't be running for office again would be smart enough to not tarnish the party image that way. And keep in mind, I'm a Republican.
A recent prophecy at the church I attend was interesting to say the least. I'm pretty sure that God's definition of soon doesn't exactly line up with a human definition. After all, the early church also was under the impression that Christ would return soon. But considering the world today, it seems more plausible to expect His soon return than one another 2,000 years in the future.
After seeing the AI generated picture Trump posted supposedly healing a person as Christ might have, it isn't hard to believe that the spirit of the anti-Christ is working hard today, even if the anti-Christ hasn't been revealed. Since I suspect that the anti-Christ will come from the Syrian or perhaps a bit more easterly areas, all the changing of the guard there in recent years makes the end times seem nearer, even if they may be decades away.
One thing is certain. If this is the end times, and the anti-Christ is to rise up from Iran (perhaps in the sense of Mahadi) then Trump's efforts to quell Iran will prove even more fruitless than they are likely to if that isn't the outcome.
Anyway, setting those overall problems we are facing aside, we must look to the midterms. We have a Congress that for the longest time couldn't even get a leader of the House of Representatives selected. After that, they've completely abrogated their responsibilities to be an effective third branch of the government, kowtowing to the President's wishes and refusing to hold him accountable when his executive orders go outside the bounds. His hand picked Supreme Court justices need to do better as well.
At any rate, each of you need to evaluate where the country is at, where the country is headed, and decide on the best Congressional candidate to lead the charge. I won't say throw all the bums out, as I don't know every Congressman and Senator personally and haven't followed the voting record of each. But what has made the headlines puts me in a general mind to suggest everyone vote the bums out.
What to Consider
To recount some things I've mentioned earlier in previous posts, look for good Christian candidates, but also listen to the Holy Spirit as He tries to guide your selection process. High office can corrupt even the best Christian. Even the most corrupt politician can be saved and turn to Christ during their term. You don't know if either of those things will happen.
Neither does God as He gave us free will. But He knows each candidate's character better than you will ever know it. He knows if a heart is likely to turn toward Him or if there is no chance. He also knows whether someone is a strong Christian that won't be swayed by the trappings of power or if someone is a weak Christian who will succumb. More importantly, He knows what candidate will be a good law maker. Equal Christians likely don't make equal law makers. Listen to God first.
I was also reminded of Christ's Sermon on the Mount, which is good reading. If you haven't read Matthew 5-7 lately, you should stop and read it again. Measure each candidate against God's standards. His comments on false prophets apply equally to political figures. By their fruits you will know them.
Does what they are promising line up with the standards of the Bible? Just as importantly, for returning candidates, have they tried to carry out what they promised last time? Mostly, the answer to this will be no. Sure, they are just one of many votes and they can't do anything by themselves. But do they even try?
Rarely does the question of "Are you better off today than you were X years ago?" really matter. Most things that happen to us really don't have a lot to do with the government, although there are trickle down effects which touch many places. For a Christian, the better question is "Are all the folks who were alive when the last election happened generally better off than they were before?"
As Christians, we must think of more than just ourselves. If our favorite Congress critter passed some special deal that helps a select few including yourself, but the other 340 million Americans are worse off, that's bad. And to a point, as Christians, even if America is better off but the previous election has made the rest of the world worse off, that's also bad.
You also need to ignore all the endorsements, kid kissing, dog walking, and cat petting propaganda that the political machine puts out about the candidates. See what they think is important and what they plan to try to do about those important things and then decide if what they plan to do really lines up with what God and you think is right. You can narrow down a bunch of people that way.
What Not to Do
There hasn't been an election in my life that I've been happy with all the candidates that I had in front of me to vote on, but generally, considering candidates from all parties, I could normally find someone I felt was ever so slightly better than the rest. On rare occasions, on candidate was obvious. Most times, their differences were not significant.
It is easy to get discouraged when presented with candidates who you know and detest, or who you don't know much about and are afraid to pick in case you missed something important. It is easy to just let someone else decide for you and hope for the best. Please don't do that.
I don't care about your party affiliation. I don't care about what you consider an important issue compared to what I think is an important issue. Well of course that's hogwash - I care - but read on. Find out about all the candidates, and then get out and vote. I'll respect you if you at least examine the issues from all sides and vote, even if your vote is at odds with mine. I won't have much respect for you if you just blindly vote for your party candidate just because of party affiliation. I also won't have a lot of respect for you base your vote on some opinion your candidate holds that isn't relevant to their office. Uninformed party line voting is absurd.
Too many say it doesn't matter who I vote for as they are all corrupt. I suppose the level of corruptness is in the eyes of the beholder, and I'm sure no candidate is lily pure, but it is still your responsibility as a citizen to get out and vote for whoever you feel will do the best job, even if the only options are corrupt. If you really think they are all corrupt, find someone you trust and get enough people together to get them to run for office. Maybe there is still time to get on the ballot for the midterms. Sitting on the sidelines is a cop out.
There are movements among various states to have their electoral votes go to the winner of the popular vote. I really am not a fan of this movement, but it is afoot. I also realize it only matters for the presidential election which sadly won't be this year. But get in the habit of finding out about the candidates and then voting now in case enough state legislatures pass similar legislation for it to be put into effect at the next presidential election in 2028.
Know what the ballot issues are. If there aren't any supporting ranked choice voting, start a movement to get it instituted. Also get a movement to eliminate gerrymandering for all federal offices and let all the people in the state vote for all candidates for their federal representation in the primaries just as in the general election. These last two items are about the only chance of getting deeply embedded Congress critters out of office. I feel the same way about old politicians as I do old board members on companies.
There comes an age when you need to be home enjoying your grandchildren. If you're in your 70s or higher, retire. I certainly plan to be enjoying the grandchildren assuming the Republicans don't destroy the economy via tariffs, high inflation, and wars before I reach retirement age or they raise the retirement age even higher forcing me to work longer to survive.